The College

Last academic year, the Dean's Fund for Student Life supported 31 out-of-the-ordinary student projects-on campus, in Chicago, and beyond.

The Chicago Inner-City Development Association, a community service recognized student organization, serves as administrators of the Canaryville Little League. The League has hosted over 330 baseball and softball players from seven different Chicago neighborhoods over the past two years. Funding supported improvements to the league’s concession stand, which will reinvest profits in future projects, including building a brand new ice rink. Read more about UChicago students' work in Canaryville in our feature story, "Field of Dreams."

At the “BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in 2020” Conference & Roundtable students learned the ins and outs of professional networking, particularly how participating in a conference can create career-long contacts. The conference included a pre-conference workshop, an ‘Emerging Middle Class’ roundtable and three panels. Funding supported undergraduates' transportation costs and other general conference expenses. The Chicago Society, four cultural RSOs, and some federally funded Area Studies Centers worked together to organize and host the event.

On behalf of Moneythink and the Kairos Society, Ted Gonder was invited to attend the JUMP for Opportunity and Future of Entrepreneurship Education conference as a “leader in the field of entrepreneurship education” for his work in training college students to teach high school students financial literacy and entrepreneurship in 19 urban communities in the US. The Dean’s Fund for Student Life allowed Ted to attend the conference where students participate in a fun weekend of inspiration and activities, including a skydive from 18,000 feet with individuals who are passionate about ending global poverty.

The Triple Helix, Inc. (TTH) is an international non-profit organization with 27 chapters involving over 800 students from the world’s most prestigious universities. This past February, UChicago TTH representatives attended the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC. The conference theme, "Science Without Borders" seeks to "integrate the practice of science, both in research and teaching that utilizes multidisciplinary approaches." The Dean's Fund for Student Life funded students' travel to DC to present posters and to attend the conference.

Other projects included:

• The Gilbert F. White Leadership Program, named after geographer and humanitarian Gilbert F. White, SB '32, PhD '42, empowers students to develop into ethical leaders and engaged members of their community. Over three years, about 75 students participated in the program, which includes weekly workshops on campus, an offsite retreat, and group projects.
• More than 400 people attended Art in Action, an annual community arts festival, held Memorial Day weekend at First Presbyterian Church in the Woodlawn neighborhood.
• Megan Frestedt, AB '11, volunteered at the College Music Journal conference, where she learned about New York's music scene and met industry leaders.
• Elizabeth Topczewski, '13, traveled around the Midwest and the West researching modern Hobo culture.
• Jacob Alonso, AB '11, presented the paper "Midwives and Outsiders: Medicalization of Childbirth and the Professional Construction of Deviance" at a conference in Atlanta, GA, and the paper "Constitutional Rights as Political Insurance: Testing Hegemonic Preservation Theory in Lower Courts" at a conference in Normal, IL.
• Erin Dahlgren, '12, an AB/AM student in linguistics, worked with a linguistics specialist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands to develop a database for her thesis research.
• Ethan Tate, '13, served as an unpaid intern for the US Department of State in Yaoundé, Cameroon. He was one of 1,200 interns selected from a pool of 10,000 applicants.
• Greg Nance, AB '11, co-founder of the financial and literacy mentoring organization Moneythink, delivered the student keynote speech at the Education Without Borders conference in Dubai, UAE where he spoke on "Harnessing entrepreneurship and business opportunities for positive impact".