students
Convocation Celebration
More than 650 graduating students received their degrees at convocation on June 11. Austan Goolsbee, associate professor of economics, addressed the graduates, as did George H. Conrades, XP-28 (’71), chairman and CEO of Akamai Technologies. (For more on Conrades, see “The Thrill of the Next Big Thing”.) Former university president Hugo Sonnenschein took a moment to remember longtime professor and Nobel laureate Merton Miller, who died earlier that month. (To read a tribute to Miller, see “Merton Miller: 1923-2000”.)--E.T.
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on campus
GSB Hosts Senate Banking Breakfast
When Senator Phil Gramm of Texas wanted to hold a private gathering between Chicago financial experts and members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Development, he contacted Chicago GSB. At his urging, Dean Robert S. Hamada and faculty members from the GSB and the university’s economics department hosted a breakfast May 8 at Gleacher Center. Hamada addressed the senators, CFTC chairman William Rainer, SEC chairman Arthur Levitt, staff and committee members, witnesses, CEOs of the four major Chicago exchanges, Michael Moskow of the Chicago Federal Reserve, and GSB faculty members, remarking, “To be your hosts this morning is a rare treat in the mission we pursue, which is to be a marketplace for those who seek and value knowledge.” The breakfast preceded a committee hearing at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on legislation proposed by Gramm and Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana that would change the regulations governing the trading of futures contracts on exchanges. Gramm and Lugar want to lift the existing ban on futures based on individual stocks and overhaul the current regulation structure.--E.T.
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fundraising
New Name Announced for Annual Fund
The Annual Fund, the GSB’s main source of unrestricted support, recently was renamed the Chicago GSB Fund. This new name accurately reflects the purpose of the fund, integrates the GSB’s new identity, and emphasizes the fund’s importance to the school’s five-year capital campaign, said Whit Shepard, associate dean for external affairs.

“The new name ties the fund more closely with the GSB Campaign,” said Shepard. “The Chicago GSB Fund is responsible for generating $20 million of the $175 million campaign. As such, it is an essential part of the campaign, and we want to very clearly emphasize this important fact to our alumni who support the Chicago GSB Fund.”--A.R.
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events
IPO Follies
GSB Follies jumped on the dot-com bandwagon this spring. Promotions for the annual student event reported that “with the initial public offering of follies.com on May 5 and 6, the company expects to capture unrealized value in the spinoff of its Internet subsidiary. Follies.com is the premier entertainment content provider at the GSB. During beta testing over the past several months, follies.com has developed a proprietary model for delivering farcical content. The company’s underwriting team expects the production to be substantially oversubscribed at an offering price of $10 per share.” Follies featured several faculty members, including Austan Goolsbee, Damon Phillips, Per Stromberg, and Dean Robert S. Hamada.--M.B.
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scholarships
Kiplinger Prize to Honor First-Year Student
Chicago GSB recently became a charter participant in the Kiplinger Prize program, which honors exceptional academic achievement by first-year students at leading U.S. business schools.

One of 18 institutions selected to participate, Chicago GSB is joined by such institutions as Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management, University of California at Berkeley Haas School of Business, and University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.The Kiplinger Foundation was established by W. M. Kiplinger, a business and economics journalist who founded the Kiplinger Letter and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.--A.R.
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donors
Alumni Support Capital Campaign
A new integrated campus and residence hall, endowed professorships, student scholarships, and research centers--all are fundraising needs of the five-year, $175 million GSB capital campaign. And, with combined gifts of more than $14 million, four alumni--Rex J. “Jim” Bates, S.B. ’47, M.B.A. ’49; David G. Booth, ’71; Jerry W. Levin, ’68; and Howard S. Marks, ’69--have added their support to the contributions of many others to improve the quality of the GSB’s physical structures, faculty, student body, and research capabilities.

Booth also has dedicated his support to the institution that “was instrumental to the development” of his business: Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) of Santa Monica, California. The firm, cofounded with alumni Rex A. Sinquefield, ’72, and Jeanne Sinquefield, A.M. ’71, Ph.D. ’72 (sociology), M.B.A. ’79, bases its work on the academic theories of GSB faculty members, many of whom serve or have served on its board of directors.

The chairman and CEO of DFA, Booth has dedicated his support to physical structures that will foster opportunities for collaboration and dynamic interaction among GSB students and faculty members. His gift of $10 million will help fund the GSB’s new four-story, integrated campus, planned for completion in 2003. “I knew I really wanted to do something for the university,” he said, and “there was a narrow window to make a contribution to this new campus.” (To read more about Booth, see “Behind the Campaign”.)

In addition to enhancing the school’s physical environment, the GSB capital campaign seeks to advance learning through endowed professorships and scholarships. Levin, CEO of Sunbeam Corporation in Boca Raton, Florida, has helped ensure the distinguished reputation of Chicago’s faculty by pledging an additional $1 million to his previous gifts to create the Jerry W. and Carol L. Levin Professorship. “I’ve chosen to endow a professorship as it’s permanent and focused on a person. The most important factor in my own success has been focusing on people, so this fits my philosophy perfectly,” he said.

“I knew as soon as I arrived [at the GSB] that I’d found myself. I loved the challenge of the courses, the students, the faculty, and the environment,” said Levin. “Unfortunately, I was dead broke. The GSB came through with a full scholarship--provided I kept my grades up. I hope the many other success stories from the GSB pause and think about the impact it has had on their lives and follow through with a contribution to the campaign to pay back some of what they owe to this great institution.”

“The GSB was nice enough to give me merit-based financial support,” said Marks, whose $1 million campaign gift will support endowed scholarships for minority students.

“I’m concerned about distributing opportunity in our society,” added Marks, chairman of Oaktree Capital Management in Los Angeles. “I believe my attendance at the university and what I learned there played a pivotal role in my career direction, development, and success.”--A.R.
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