May 24, 2006

Seven UIC Faculty Named Great Cities Institute Scholars

Seven faculty members at the University of Illinois at Chicago have been chosen to be Great Cities Institute Faculty Scholars for the 2006-07 academic year.

Picked by competitive peer review, faculty scholars further their own research, as well as collaborate with other scholars and faculty fellows, and share their work through lectures and informal forums. The award releases a UIC faculty member from formal teaching and administrative obligations for the year.

"The faculty scholars program is a vital component of the Great Cities Institute's goal of advancing urban knowledge through engaged research built around partnerships and interdisciplinary innovation," said David Perry, director of the institute.

The Great Cities Institute Faculty Scholars and their research projects are:

• John Betancur, associate professor of urban planning and policy; Dynamics of Neighborhood Change in the Era of Globalization
• Robert Bruegmann, architecture professor and chair of art history; University and Community / Lawndale and Heritage
• Olivia Gude, associate professor of art and design; Community-Based Public Art
• David Mayrowetz, assistant professor of education; Researching Distributed Leadership Practice for Special Education Reform
• Thomas Moher, associate professor of computer science; Technology Support for Embodied Learning in Urban Science
• Kimberly Potowski, assistant professor, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese; Spanish Language Maintenance in Chicago's Elementary Schools
• Barbara Ransby, associate professor of history and African American studies; Eslanda Robeson and the Multi-Cultural Urban Arts Communities of Harlem, Paris and London, 1920s-1940s

UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding and is Chicago's largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of
programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.

For more information about UIC, please visit www.uic.edu

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