Features
Northwestern’s SuperAging Program studies the brains of older individuals with exceptional memories in order to better understand the science behind memory, aging and dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Will Evans, Renetta McCann and Bill Osborn earned the 2024 Northwestern Alumni Medal. The medalists will receive the Northwestern Alumni Association’s most prestigious award for exceptional achievement in their careers and service to Northwestern during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend.
If you know Greta Lee ’05, you know she’s a bit of a shapeshifter, with almost 20 years of experience in acting roles that span from the dead serious to the drop-dead hilarious. Last year, the highly praised and Oscar-nominated film Past Lives gave Lee her first leading role — and ushered in a new stage of her career.
When his dreams of directing theater fizzled, Art Johnston ’75 MFA instead took up the fight for queer rights in Chicago. Together with his husband, Pep Peña, he co-founded Sidetrack, an innovative gay bar that’s now the largest in the Midwest, and lobbied for passage of groundbreaking civil rights laws that have made Chicago a welcoming place for the LGBTQIA+ community.
We all want to give children the best possible foundation. Northwestern researchers and alumni across disciplines are working hard to understand how kids learn best, what tools and activities can bolster their development, and how families can use that information to help children reach their full potential.
University Archives is home to documents, artifacts and mementos that showcase the rich history of Northwestern and its community, “items that will help people better understand the University we love,” says University Historian Kevin Leonard ’77, ’82 MA. The collections span 25,000 linear feet and include everything from a limited-edition Northwestern University Barbie to a real taxidermized wildcat.
Artificial intelligence is all around us. And if AI is not already in your doctor’s office, you can bet it’s coming soon — with the potential to create major improvements in our health care and well-being.
Sheinelle Jones, co-host of the “3rd Hour of Today,” is one of a handful of Black women helming a national TV broadcast. And she thinks it’s important for people to see her full self: accomplished, Black, a woman, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a volunteer, a pray-er, a proud Midwesterner, and a human who embraces joy, who sometimes falters, sometimes loses her nerve — but persists nonetheless.
Driven to capture rare and unexpected images of fragile landscapes, Los Angeles-based photographer Josh Anon has had his share of awe-inspiring encounters with wildlife around the world. Anon, a Roblox product lead by day, has captured images of penguins, polar bears, walruses and much more.
With unfailing energy and laser-sharp focus on institutional improvement, Michael Schill, Northwestern’s 17th president, plans to continue the University’s “rapid and steep” ascent to become one of the nation’s top universities. And now, in addition to maintaining the University’s high academic standards, he has a clear goal: building Northwestern’s athletic department into a national model for integrity and student well-being.
