Class of 2029, graduate and transfer students to participate in O-Week
Editor's Note: Check back with this story for frequent updates throughout Orientation Week.
New students of the College received a warm welcome to the University of Chicago during Opening Convocation on Sept. 24—the latest event in a series of Orientation Week traditions introducing incoming students to their new academic home.
President Paul Alivisatos and Melina Hale, dean of the College, addressed the undergraduates inside Rockefeller Memorial Chapel while the Harper Quadrangle hosted family and friends with a live webcast.
In his remarks, Alivisatos reflected on the educational journey being put before this group of students—and how they should challenge themselves in their search for knowledge.
Watch the Sept. 24 Opening Convocation event for new College students.
“You will find that things move faster when you ask questions sincerely, from a desire to understand and to seek truth, not the applause of unmerited confirmation,” Alivisatos said. “Probe with curiosity strong enough to survive your own favorite answers. Let your learning flow from curiosity, humility, determination and wonder. Let it be guided by joy, by discipline, by rigor.”
Speakers throughout Orientation Week also touched on UChicago's dedication to freedom of expression, a guiding principle of the University. Hale emphasized that free expression is a two-way process.
“The careful listener will understand that there is a broader context of the human that comes with the words,” Hale said. “That means taking care of each other in the times we disagree, which we can feel vulnerable and exposed. That means gratitude for the willingness of others to challenge our views and to be open with their own.”
When the ceremony ended, the Class of 2029 and incoming transfer students took part in one of the College’s most cherished traditions—walking in procession through the Main Quadrangles and Cobb Gate, cheered on by family, friends and members of the UChicago community, before taking their class photo at Stagg Field.
Welcome convocation for graduate students
New graduate students received their official introduction to UChicago and its guiding principles during a Sept. 22 welcome Convocation. The event featured remarks from President Alivisiatos and other UChicago leaders as well as an Aims of Graduate Education address from Prof. Nicholas Hatsopoulos. Speakers underlined UChicago’s commitment to freedom of expression and academic pursuit, pointing to its legacy of defending both in pursuit of knowledge.
“You’ll soon find the person most honored here is not the loudest voice or the quickest to speak but the earnest scholar who takes each idea apart layer by layer—open, rigorous, unafraid of what they might find and committed to understanding in the deepest way possible,” Alivisatos said.
In his address, Hatsopoulos shared his own academic journey—starting with youthful aspirations of becoming a professional musician and winding through different interests until he found his niche in the field of neuroscience.
Drawing from that process of discovery, Hatsopoulos urged students to approach their studies with both rigor and flexibility.
“One of the lessons I've learned in my life: You can always change your mind, but use what you have learned in the past to help you change that direction,” Hatsopoulos said. “This isn't a failure; it's just a course correction.”
Aims of Education address
On Sept. 25, Prof. Peggy Mason delivered the Aims of Education address—a time-honored tradition where a UChicago faculty member is invited to address students in the College on the aims of a liberal education. The event took place in Rockefeller Chapel and was followed by group discussions with UChicago faculty inside the residence halls.
Learn more about Orientation Week activities at the College and UChicagoGRAD websites.
