Inside Out
The achievement gap between African Americans and whites, which narrowed for much of the twentieth century, has stalled and is likely to persist for generations unless something is done to improve the learning experiences of African American children, contends research conducted by Derek Neal, Professor in Economics. Full story...

Civic Scholarship

From our beginnings, the University of Chicago has had a strong public purpose and has been committed to education that upholds democracy. As a powerful research center, we recognize the importance of new knowledge our faculty can contribute to address some of society's most pressing problems. Members of our institution draw on their academic disciplines every day for the benefit of society. Many are working to integrate knowledge with action and theory with practice, both on campus and in the community. Here is a sampling of research that embody a strong civic purpose and expand knowledge to benefit our neighborhood, our city, our state, our country, and our world.

  • The Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies focuses on topics such as young children's emotional readiness for school and the long-term impact on children whose mothers are incarcerated.
  • The School of Social Service Administration engages in groundbreaking research on topics as diverse as mentor-child relationships and HIV-related behaviors among urban African American youth.
  • The Civic Knowledge Project of the Humanities Division sponsors such initiatives as an elementary school reading program using voting and civil rights content; a resource network for small humanities and arts organizations on the South Side; programming on the shared history of Washington Park; and the Odyssey Project.
  • The Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture promotes scholarship around the topics of race and ethnicity and their effect on people's daily lives. Recent projects range from an academic exploration program for Kenwood Academy juniors to a national conference on feminism and hip-hop.

This is just a small sample of some of the community-based research projects being undertaken at the University of Chicago. For a window into our full research enterprise, see Research at Chicago.

Research that Informs Public Policy and Promotes Social Welfare