Chicago Contributes
For complete coverage and video of Thursday’s “Chicago Contributes” forum, please visit www.uchicago.edu on Friday afternoon. Until then, here is a brief synopsis:
The University of Chicago presented a forum on health care and education on Thursday in Washington, D.C., gathering national policymakers and academic experts for a rigorous discussion of important policy issues.
Held the day after President Obama addressed the nation on health care reform, the forum, called “Chicago Contributes,” considered the roles of government and universities in expanding access to health care and improving student performance in public schools.
In his opening remarks, University President Robert J. Zimmer said universities are well positioned to explore these difficult questions.
“As a research university located in one of the world’s great cities, the University of Chicago is particularly involved in the challenges of urban communities,” Zimmer said.
“Today’s events reflect the University of Chicago’s most enduring trait — our University-wide commitment to rigorous and open inquiry and our belief that the ideas that emerge from intense questioning and analysis can illuminate the most important problems of our times.”
Keynote speaker Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, introduced a panel of medical professionals who discussed post-policy reform access to health care. Eric Whitaker, Executive Vice President for Strategic Affiliations and Associate Dean of Community-based Research at the University Medical Center, was among the panelists.
Whitaker discussed the University’s Urban Health Initiative, a collaboration involving the Medical Center and community doctors, nurses and health centers to improve the long-term health of the South Side community, which faces distinctive health challenges.
Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, gave the second keynote, preceding a panel discussion of the role of higher education in improving urban schools. John Easton, Director of the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education, commented on his current position and his role as the former Executive Director of the University’s Consortium on Chicago School Research. Panelists included Timothy Knowles, the Lewis-Sebring Director of the Urban Education Institute at the University, and Charles Payne, the Frank P. Hixon Professor in the School of Social Service Administration.
The University’s Urban Education Institute is dedicated to creating new, evidence-based models that show how to provide reliably excellent schooling for children growing up in urban America, preparing them for the rigors of college, the workplace and life.