Annual Fund and Alumni Engagement Report

During the 2025–26 academic year, Chicago Booth continued to expand its curriculum in healthcare and artificial intelligence, including launching of a new Applied AI concentration in fall 2025. Product management emerged as one of the school’s most popular offerings. Booth also introduced its first-ever undergraduate minor: the Entrepreneurship and Innovation minor, developed in partnership with the College and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “The new minor reflects our belief that an entrepreneurial mindset is not just for business students, but for every student who wants to make an impact in the world,” said Samir Mayekar, adjunct assistant professor of entrepreneurship and managing director of the Polsky Center. “By blending rigorous academic training with real-world problem solving, we’re giving undergraduate students the tools they need to bring their ideas to life."

Last summer, Madhav Rajan, the Steven S. Wymer Dean of Chicago Booth and Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting, was appointed UChicago’s chief global strategist, expanding his leadership to represent the university as a whole. A key priority in the role is strengthening connections among UChicago’s international campuses to create a unified global network that extends the institution’s distinctive education and research worldwide. Drawing on both his experience leading Booth and his own perspective as an international student, Rajan emphasizes the importance of remaining flexible and adapting to local contexts. As he explained, “We want to be an institution that helps come up with ideas, plans, and policies that will solve the world's toughest problems... The only way to do that is by being international.”

This year marked the launch of the Annual Fund Scholars Program, made possible through Annual Fund scholarship support. Ayuba Abba, an MBA candidate in the Class of 2027 and an Annual Fund Scholar, reflected on the impact of the award: “Your support gives me the space to be fully present in the Chicago Booth experience and to pursue opportunities that truly align with my ambitions. It eases some of the financial pressure that comes with this journey and allows me to approach the next phase of my career with clarity and confidence.”

Chicago Booth faculty are renowned for their award-winning research, and their accomplishments during the 2025–26 academic year were no exception. Over the course of the year, 12 Booth faculty members received recognition across 10 prestigious academic and professional honors. Among them, Marianne Bertrand, the Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, earned two distinctions for her contributions to the field of economics: she was named a 2025 Fellow of the International Economic Association and she received an honorary doctorate for scientific merit from Ghent University.