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VIEW FROM THE TOP Researchers who received a MacArthur conservation grant survey the Biabo Cordillera Azul National Forest in the Andes. continued from page 55 While the MacArthur Fellows Program (the genius grants' official name) is the Foundation's best-known initiative, the organization itself—whose stated mission is to build "a more just, verdant, and peaceful world"—impacts the city and the world on a much deeper level through its support of a variety of programs worldwide. Since 1978, the organization has invested nearly $1 billion in Chicago alone with grants supporting nearly 1,100 organizations in education, community development, juvenile justice, and more. Considering that the Foundation's mission is peace, Gallucci has spent much of his career preoccupied with war. As a high school student, he was given the book Diplomat Among Warriors by his older brother and found that he couldn't put it down. "I ate it up," enthuses the trim, silverhaired Gallucci. "I was fascinated with both conflict and war, and with the idea of doing something about it." After studying political science at SUNY-Stony Brook ("I graduated in '67, and '68 is very often thought of the big year of the Vietnam War") and earning master's and doctorate degrees in politics from Brandeis University, Gallucci started teaching at Johns Hopkins University before leaving to join the State Department. "I wanted to see what it was like to be a practitioner, so I thought I'd try it for a few years and then come out." A few years turned into 21, with Gallucci rising through the ranks to become Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, Ambassador-at-Large for the US Department of State, and ultimately serving as a special envoy to deal with the threat of WMDs from 1998 to 2001. He then left for Georgetown University, where he served as Dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. The transition from WMDs to the MacArthur Foundation may seem drastic, but Gallucci doesn't see it that way. "It wasn't such a huge leap in my mind to become the leader of this great foundation, since my interest has always been in public policy of one kind or another, domestic or international." And given Gallucci's varied interests—be it the Himalayas or jazz or international affairs—the former academic and diplomat is right at home with the foundation's kaleidoscope of projects. "[My career] has just been one wonderful opportunity following another," says Gallucci. "It's very hard for me to imagine anything more rewarding than what I'm doing now." MA OFF THE CLOCK Robert Gallucci shares some of his personal passions. *local loves: "I live at the corner of Astor and Division. When you walk around here [after work], the restaurants and bars are overflowing. This place is kind of vibrating, and there's a youthful vigor and energy about it that I just love." *by the book: "I have a passion for cosmology, so I enjoy reading Brian Greene and other cosmologists and astrophysicists who write about time and motion and gravity in ways that people who can't do the math can understand." *heir time: *under water: FROM LEFT: The artwork at The Marquette Building includes intricate mosaics; one of the MacArthur Foundation's primary goals is to improve education equality worldwide. 56 "I've been scuba diving for almost 40 years. In this job I've been able to do it professionally because we have an important program that focuses on species conservation, so I've seen our grantees in action while diving in locations off Madagascar and Cuba, and most recently off the Papua province in Indonesia." PHOTOGRAPHY BY ©UNESCO/B. DESRUS (GIRLS) "Last October my son and his wife delivered to us twin boys, which has focused my mind in ways I did not anticipate. I really didn't get the grandfather thing, why people made such a big deal of it, until it happened to me. Well, I get it now." MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 055-056_MA_SP_VFT_October13.indd 56 9/17/13 5:58 PM