Can you say fast track? In the past year, the expansion-minded South Sider celebrated the openings of the Logan Center for the Arts, David Axelrod’s Institute of Politics, and a hospital at the university. And he helped secure a whopping research grant of $120 million from Argonne National Laboratory. The next test of his influence: whether he can land Hyde Park the coveted Obama presidential library complex.

Photograph: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO