Privacy Policy

Privacy Notice for the Biological Sciences Division, Divinity School, Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, Harris School of Public Policy, Humanities Division, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, Physical Sciences Division, School of Social Service Administration, and Social Sciences Division, maintained by UChicagoGRAD.

Our postal address is:

UChicagoGRAD
The University of Chicago
970 E. 59th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

If you have questions or concerns, please contact:

Holly Bland, Director of Graduate Enrollment Initiatives, UChicagoGRAD

UChicagoGRAD provides services and support to prospective students, applicants, current graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, alumni, employers, faculty, and other constituents (collectively, “constituents”) across the University of Chicago, including in the Biological Sciences Division, Divinity School, Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, Harris School of Public Policy, Humanities Division, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, Physical Sciences Division, School of Social Service Administration, and Social Sciences Division (each, a “Unit”).

UChicagoGRAD and each Unit is committed to safeguarding the individual privacy of its constituents. This Privacy Notice, maintained by UChicagoGRAD on behalf of itself and the Units, describes our policies on the collection, processing, use, disclosure, and storage of information about our constituents, including in connection with recruitment and admissions activities of each Unit. When you submit an application to a Unit, submit information through the University’s current student portal, or otherwise provide us with information or use our websites and other services, your information will be handled as described in this Privacy Notice.

University Use and Processing of Information

UChicagoGRAD and the Units use information that you provide to us and information we collect about you to provide services and support, including administration of your application (e.g., admission and financial aid processing) or provision of advising and support services to current students, postdoctoral scholars, and alumni. In addition, we, along with other offices within the University, may process information about constituents in furtherance of other legitimate interests, such as (i) to analyze and improve our processes, (ii) for outreach efforts, (iii) to conduct general research, (iv) to fulfill other University responsibilities or purposes, or (v) to provide services to constituents. Where we have sought, and you have provided, your express consent for a particular purpose, please note that you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by notifying us at the contact information above.

Online Payments

We may collect credit card information from you for fees and/or deposits. A reputable third-party financial institution handles our credit card transactions. Whenever you transmit credit card information through our sites, the numbers and letters are scrambled using encryption technology to protect the information from being stolen or intercepted. To protect your security, we do not allow you to store your credit card number from session to session.

Cookies

Certain of our web sites use a feature of your browser and other similar technologies to set a “cookie” on your computer. We cannot tell your name or any personal information about you based solely on the cookie. Unless you specifically tell us your name and other identifying information, we will not know who you are. Cookies and similar technologies tell us what functions you perform when you are on a particular site so that we can keep track of your transaction or pending application. A cookie also helps us note particular traffic patterns on the site which can help inform improvements and changes to the site and its content.

Browsers allow you to reject cookies or to choose which cookies you will accept. Rejecting cookies, however, may interfere with your ability to use certain features of our sites.

Third Parties

We may disclose your information to third parties as follows:

Service Providers. We may use third parties to support our operations. In such cases, we may share your information with such third parties.

University Affiliated Programs. We may share your information with third parties that are affiliated with the University of Chicago for the purpose of contacting you about opportunities that may be of interest to you.

Research and Studies. We may share your information with third parties that study admissions or other topics related to higher education. We may also share your information with third parties that conduct research or develop products or services designed to improve admissions or other higher education functions.

Required by Law. We may share your information with third parties to the extent we are required to do so by law, court order, or subpoena.

Emergency Circumstances. We may share your information with third parties if, in our sole judgment, such disclosure is necessary to protect the health, safety, or property of any person.

Compelling Purpose. We may share your information in other cases when there is a compelling purpose regarding benefit to the University or members of our community.

Consent. We may seek your consent to disclose your information to third parties if we are required to do so. Where we have sought, and you have provided, your express consent for a particular purpose, please note that you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by notifying us at the contact information above.

De-Identified and Aggregate Information. We may use and disclose information about our applicants in de-identified or aggregate form without limitation.

International Transfers. We may transfer your information to University affiliates or third parties located in other countries. These transfers are made subject to appropriate technical safeguards and contractual provisions to ensure the security of your information.

Volunteers. We may share your information with University volunteers in connection with volunteer opportunities. In such cases, we may share your information with such third parties.  Please see the Policy on Volunteer Service for more information on expectations of volunteers with respect to sensitive and confidential information.

Security

You must have a secure browser – one that supports secure transmission of data across the Internet – to apply online to the University. For more information about your browser’s security features, use your browser’s help feature.

We seek to implement appropriate security measures to protect your information when you transmit it to us and when we store it on our systems. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. When you send us credit card information over the Internet, we use industry standard SSL (secure socket layer) encryption. Your password is protected so that only you can access it and view the information that you provide to us through the online database portals.  We strongly advise you not to share your password with anyone.

IMPORTANT: To avoid having confidential information remain in your browser’s “memory” of recently viewed pages, you are strongly urged to quit or turn off your browser software or clear your browser’s cache when you are finished.

Data Retention

Your information will be retained as provided in the University’s record retention policy, available here.

Individual Rights

Various jurisdictions grant individuals rights regarding their data, including: (i) the right to request access to your information held by the University; (ii) the right to have inaccurate or incomplete personal data rectified; (iii) the right to erasure of your information, provided there is no legitimate reason for the University to continue to process or retain the information; (iv) the right to restrict processing of your information in specific situations; (v) the right to request provision of some elements of your information; (vi) the right to object to processing of your information, including to send you communications that may be considered direct-marketing materials; and (vii) the right to object to automated decision-making or profiling, where applicable. All requests to exercise any of the rights described above should be made to the appropriate contact listed above.

While we encourage you to bring your concerns to us in the first instance, in certain jurisdictions, you may also have the right to submit a complaint to the jurisdiction’s supervisory authority for data protection matters.

Updates to this Notice

Changes may be made to this Privacy Notice and personal information may be used for new purposes. When significant changes are made to our privacy practices, they will be disclosed here.

Last update: 5/22/18