College professor visiting Chicago from Utah is missing

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - A man visiting Chicago from Utah has been reported missing.

Professor Lawrence Culver is a prominent environmental historian at Utah State University. He was spending a month in Chicago this summer, attending seminars at the Newberry Library in the Gold Coast neighborhood.

“So Mister Culver was a participant in one of our summer research programs here at the Newberry, which began on July 11,” said Alex Teller of Newberry Library.

Professor Culver was a regular participant in the library's summer institute, until the end of last week, when he stopped showing up without any explanation. Friends and family haven’t' heard a word from him.

“So he, he's missed a few consecutive sessions, the last any of our seminar participants saw him was Thursday. And at that point we made efforts to reach him. Unfortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful,” Teller said.

FOX 32 spoke with one of Professor Culver’s parents Wednesday. They're in Birmingham, Alabama, and they declined comment, referring all questions to Chicago police.

So far, police have given no indication that foul play might be involved.

A spokesperson for Utah State University told FOX 32 that Professor Culver is a brilliant man who was expected to continue teaching there this fall. The professor has spent previous time at seminars in Europe with the Global Diversity Foundation, a spokesperson there told FOX 32.

"We were impressed by his distinguished scholarship and warmth as a human being, and we hope he is well.”

Culver was described as a white man with blue eyes, brown hair and a medium complexion, police said. He stand 5-foot-9 and weighs 200 pounds.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call police at (312) 744-8266.