April 28, 2008
Celebrate the ‘book’
Inaugural event honors works by faculty, staff
june.avignone@rochester.edu
Without books, history is silent, literature
dumb, science crippled, and thought and speculation at a
standstill, wrote Barbara Tuchman.
In celebration of all the book offers, in all
of its modern manifestations, a University-wide event featuring
some of the many published works from faculty and staff will take
place from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 30, in the Hawkins-Carlson
Room of Rush Rhees Library.
Printed and electronic books, edited volumes
and texts, as well as published compositions and CDs produced by
University faculty from all fields of the humanities, social
sciences, engineering, and natural sciences published from Jan. 1,
2007, through April 20, 2008, will be on display at the event and
available for purchase. Authors will be on hand to sign copies of
their works and to share anecdotes about their creation.
“Behind each work is a story of
inspiration, toil, exhilaration, frustration, and humor that is as
important to share as the book itself,” says Susan Gibbons,
vice provost and the Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of
Libraries, who will speak about books and libraries as they
relate to our changing times.
“Writing books is a solitary
enterprise that takes place in libraries, archives, labs,
and offices, so an event such as this, which allows us to showcase
our collective achievements across all divisions, gives authors the
acknowledgment and recognition they deserve,” says Thomas
Di-Piero, senior associate dean of humanities in the College.
“Books allow us to unfold new processes of contemplation and
discover new ways of producing and thinking about
meaning.”
The more than 50 books available at the event
range from the invented language of 12th-
century writer, composer, and visionary
Hildegard of Bingen by English Associate Professor Sarah Higley (Hildegard of Bingen’s Unknown Language,
Palgrave-McMillan, 2007) to the
Grammy-nominated “Best Opera Recording of 2007” CD by
Eastman Professor Paul O’Dette (Jean-Baptiste
Lully: Thésée, CPO, 2007) to
the cutting-edge field of quantum optics by named professorship Emil
Wolf, Wilson Professor of Optical Physics. (Introduction to the Theory of Coherence and Polarization
of Lights, Cambridge University Press, 2007).
The University of Rochester Press is
represented by Dieterich Buxtehude:
Organist in Lübeck by
Eastman Professor Emerita Kerala Snyder. The CD included with the
book offers performances by Eastman Organ Professor Hans
Davidsson. “This kind of joint project, combining words,
printed music, visual illustrations, and thrilling, stylish
sounds, is typical of the fruitful interaction of performance and
scholarship that goes on at the Eastman School,” says Eastman
Professor of Musicology Ralph Locke, who edits the Eastman Studies
series for the University of Rochester Press
“In our busy campus life, we rarely get
a chance like this to get together in areas from the humanities and
sciences to talk about the work we our doing with our peers in
other fields,” says Wolf.
“Our intention is to be as inclusive as
possible, to build community, exchanging between the humanities and
sciences, as well as across generations,” adds University
Provost Ralph Kuncl, who approached staff and faculty with the idea
for the celebration. “This year we have reached out to
faculty and staff for their contributions; next year we will reach
out to faculty, staff, students, trustees, and alumni.”
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