Dear School of Arts and Sciences community,
We are a few weeks away from welcoming students back to campus for a new academic year, but today I begin my charge as your interim dean, and I want to share with you my plan for carrying out my duties in the months ahead.
First, though, I want to express my gratitude to my predecessor, Nicole Sampson for her tireless work advancing the mission of the School of Arts and Sciences. I congratulate Nicole on being named interim provost, and I look forward to working with her closely over the course of the academic year and the tremendous team she established during her time as dean.
This past year was marked by both a major transition and a ramp up of new initiatives and faculty hiring. As you may know, SAS became an independent operational unit on July 1, 2024, with the formal sunset of the College of Arts, Sciences and Engineering. An overarching goal for this year is to take full advantage of our restructuring to better serve students, staff, and faculty.
School structures, of course, exist primarily to facilitate the work we do at the University. I will work to support existing initiatives and launch new ones to expand our facilities, attract and retain outstanding students, staff, and faculty, solidify our identity as a school, and enhance our reputation on the world stage. These goals are best achieved by relying on the resources and amazing people at SAS, as well as our close partnerships with Hajim and other schools.
I begin my interim deanship at an ideal time; with truly exciting opportunities on the horizon and important groundwork laid to make those goals achievable.
Please know that my door is open to you. It is important to me that the spectrum of stakeholders in our School community feel welcome and know that their voices are heard. You can reach out to me at any time at sasdean@rochester.edu.
The School of Arts and Sciences is the heart and soul of the University. Being the custodian of that is an awesome responsibility and challenge. Again, I can’t thank you enough for your support and collaboration.
Your dean,
Duje
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PSYCHED FOR THE RECOGNITION
The clinical psychology doctoral program at the University of Rochester has been recognized as among the most prestigious in the United States.
The recognition comes in the form of accreditation from the Psychological and Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS), which endorses programs that embody the highest standards of science-centered education and training.
PCSAS accredited the program, run by the Department of Psychology, after an extensive evaluation process that included two independent reviews, site visits, and a formal interview. The accreditation is valid for 10 years.
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BOOK NOOK
Political science professor Jamie Druckman has been named a co-winner of the Gladys M. Kammerer Award by the American Political Science Association for his contributions to the book Equality Unfulfilled: How Title IX’s Policy Design Undermines Change to College Sports (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Druckman authored the book with Elizabeth Sharrow, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The distinction honors the best book published during the previous calendar year in the field of national policy and comes with a $1,000 cash prize. The American Political Science Association called the book “an impressive piece of scholarship” and said it stood out “for its courage in taking on such a universally lauded public policy and asking readers to consider its shortcomings.”
Speaking of Druckman, he is the subject of an extensive profile in the latest edition of Rochester Review. Here’s an excerpt:
If you follow the social science driving public policy and political behavior in the United States, chances are you know the name Jamie Druckman.
It’s not an overstatement to call Druckman, who in January joined the Department of Political Science after 19 years at Northwestern University, a star in his field.
But even if you are among the millions of Americans who pay little attention to the theory and practice of government and politics, chances are you have been influenced in some way by Druckman, or at least his work. And if not, you’re about to be.
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RESEARCH ROUNDUP
Experiential learning in Italy: The National Science Foundation has awarded Michael Ruggiero, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, a $449,000 grant to fund a program that sends undergraduate and graduate students to Italy for cutting-edge research in materials chemistry with important technological applications, from drug development to molecular semiconductor engineering. The program prioritizes undergraduate students from underrepresented communities with no previous international experience. Students will collaborate with internationally-recognized researchers and have access to advanced facilities at the University of Turin and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
Understanding genetics and inheritance: Research led by Karl Rosengren, a professor in the departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Psychology, that provides new insights into children’s understanding of biological variability has received continued funding from the National Science Foundation. Biological variability is a key foundational concept in biology education that is linked to understanding genetics and inheritance. The research involves a longitudinal study of children ages 4 to 12 to chart a clearer picture of how ideas about trait variability develop.
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US-CHINA TRADE WAR EXPLAINED
Economist George Alessandria says the trade war between the US and China could last another five years.
His assertion is based on an analysis of historical data he and other researchers used to construct an economic model to predict the probability of a prolonged trade war. Their conclusions are discussed in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper titled Trade War and Peace: US-China Trade and Tariff Risk from 2015-2050.
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GOT NEWS TO SHARE?
Send your SAS In Focus news tips to SAS Senior Communications Officer David Andreatta at david.andreatta@rochester.edu. Be sure to put “SAS In Focus” in the subject heading, and tell him about research, awards, publications, and symposiums, and whatever other news you think is fit to print.
