SAS In Focus is the only newsletter devoted to reporting what’s happening in the School of Arts & Sciences.
In this edition . . .
BETTING BIG ON BIOLOGIST VERA GORBUNOVA
A new collaboration between leading longevity researchers and brain disease experts led by Vera Gorbunova (pictured above), the Doris Johns Cherry Professor of Biology, has been awarded $18.5 million by the National Institute of Aging.
The scientists are examining gene mechanisms responsible for long and healthy lives and drawing on their latest findings to pursue novel interventions for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
To bridge the gap between rodents and humans, Gorbunova tapped M. Kerry O’Banion, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center. The grant includes Rochester faculty members Andrei Seluanov and Hongbo Liu, as well as colleagues from other universities.
PLUTZIK READING SERIES OPENS
The 62nd season of the Plutzik Reading Series opens Monday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m. in the Welles-Brown Room of the Rush Rhees Library with a reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carl Phillips.
Phillips will read from his recent works, which will also be available to purchase. The event is free and open to all.
The series is one of the most prestigious and longest-running reading series in the country, and honors the life and poetic achievements of Hyam Plutzik, a critically acclaimed poet and Rochester faculty member.
BOOK NOOK
Can you imagine a world without police? Philip V. McHarris (pictured above), assistant professor of Black Studies, can and he lays out how in his new book Beyond Policing (Legacy Lit | Hatchette, 2024)
ABC News, which interviewed McHarris about his research, called his examination of the history and impact of policing “not just a surface-level critique, but a comprehensive analysis.”
Learn more about McHarris and his research through this story and Q&A with McHarris published by the University of Rochester News Center.
Steven Rozenski (pictured above), an associate professor in the Department of English who specializes in late medieval English and German literature, has won the 2024 Hagiography Society Book Prize for his latest work, Wisdom’s Journey (University of Notre Dame Press, 2022).
In announcing the award, the society described Rozenski’s book as “transcend(ing) two important boundaries with confidence and to the intellectual profit of its readers.”
Wisdom’s Journey explores the transformative influence of translated devotional and mystical texts in England between 1350 and 1650.
The New Books Network interviewed Stephen Shottenfeld, professor of English, about his latest novel, This Room is Made of Noise (University of Wisconsin Press, 2023).
Host G.P. Gottlieb described the novel, which is set in Rochester as centers on a newly divorced handyman who befriends an elderly widow of means, as being “about shifting relationships and families, the ones you’re born with and the ones you create.”
You can listen to Schottenfeld’s interview here.
SPECIAL SCREENING
You are invited to a special screening of the documentary “Last Flight Home” on Wednesday, Nov. 6., at the Rochester Academy of Medicine, 1441 East Ave., Rochester.
“Last Flight Home” takes audiences on a heart-wrenching ride through the life Eli Timoner, a wildly successful entrepreneur and philanthropist, who decides to end his life after suffering a debilitating stroke. The film was nominated for an Emmy and shortlisted for an Oscar.
The screening starts at 6 p.m. following a reception beginning at 5:15 p.m. A post-screening discussion led by Jason Middleton, associate professor of English, and featuring the director, Ondi Timoner (pictured above), and Dr. Robert Horowitz, the Georgia and Thomas Gosnell Distinguished Professor in Palliative Care, begins at 8 p.m.
The event is sponsored by The Humanities Center, The Paul M. Schyve, MD, Center for Bioethics, and UR Medicine Palliative Care. Register to attend.
REMINDER: BLACKBOARD ULTRA IS COMING
The School of Arts and Sciences will transition from Blackboard Original Courses to Blackboard Ultra Courses in January 2025. “Ultra” courses live in the same Blackboard space as “Original” courses but have a different look and feel.
Spring courses will be created in November using Ultra. Information and registration about workshops for building your courses in Ultra are available here.
To learn more about Ultra in advance of the transition, register to attend an online symposium. The session is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 1 from 10-11a.m. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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.
