SAS In Focus is the only newsletter devoted to reporting what’s happening in the School of Arts & Sciences.
In this edition . . .
- How the late Arthur Satz ’51 shared an unknown waltz by composer Frédéric Chopin with the world.
- Election Day is here! Our experts have a thing or two to say about that.
- Another gentle reminder: Blackboard Ultra is coming. Are you ready?
CHOPIN WALTZ UNEARTHED AFTER 200 YEARS
It’s not every day that a new work by the late, great composer Frédéric Chopin surfaces.
But that’s what happened recently when a curator at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City was sorting through a collection of cultural memorabilia and stumbled on a faded manuscript that bore all the markings of the Polish master.
The collection of memorabilia, which included postcards signed by Picasso and letters from Brahms and Tchaikovsky, had come to the museum in 2019 through a bequest by the late Arthur Satz, whose gift to support the humanities at the University of Rochester was the largest of its kind and for whom the Arthur Satz Department of Music is named.
The New York Times reports that Satz, who died in 2018, at some point bought the collection from the wife of the former director of the New York School of Interior Design, where Satz served as president and board chair for years.
The former director was an autograph hound and amateur pianist who, according to his family, displayed the Chopin waltz in his home in Wilton, Connecticut, without apparently knowing the significance of what he had.
Listen and watch star pianist Lang Lang performing the piece for The New York Times.
BRIDGING AMERICA’S POLITICAL DIVIDE
The literature on political polarization suggests partisan antipathy in the United States has become deeply entrenched and increasingly resistant to amelioration.
Given the coming presidential election, the largest study of techniques to lessen polarization recently published in Science is especially timely.
Playing a role in the study were two Rochester researchers — James Druckman, the Martin Brewer Anderson Professor of Political Science, and Cameron Hecht, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology.
Their study, which included 85 coauthors from five countries and dozens of universities, highlighted 25 treatments to reduce partisan animosity. What are they? This piece from the University of Rochester News Center dives in.
WHO’S VOTING?
If you took advantage of early voting in Monroe County last week, chances are good you stood in a long line to exercise your right to cast a ballot.
Who was out there with you? Who wasn’t? Rochester political scientists James Druckman, Mayya Komisarchik, and Scott Tyson explain why people either go to the polls or stay home, and what their choice means for democracy.
University of Rochester News Center: Voter turnout: What every American needs to know before Election Day.
Speaking of voting, our director of communications, David Andreatta, penned a piece for The New York Times about the Susan B. Anthony Museum & House in Rochester being a newly designated polling site for the presidential election.
Anthony was arrested in her house in 1872 for casting a ballot for president. This year, thousands of people visited the museum to exercise their right to vote.
ARE YOU READY FOR BLACKBOARD ULTRA?
The School of Arts and Sciences will transition from Blackboard Original Courses to Blackboard Ultra Courses in January 2025 — and there are lots of resources to bring faculty up to speed.
Workshop 1: This session will teach you how to copy content from Original to Ultra and how to best organize your course in Ultra. This session runs from 2-3 p.m. on Nov. 12. Register here.
Workshop 2: This session covers how to use all the “Graded Items” (ie: Discussion, Journal, Tests, Assignments) in Blackboard Ultra. This session runs from 10-11 a.m. on Nov. 15. Register here.
Need 1-on-1 help? Book a session in person or on Zoom with an instructor today. Times are available starting the week of Nov. 11.
GOT NEWS TO SHARE?
Send your SAS In Focus news tips to SAS Senior Communications Officer David Andreatta at david.andreatta@rochester.edu. Tell him about research, awards, publications, symposiums, and whatever other news you think is fit to print. Be sure to put “SAS In Focus” in the subject heading.
