On the 40th anniversary of its inception, the Janet Heininger Kafka Prize recognized a short story collection: Mia Alvar’s In the Country. The University awards the annual prize to a promising but less established American woman writer of fiction.

Astronomy professor Adam Frank traces the “line from [Ellis] Chesbrough’s audacious plan to make Chicago a clean, functioning city 150 years ago and the invisible infrastructures hiding behind your cell phone” today. / NPR.org

This spring, the University of the Pacific in Lima, Peru, conferred an honorary professorship on Donatella Stocchi-Perucchio, associate professor of Italian in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, in recognition of her scholarly contributions to the field of Dante studies.

Reflecting on the year since her first appearance on the cover of Vanity Fair, John Cullen and Nick Kapser from the University’s Susan B. Anthony Center reflect on the very public transition of Caitlyn Jenner. / Newsweek

Restrictive housing—popularly referred to as “solitary confinement”—is widely employed in U.S. prisons and jails. Kevin Fiscella of the Department of Family Medicine examines the risks of restrictive housing, especially for juvenile offenders. / CorrectCare

Rochester will join forces with the Cornell Prison Education Program next year, as assistant professor of religion Joshua Dubler and his students bring the value of a higher education to an often invisible population while addressing the epidemic of mass incarceration.

One of the earliest images of the 19th-century abolitionist is on loan at the River Campus Libraries through February. While here, the 1848 portrait will feature in a larger exhibition about the University’s work on researching and preserving daguerreotypes.

Many veteran students and their families face unique challenges when navigating both the educational and governmental systems. The University’s Veterans Alliance and Veteran and Military Family Services Office work to provide the support that veteran students, staff, faculty, and families need.

In the movie Back to the Future Part II, “Doc” Emmett Brown convinces Marty McFly to travel 30 years into the future from 1985, arriving on October 21, 2015. We take a look at some of the movie’s technological and cultural predictions for 2015 and see how they stack up with the present day, and find out what the University is doing to help make the future a reality.

As part of a pre-orientation program, incoming freshmen bond during outing treks throughout Upstate New York’s wilderness.