Skip to content

Posts categorized Society & Culture

Posts Loop

Society & Culture
April 7, 2020 | 10:50 am

First mobile app for caregivers of children with FASD reaches trial stage

After two-and-a-half years of development and testing, the first promising results are in for an app designed to help caregivers of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

topics: Christie Petrenko, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, developmental disorders, Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Mt. Hope Family Center, research finding, School of Arts and Sciences,
Woman at supermarket carries three large packages of toilet paper.
Society & Culture
April 2, 2020 | 04:49 pm

Why do people hoard and socialize during a pandemic?

“Proximity is usually associated with intimacy, and distance with strangeness,” explains Rochester anthropologist Robert Foster. “The public challenge at the moment is that we must learn to express our care and concern by maintaining distance, which is counter-intuitive.”

topics: COVID-19, Department of Anthropology, Robert Foster, School of Arts and Sciences,
image of closed store
Society & Culture
March 31, 2020 | 12:45 pm

Rochester economist: ‘Congress will have to do more’ to fight recession

The $2 trillion stimulus plan working its way through Congress likely won’t be adequate to save the US economy from recession in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, says University of Rochester economist Narayana Kocherlakota.

topics: COVID-19, Department of Economics, Narayana Kocherlakota, recession, School of Arts and Sciences,
Ella Salome Wilcoxen
Society & Culture
March 5, 2020 | 02:32 pm

Who was the first woman to graduate from Rochester?

Ella Salome Wilcoxen, Class of 1901, was in her mid-30s when she applied, and a special faculty committee had to be formed to approve her request. She went on to become a teacher.

topics: Celebration 2020, diversity-inclusion,
Olivia Hooker
Society & Culture
February 28, 2020 | 02:44 am

‘The memories of what happened to us then will never go away’

By the time of her death at age 103, Olivia Hooker ’62 (PhD) was an early witness to devastating acts of racist violence, the first African-American woman to serve in the Coast Guard, and a prominent psychology professor.

topics: Black History Month, featured-post-side, obituaries, Rochester Review, Rochester Women,
Society & Culture
February 21, 2020 | 03:44 pm

How can understanding stories help in the American border crisis?

“It’s in our best interest to make sense of the US and Mexico as places that receive and places that send—that goes for both countries,” says associate professor of history Ruben Flores, who will host acclaimed writer Valeria Luiselli in the latest Humanities Center Public Lecture Series.

topics: events, global engagement, humanities, Humanities Center, Mexico, Ruben Flores,
mother and child walking through a field during sunset.
Society & Culture
February 3, 2020 | 01:42 pm

Self-care linked to greater confidence in parents of children with FASD

A Rochester study is the first to describe caregiver strategies for self-care and the obstacles and barriers parents face in raising children struggling with developmental, cognitive, and behavioral problems associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

topics: child development, Christie Petrenko, Department of Psychology, developmental disorders, featured-post-side, Mt. Hope Family Center, research finding, Warner School of Education,
Chinese girl wearing a face mask poses for a photo with a year of the rat cartoon mascot in a busy train station.
Society & Culture
January 23, 2020 | 03:37 pm

Millions migrate to mark the Year of the Rat

With an outbreak of coronavirus making for an unusual travel season, Rochester faculty describe the traditions—and logistical challenges—as more than 1.3 billion Chinese go on vacation at the same time to mark the new year.

topics: China, Daniel Reichman, Department of Anthropology, Department of Computer Science, global engagement, John Osburg, Lunar New Year, Zhen Bai,
close up of the small book from the side, its pages compressed together.
Society & Culture
January 23, 2020 | 10:16 am

Multispectral imaging unlocks a Smithsonian treasure’s secrets

This tiny book was acquired by the Smithsonian in 1925. It’s made up of 147 folios of parchment, or treated animal hide, stitched together. The “over text”—the visible text—is of an Armenian prayer book, suspected to date from the 15th century. But there is also an “under text”—a work that was erased to recycle the parchment for the over text. The Smithsonian has turned to University of Rochester professor Gregory Heyworth and his Lazarus Project to help solve the mystery of what that long-ago effaced text might be.

topics: Department of English, Gregory Heyworth, humanities, School of Arts and Sciences,