University News

On Friday, Oct. 17, University officials celebrated with Mt. Hope community members; city, county, state, and federal government leaders; and project partners the dedication of College Town, the $100 million shopping, dining, business and residential district in the city of Rochester near River Campus and the Medical Center.

The Health Plan Committee, which evaluates new proposals for inclusion in the University’s health program offerings, recently approved this expansion of benefits to enrolled employees and their covered family members. The benefit will cover medically necessary transition-related coverage, including hormone therapy, medical and psychological counseling, and gender affirmation surgery.

Strong Memorial and F.F. Thompson Hospitals are the only Western New York hospitals to earn this distinction from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF), , which is the nation’s largest organization devoted to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights issues.

On Saturday, Oct. 18, two popular experts on University of Rochester history—Paul Burgett, vice president and senior advisor to the president and Melissa Mead, University archivist—will highlight some its most significant milestones and retell some of its best stories.

As head of patron services in Rush Rhees Library, Kathy Metz has helped redefine how students and faculty access library services and resources. Her ingenuity and leadership have earned her the 2014 Messinger Libraries Recognition Award.

Robert Lamb Sproull, internationally known physicist, professor and the seventh president of the University of Rochester, died Oct. 9 at the age of 96. Sproull joined the University as provost in 1968 and was president from 1970 to 1984.

Knill, who came to the University as an associate professor in 1999, was a leading scientist in the study of human perception. He also served as the associate director of the Center for Visual Science since 2001. Most of his work, which included over 60 research and review articles, focused on visual perception and how humans use vision to guide physical actions.

In a new book, Our Work Is But Begun: A History of the University of Rochester, 1850–2005, author Janice Bullard Pieterse traces the growth of the University of Rochester from a small undergraduate program in 1850 to a leading research university and engine for regional economic growth.

Associate professor of religion Nora Rubel has been named director of the University’s Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies. As a scholar of religion, Rubel says she was excited to move to Rochester in 2007 to live near the ‘burned over’ district where many religious movements began. “But once I arrived I was just as drawn to the area’s ties to abolition and the women’s rights movements.”

On Oct. 3, Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter announced that the Obama administration has made a significant federal commitment to the nation’s photonics industry through a competition that may boost the Rochester-area economy and create jobs.

The University has appointed Jessica Guzmán-Rea as the director of its Intercultural Center (ICC). In this role, Guzmán-Rea will promote collaborative programming and initiatives that are welcoming to students, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds.

Andrew P. Barowsky '72, president of the Barowsky Foundation, has committed $1 million to create a path for students at Dominican University of California aspiring to attend graduate school at Rochester.