Society & Culture Archives - News Center

Claire Boeck against a white background and text that reads "ever wonder" with a thought bubble containing the sentence "what does it mean to be a good student".

Society & Culture

4 myths about what it means to be a “good student”

September 4, 2026

URochester experts challenge common assumptions about academic success—and offer practical ways to become a more successful college student.

John Blackshear against a white background next to blue text that reads "ever wonder" and a thought bubble that reads "how does someone become a criminal?" to explain incarceration and the prison pipeline.

Society & Culture

What crime and prison reveal about incarceration—and about us

URochester researchers on how childhood trauma, parental incarceration, and even discipline in schools shape criminal justice outcomes.

URochester men's soccer team player Johnny Makula curves a soccer ball during a kick to demonstrate the Magnus effect.

Science & Technology

The Magnus effect: The science that allows soccer players to ‘bend it like Beckham’

‘Miracle’ goals scored from seemingly impossible angles are made possible by physics.

Overhead shot featuring several editions of The Settlement Cook Book alongside Jewish foods like bagels, babka, and hamantaschen, with the central focal point on Nora Rubel's book, "Recipes for the Melting Pot: The Lives of the Settlement Cook Book."

Society & Culture

The cookbook that taught generations of Jews how to become American

A new book reveals how The Settlement Cook Book became an unlikely guide to immigration, assimilation, memory, and belonging.

A group of high school students sits in a classroom at a table with laptops and papers while teachers help them with their work.

Society & Culture

How AI is reshaping teaching and learning in schools

Warner School faculty share practical strategies for using AI to support teaching, not replace it.

Soccer ball on a pitch with the stadium blurred in the background. The ball looks like the globe to indicate world history as it relates to the World Cup.

Society & Culture

Beyond the pitch: The World Cup as world history

A URochester expert unpacks the history, identity, migration, fandom, and politics that collide on soccer’s biggest stage

Patriotic-themed ‘America’s Greatest Hits’ vinyl album cover featuring collage-style images of famous American musicians, instruments, stars, an eagle, a jukebox, and a classic car in red, white, and blue tones beside a black record.

From the Magazine

America’s greatest hits: The soundtrack of a nation at 250

URochester experts guide you through 250 years of American music, from Indigenous song and spirituals to jazz, rock, hip-hop, and Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX performance.

Pablo Sierra Silva stands with arms crossed in his Rush Rhees office in front of full bookshelves. (University of Rochester / J. Adam Fenster)

From the Magazine

Office hours with Pablo Sierra Silva

The URochester professor, who teaches World History Through Soccer, on the power of primary sources and sport as a window onto society.

Dan Wang seated at a table in front of an orange background.

From the Magazine

Our man in China

For seven years, Dan Wang ’15 observed, documented, and analyzed a nation changing at breakneck speed. Now he’s got world leaders hanging on his every word.

Dan Keating next to text that reads "ever wonder" and a thought bubble with the question "what sets humans apart in the era of AI".

Society & Culture

Work becomes more human in the age of AI

URochester experts explain how AI could support care, creativity, and connection—while leaving empathy, curiosity, and judgment firmly in human hands.

Illumination from Hildegard of Bingen's Scivias showing her receiving a vision and dictating to a teacher.

Society & Culture

URochester musicologist helps bring medieval mystic to life at Venice Biennale

Honey Meconi’s scholarship on Hildegard of Bingen advised the Vatican’s exhibit featuring FKA Twigs, Brian Eno, Patti Smith, and others.

Elena Prager against a white background next to blue text that reads "ever wonder" and then in a yellow thought bubble "are monopolies bad". The University of Rochester shield is in the lower right-hand corner.

Society & Culture

Why monopolies aren’t a game—and how they shape your life today

Simon Business School experts explain how market power impacts consumers, workers, and innovation in the modern economy.