announcements

On the evening of April 13, at the intersection of McLean Street and Wilson Boulevard on River Campus, Ocieka Bakou, a local Xerox employee, selflessly intervened to prevent a violent crime from progressing into a possible tragedy.

The University of Rochester will recognize the outstanding contributions of distinguished leaders and scholars by bestowing honorary degrees, the Eastman Medal, Hutchison Medals for exemplary service, and awards for scholarship and teaching. Deborah Bial, founder and president of the Posse Foundation, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree and deliver the College’s commencement address on May 17.

The START-UP NY initiative provides participating companies with tax exemptions for 10 years when they locate in designated areas associated with colleges and universities and align with a school's core academic mission.

Dean of Arts & Sciences Gloria Culver has announced the creation of a Humanities Center, which will support multidisciplinary engagement around literature, history, the arts, and philosophies of cultures past and present. Culver and interim director of the new center Joan Shelley Rubin have chosen “Humanities at the Crossroads: Charting Our Future” as the center’s theme for its first year. Faculty and students will organize research projects, seminars and symposia around the theme.

Evans and Susanna Lam have committed $1 million to the River Campus Libraries to establish the Evans and Susanna Lam Library Revitalization Fund. The fund will support the modernization of the patron services area in Rush Rhees Library, which will be named Evans Lam Square.

A significant pay gap still exists between men and women on a national scale. In order to help raise awareness of this issue, the Susan B. Anthony Center has partnered with the Coalition on Pay Equity (or COPE) to survey this inequality in the Rochester area.

Trustee Robert B. Goergen and Pamela M. Goergen have committed $11 million to the University's Institute for Data Science. In recognition of the Goergens’ commitment, the institute will be named the Goergen Institute for Data Science.

On the way to $1.2 billion, the University has met—and is currently exceeding—its campaign goals for faculty ($350 million) and the Annual Fund ($130 million). Campaign support to date has established 93 new endowed professorships throughout the University, which has exceeded the original goal of 80.

The University of Rochester Libraries have become one of the newest members of HathiTrust, a worldwide partnership of more than one hundred major research institutions and libraries working to preserve and provide access to the cultural record in digital form.

The University of Rochester is combining scholars, researchers, and resources from more than 15 academic departments and multiple schools to create the Center for Energy & Environment (CEE). Its purpose is to improve energy systems and to understand the impacts of energy technologies on the environment and human health.