
MAG closed today after nearby fire
The Memorial Art Gallery remains closed Wednesday, Jan. 28, after a fire damaged a nearby building that was once part of the University’s historic Prince Street Campus.

Author and director of Schomburg Center of Black Culture to deliver MLK Commemorative Address
Khalil Gibran Muhammad will deliver the University’s 2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Address. Muhammad is author of Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime and the Making of Modern Urban America, in which he explored the roots of the popular conception of black criminality in America.

Middle States Commission reaccredits University
MSCHE’s conclusion to reaccredit the University was drawn from a review of an extensive institutional self-study, as well as interviews with Board of Trustees members, University leadership, faculty, staff, and students.

Bill Murphy to retire as vice president for communications
Bill Murphy, vice president for University Communications, is retiring in June 2015, President Joel Seligman announced today. A national search is underway to identify his successor.

Professor’s 5 decades of research on Congress now available online
A lifetime of scholarly work by one of the University’s most preeminent political science professors is now available to researchers across the world. For the first time, the papers of Richard Fenno, Jr., Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science, are easily accessible through a new web portal: www.richardfenno.com.

HTR announces new downtown incubator
High Tech Rochester (HTR) will expand its operations to the center of Rochester, creating $24 million business incubator facility will be located in the Sibley Building and serve as the cornerstone of the city’s new innovation zone.

Allan Greenleaf named a fellow of American Mathematical Society
The AMS awards fellowships to recognize “members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication, and utilization of mathematics.” Greenleaf is being singled out for his “contributions to inverse problems with applications to cloaking, as well as for service to AMS.”

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: International Theatre Program presents Venus
The play opens in Todd Theatre on Thursday, Dec. 4, and is based on the true story of Saartijie Baartman, a South African woman taken from her home in 1810 and brought to London where she becomes an overnight sensation on the freak-show circuit.
Statement from Rob Clark, Sr. VP for Research, on the value of scientific peer review
“The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is currently conducting a review on grants issued by the agency for some 60 merit-reviewed projects, including one from the University of Rochester. Scientific research awarded through peer-review process should not be subject to political or ideological interference.”

Trustee commits additional $1 million to scholarship
Trustee Cathy Minehan and her husband, Jerry Corrigan, have committed an additional $1 million to support the scholarship they established in 2004. The scholarship provides assistance for students in the School of Arts & Sciences with significant financial need, and preference is given to underrepresented minorities, athletes in good academic standing, and those pursuing research in the social sciences.