IN BRIEF

Student-faculty ratio praised: According to data released last fall by Prism, a publication of the American Society of Engineering Education, undergraduate engineering students at Rochester enjoy the opportunity for more individual attention from faculty members than any other engineering students in the nation-with nearly one professor for every graduating senior.

Data compiled by U.S. News & World Report indicate that Rochester engineers also work closely with some of the best graduate students in the country. The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is behind only California Institute of Technology in its selectivity of graduate students, according to the report. Only 15 percent of applicants are accepted for engineering graduate study at the University.

Parrish gets a stamp: Maxfield Parrish's Interlude, a favorite of George Eastman that once hung in the Eastman Theatre and now makes its home in the Memorial Art Gallery, is featured on a first-class postage stamp issued in February (shown here in a preliminary, 33-cent design). Interlude-which has been replaced at the theater by a faithful photographic reproduction-was commissioned for the theater's opening. Last year it was the centerpiece of a very popular traveling show. A commemorative postal-cancellation ceremony at the Eastman School celebrated the stamp's issue.

Tech-transfer revenue grows: In the last year, the revenues from companies licensing technology derived from University engineering and biotechnology programs have quadrupled, increasing to $13.5 million in the 1999-2000 year from the previous year's $2.9 million. An additional sign of good health can be seen in National Institutes of Health funding for Medical Center research, which increased 18.9 percent and reached $89.9 million last year.

Skalny Center named: Polish and Central European studies advanced on two fronts at the University with a renaming and a professorial appointment.

In November the Center for Polish and Central European Studies was dedicated and renamed in honor of the Rochester-based Louis Skalny Foundation, which provides financial support for the center.

This was followed a month later by the appointment of Grzegorz Kolodko, former Polish deputy prime minister and minister of finance, as the John C. Evans Visiting Professor in Polish and European Studies. Kolodko, a key architect of his country's economic reforms during the last decade, is a leading expert on post-Communist transitions to democracy and a market economy.

The professorship is named for John Evans '39, '49 (Mas).

Library deanship created: A $1 million gift from Andrew H. Neilly '47 and his wife, Janet Dayton Neilly, has established a named and endowed deanship in the River Campus libraries. The funds will be used by the dean to enhance library collections related to the arts, science, and engineering and as well support programs that add to the University's overall intellectual climate.

First holder of the Neilly deanship is Ronald Dow, dean of River Campus Libraries since 1996. Now a life trustee of the University, Neilly is former CEO of the publisher John Wiley & Sons and former president of the International Publishers Association.

"Great Hall" renovated: Rush Rhees Library's second-floor Great Hall, at one time home to the main circulation desk and later a cavernous, little-used reading room, has been handsomely renewed. Among other enhancements, the rich detail of its oak paneling has been restored and the effect of its former skylight and clerestory windows recreated. The renovation, completed in time for last fall's Sesquicentennial celebration, was made possible by a gift from the Gleason Foundation.

Restored previously were the Roger B. Friedlander Lobby and the building's two other "grand old rooms"-the Martin E. Messinger Periodical Reading Room and the Welles-Brown Room.

Center on aging established: The University was one of four institutions nationwide chosen to receive funding for a Nathan Shock Center of Excellence for research in biological issues related to the aging process. The award from the National Institute on Aging brings with it a $2.5 million grant. Howard Federoff, director of the Medical Center's existing Center on Aging and Development, heads the new facility.

Simon School scores high: The London-based Financial Times has rated the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration as the 29th best business school in the world and third overall in the category of finance. A couple of months earlier, Hispanic Business magazine singled out the school as the No. 1 U.S. graduate business school for Hispanic M.B.A. students.

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