Rochester Review

January–February 2011, Volume 73, No. 3

Editor

Scott Hauser

Associate Editors

Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)

Kathleen McGarvey

Contributors

Valerie Alhart, Adam Fenster, Peter Iglinski, Dennis O’Donnell, and Brandon Vick

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Published six times a year for alumni, students, their parents, and other friends of the University, Rochester Review is produced by University Communications.

Opinions expressed are those of the authors, the editors, or their subjects and do not necessarily represent official positions of the University of Rochester.

Copyright © 2011 University of Rochester

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Alumni photographs, courtesy of the subjects. Unless otherwise credited, all others are Rochester Review photos.

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Esther Conwell’s Inspiring Example

By Joel Seligman

president (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Many at the University were thrilled when Professor Esther Conwell ’44 (MS) became the first member of our faculty to receive a National Medal of Science. Esther, a professor of chemistry who also holds an appointment in physics, is internationally recognized for her pioneering work to understand how electrons travel through semiconductors and other materials.

Esther’s work helped usher in the digital age. Her contributions to the understanding of electron transport and charge redistribution in solids were vital components in the development of the modern semiconductors at the heart of the computers, cell phones, printers, and other electronic devices that we use every day.

The National Science Medal that Esther received from President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony on Nov. 17 recognized her pathbreaking contributions to materials science, chemistry, and physics.

Esther’s extraordinary story is also that of a pioneering woman in science. Esther has witnessed—and demonstrated by her example—monumental changes for women in science over the past 60 years. Shortly after she was hired as an assistant engineer at Western Electric, she was notified that no such classification existed for women. So Esther became an engineer’s assistant, an assignment that significantly lowered her pay. As Esther has said, “My life is the story of women scientists making a place in the world. Although it’s not nirvana yet, women have come a long way in my working lifetime, and it gives me hope.”

Our world is different than it was in 1944 when Esther graduated with a master’s degree under the guidance of renowned physicist Victor Weisskopf. As recently as 1960, only 10.5 percent of all U.S. doctoral degrees were awarded to women. In 2008–09, more women than men received doctoral degrees in all fields.

Similarly, in 1979, women accounted for 7.5 percent of full-time, tenure-track faculty at the nation’s research institutions. By 2006, at all private U.S. doctoral universities, women held 27.8 percent of tenure-track faculty positions.

At Rochester, we have seen great progress. In 2010, women held 32.2 percent of the tenure-track faculty positions, an increase from 20.8 percent in 1990. Our leadership team includes Kathy Parker, dean of the School of Nursing; Raffaella Borasi, dean of the Warner School; Susan Gibbons, vice provost and the Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of River Campus Libraries; Joanna Olmsted, a professor of biology and dean of the School of Arts and Sciences; Wendi Heinzelman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and dean of graduate studies for Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, and Sue Stewart, senior vice president and general counsel.

We have more to do. Since my appointment as president in 2005, I have emphasized that diversity across all dimensions of the University must be a key priority for us. Coupled with an unwavering commitment to excellence, we seek to reflect the diverse spectrum of perspectives and experiences found in American society and the world to achieve our goal to be one of the nation’s top private research universities.

We owe much of the progress toward equality to changing attitudes about the roles of men and women and to federal legislation barring discrimination. Universities like Rochester also played important roles in recognizing that social progress depends on inclusion, not exclusion. More than 100 years ago, Susan B. Anthony famously pledged her life insurance to ensure that women would be admitted to the University.

I’m convinced we are on the right track. This past year we welcomed 158 new faculty members, of whom 71 were female. I was struck by the self-confidence and aspirations of all our new faculty, male and female alike. They arrived with tremendous educational achievement, enthusiasm for teaching, and a desire to use their talents to help improve the world.

Just one example of our new faculty is Patricia White, who joined the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy as an assistant professor and who also holds an appointment in the Department of Otolaryngology at the School of Medicine and Dentistry. Arriving from her postdoctoral position at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles, she is investigating possible mechanisms to induce regeneration of the cochlea with an eye toward designing new therapies for hearing loss.

Another outstanding example is Rae-Ellen Kavey, a pediatric cardiologist who joined the Children’s Heart Center at Golisano Children’s Hospital at the Medical Center. Having previously served as the senior medical officer for the Pediatric Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Program at the NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, she is expanding our understanding of how adult heart disease is rooted in obesity and lifestyle preferences established during childhood.

Esther Conwell’s legacy is one of extraordinary scientific achievement and inspiring example. Because of pioneers like Esther, the scientific community today more fully reflects the ideals of opportunity and achievement that are fundamental to our society’s success. For both her outstanding scientific achievements and her profound impact on the inclusiveness of the scientific community, I congratulate Professor Esther Conwell.

Letters

Who Are the Abenaki?

Thanks so much for including the story about my documentary The Lake Between in Rochester Review (“A Fresh Look at Lake Champlain,” Alumni Gazette, November-December 2010).

But I need to clarify a point in the story, which refers to the Abenakis as part of the Algonquin Nation. The Abenaki are not now nor ever were part of the Algonquin Nation.

The confusion often comes in because academics have dubbed the common language group “Algonquian.” There are many, many independent nations up and down what’s now the eastern United States whose language fits under that moniker, but who would be deeply offended by being referred to as part of the Algonquin Nation because they are independent nations.

My heart sinks when I think of Abenaki people—or the Haudenausaunee culture bearers I worked with—seeing that reference.

Caro Thompson ’81

Walden, Vt.

What Price Education?

I was pleased to read President Joel Seligman’s article, “Education Pays,” in the latest issue of Review (President’s Message, November-December 2010).

His summary explaining the significance of higher education should be shared publicly to a nationwide audience as a means of countering statements being heard by apparently less-educated political activists who are critical of the university function in general.

My concern is that an already agitated American public not be led to believe that higher education is anything less than a vital part of every aspect of our lives.

A. Robert Maurice ’69W (Mas)

Covington, La.

Another Leading Light

The article “Leading Lights” (September-October 2010) on the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser was of special interest to me because my good friend and fellow scientist David M. Grant Jr., who was trained in optical physics, was a pioneer in the creation and development of laser gyro navigation systems.

We pioneered in different fields (mine was the effects of high altitude on the cardiopulmonary system), but the minds of scientists do connect at a certain level as ours have.

For many years Dave has fascinated me with accounts of his early work in the field of laser optics. He was involved in, among other facets, designing the navigation system for the lunar landers in the 1960s.

I have shared “Leading Lights” with him. He was a personal friend of [former Institute of Optics Director] Robert Hopkins, who was featured in the article.

Robert Grover ’47

Arroyo Grande, Calif.

Department of Corrections

A caption for a photo depicting a symposium on financial regulation and job creation that was featured in a story about Meliora and Eastman Weekends (“Weekend to Remember,” November-December 2010) misidentified two panelists. The names of Alan Zekelman ’87S (MS), the president of Atlas Tube, and Louise McDonald ’99S (MBA), an executive vice president of Welch Allyn, were misspelled in the caption. We regret the errors.

Review welcomes letters and will print them as space permits. Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity. Unsigned letters cannot be used. Send letters to Rochester Review, 22 Wallis Hall, P.O. Box 270044, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0044; rochrev@rochester.edu.

EASTMAN HOUSE

Developing New Ties

An innovative partnership marks a new era in University and Eastman House history.

By Valerie Alhart

partnershipPICTURING PARTNERSHIP: Sara Hutt, a University graduate student, studies at the Eastman House’s Selznick School, part of an academic partnership between the two institutions. (Photo: Brandon Vick)

The long history between the University and George Eastman added another chapter this winter, when leaders announced a collaborative alliance between the University and George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, the world’s preeminent museum of imaging.

The collaboration—the most extensive museum and university alliance of its type—aims to bring further public engagement, research, and education in the arts and sciences, with a focus on the museum’s photography and motion picture collections.

The partnership “paves the way for exploration into new media, image preservation, film and media studies, science and technology, history and culture, the science of archiving, the study of digital technologies, and also the roles of librarians and archivists,” says Thomas DiPiero, senior associate dean of humanities.

partnershipHOUSEMATES: Bequeathed to the University by Eastman Kodak founder and benefactor George Eastman (above), Eastman’s mansion became a museum of photography and imaging history and technology in 1947. (Photo: George Eastman House Collections)

Peter Lennie, senior vice president and the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, says the arrangement will offer “unique opportunities for collaborative work between the humanities and the sciences, and it will mine the fabulous resources in the Eastman House collection. This allows both institutions to draw from their strengths and augment them, making a mark on several research domains.”

“A number of museums of the stature of George Eastman House have partnerships with universities, but research by the American Association of Museums turns up no programs of the breadth and depth of that being created in Rochester,” says Dewey Blanton, director of strategic communications for the American Association of Museums.

The two institutions already share strong bonds. The museum’s home, the George Eastman House, once served as the University president’s residence. They have engaged in 60 years of teaching partnerships; a master’s degree program in the English department with the Eastman House’s L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation; photography research focused on daguerreotypes that evaluates and preserves collections with techniques developed by the Departments of Computer Science and Physics and Astronomy; fellowships and public programs; and sharing library collections.

The new arrangement will lead to research and education across disciplinary boundaries, spanning from art to medicine, and proposed activities to benefit students and the public, such as new courses in preservation and in the art and science of photography and motion pictures, research programs for students and faculty, conferences and summer institutes, and programs in Rochester and online.

“At George Eastman House, we are preserving our cultural and visual heritage, and now working in collaboration with the scientists and educators at the University, we will do that more aggressively and in new and innovative ways,” says Anthony Bannon, the Ron and Donna Fielding Director of George Eastman House.

Valerie Alhart writes about the humanities for University Communications.

EASTMAN SCHOOL

Eastman School Celebrates the East Wing’s Premiere

eastmanPERFORMANCE SPACE: Steven Isserlis (above, right) instructs Jamie Clark ’12E during a master class in the new Hatch Recital Hall. The British cellist was one of several guest performers who helped celebrate the opening of Eastman’s new East Wing (below). (Photo: Adam Fenster)

eastman (Photo: Adam Fenster)

eastmanMUSICAL MOMENTS: American pianist Jeremy Denk conducts a master class for students onstage in Kilbourn Hall (above); Neil Varon directs the Eastman Philharmonia (below) during a dedication concert in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre that also featured the Eastman Wind Ensemble under the direction of Mark Davis Scatterday, and the Eastman-Rochester Chorus under the direction of William Weinert. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

eastman(Photo: Adam Fenster)

eastmanWORLD STAGE: The East Wing is home to Hatch Recital Hall, a state-of-the-art performance space that features Internet2 networking connections, allowing students and faculty to host and conduct virtual classes with other top conservatories, a capability that was demonstrated during a session with the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. (Photo: Brandon Vick)

Nearly 90 years after Eastman Kodak founder and Eastman School namesake George Eastman first dreamed of the possibility, music filled a performance hall at the corner of East Main and Swan streets this winter. The Eastman School officially dedicated its new East Wing in December with a weeklong series of concerts and special events.

Among the spaces making a debut was Hatch Recital Hall, a state-of-the-art performance space and the centerpiece of the new wing. Based on ideas mapped out in the 1920s as Eastman was drawing up plans for the school, the new wing extends the facade of the Main Building to the east along Main Street and provides students, faculty, and guest artists with expanded rehearsal, performance, and technological resources.

PRESIDENTIAL HONOR

Medal Moment

conwell (Photo: Ryan K. Morris)

SCIENTIFIC SCENE: “It’s no exaggeration to say that the scientists and innovators in this room have saved lives, improved our health and well-being, helped unleash whole new industries and millions of jobs, and transformed the way we work and learn and communicate,” President Barack Obama said as he presented Esther Conwell ’44 (MS), a professor of chemistry who also holds an appointment in physics, and other honorees with National Medals of Science. “This incredible contribution serves as proof, not only of their incredible creativity and skill, but of the promise of science itself.” A member of the Rochester faculty since the 1990s, Conwell is widely recognized for her research on how electrons move through materials, work that was crucial to the development of semiconductors and the electronic devices, including computers, cell phones, and printers, that rely on them.

EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

Lizard Lessons

lizardLANDMARK LIZARD: Native to Caribbean islands, Anolis lizards, like this one in the lab of Rochester biologist Richard Glor, are providing insights into evolution and species diversification. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

The little Anolis lizard is the star player in research conducted by Richard Glor, an assistant professor of biology, and Daniel Rabosky of the University of California at Berkeley, showing that species diversity is limited by geography.

The biologists studied patterns of species accumulation of lizards over millions of years on the Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Cuba.

Historically, biologists needed fossil records to study patterns of species diversification of lizards on the Caribbean islands. But advances in molecular methodology have allowed Glor and Rabosky to use DNA sequences to reconstruct evolutionary trees that show the relationships among species.

The two scientists found that species diversification of lizards on the four islands reached a plateau millions of years ago and has essentially come to an end—a finding that refutes some recent work suggesting that species diversity never enters equilibrium.

“Geographic size correlates to diversity,” says Glor. “In general, the larger the area, the greater the number of species that can be supported.” The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“When we look at other islands and continents that vary in species richness,” Glor says, “we can’t just consider rates of accumulation; we need to look at the plateau points.”

A state of equilibrium doesn’t mean that the evolution of a species stops, Glor adds. Lizards will continue to adapt to changes in their environment, but they aren’t expected to develop in ways that increase the number of species within a habitat.

—Peter Iglinski

Research Roundup

Children in Apartments Face Secondhand Smoke Risks

Even when no smokers live within their own home, children living in apartment buildings are exposed to secondhand smoke, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics and carried out by researchers at the Medical Center, MassGeneral Hospital for Children, and the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Julius B. Richmond Center for Excellence. Led by Karen Wilson, an assistant professor of pediatrics, the study is the first to report significant evidence of increased tobacco smoke exposure in the blood of kids who live in multi-unit housing. Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke puts children at greater risk for several illnesses, including respiratory infections, asthma, and sudden infant death syndrome.

Stem Cell Advance MAy Be Step Forward for Brain Disease

Medical Center scientists have created a way to isolate neural stem cells—the kind of cells that give rise to all the cell types of the brain—from human brain tissue with unprecedented precision, an important step toward developing new treatments for conditions of the nervous system, such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases and spinal cord injury. The work by a team of Rochester neuroscientists, led by Steven Goldman, a professor of neurology and chair of the neurology department, was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. The ability to gather human cells more efficiently could aid potential treatments built around transplanting stem cells.

Arthritis Pill Protects Against Skin Cancer

A widely used arthritis drug reduces the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers—the most common cancers in humans—according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Led by Alice Pentland, a professor of dermatology and chair of the dermatology department, the research indicates that the cox-2 inhibitor celecoxib—commercially known as Celebrex—led to a 62 percent reduction in non-melanoma skin cancers, a decrease much greater than that achieved through use of sunscreen, which provides only moderate protection against common skin-cell carcinomas.

For Some, Laparoscopic Technique Isn’t Better

When appendicitis strikes, open surgery reduces the infection risk for some patients, according to new research published in the journal Annals of Surgery and led by John Monson, a professor of colorectal surgery and chief of the Division of Colorectal Surgery. U.S. surgeons perform more than a quarter million appendectomies annually, most laparoscopically. But some people—older patients, smokers, men, those who are fighting infection, and those with diabetes—face a lower risk of deep abdominal infections with a conventional incision, the study indicates.

Bacteria Seek to Oust Egg as Top Vaccine Tool

Only the fragile chicken egg stands between Americans and a flu pandemic that would claims tens of thousands more lives than are usually lost to the flu each year. Vaccine production hinges on the availability of hundreds of millions of eggs. Rochester scientists have taken an important step toward ending the dominance of the oval. In a study published in the journal Vaccine and led by John Treanor, a professor of medicine and an expert on flu vaccines, scientists have demonstrated that an experimental flu vaccine grown entirely in bacteria—a process that bypasses the egg completely—works well in people, triggering an immune response that would protect them against the flu.

Decades after Childhood Radiation, Thyroid Cancer’s a Concern

When children are exposed to head and neck radiation, whether due to cancer treatment or multiple diagnostic CT scans, the result is an increased risk of thyroid cancer for the next 58 years or more, according to a study led by Jacob Adams, an associate professor of community and preventive medicine. The study, published in the journal Radiation Research, is believed to be the most extensive of any group of children exposed to medical irradiation and followed to check on the incidence of thyroid cancer.

POP MUSIC

All Together Now

A campus rock ’n’ roll expert offers a guide to hidden gems in the Beatles’ digital catalog.

By Kathleen McGarvey

beatlesBEATLES FOR SALE: The release of the digital catalog for the iconic musical group—Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon—offers younger fans a chance to discover the band’s early albums, says music professor John Covach. (Photo: Getty Images)

It wasn’t just a day in the life for Beatles fans when the group’s music finally became available on Apple’s iTunes service in November. Until then the iconic band had been the highest profile holdout in the digital music revolution.

Some fans are ready to listen eight days a week. But for those to whom the Beatles are emphatically from, um, yesterday, and who need some help orienting themselves to the band’s music, rock historian and professor of music John Covach has a few recommendations.

“Younger fans may find that the best sources of great Beatles songs they haven’t yet heard are the early albums, as well as the b-sides to the hit singles,” says Covach, author of What’s that Sound? An Introduction to Rock and Its History. “Most of the well-known hits were not originally included on these early albums because the Beatles’ record company in the United Kingdom, EMI, thought it was unfair to ask listeners to buy the same song twice.

“This list only scratches the surface.”

“Chains” (Please Please Me) This song was written by the Brill Building songwriting team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King and was a No. 17 hit in 1962 for the girl group the Cookies. John Lennon and Paul McCartney modeled their early songwriting on songs like this and expected that they would eventually earn their living in the music business mostly as songwriters. On their first visit to the United States in 1964, John and Paul reportedly were hoping to meet King.

“Words of Love” (Beatles for Sale) The original Buddy Holly version of this song features Buddy’s voice and guitar double-tracked to produce two vocal parts and a shimmering guitar sound. The Beatles provide a very close copy of that record, with John Lennon and George Harrison providing harmony vocal, backed up by George’s guitar.

“You’re Gonna Lose That Girl” (Help!) A great track that highlights the influence of early–’60s rhythm and blues on the Beatles’ songwriting and performance style. You can easily imagine this tune being sung by the Drifters or the Temptations.

“The Inner Light” (b-side to the single “Lady Madonna”) This George Harrison–penned song highlights the guitarist’s engagement with Eastern philosophy and religion. The opening lyric is lifted directly from the Tao Te Ching.

“You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” (b-side to the single “Let It Be”) As serious as the Beatles were about their music, they often tempered particularly serious moments with their trademark humor. Sgt. Pepper ends with the inner-groove loop music, which follows the epic “A Day in the Life,” while Abbey Road features cheeky “Her Majesty” directly after “The End.” Most of the comical “You Know My Name” was recorded in the summer of 1967 and later released as the flip side to one of the band’s farewell hit singles.

And for those who become devoted enough Beatles fans to seek out music not yet on iTunes, Covach thinks you’ll thank him very much for this suggestion:

“That’s All Right (Mama)” (Live at the BBC) Recorded for the BBC in the summer of 1963, this is a carefully crafted imitation of the Elvis Presley version of this song, with Paul doing a very convincing Elvis and George copping all the Scotty Moore licks on the guitar.

RARE BOOKS

A Novel Collection

exley (Photo: Adam Fenster)

The recent publication of Exley: A Novel (Algonquin Books, 2010) by Brock Clarke ’98 (PhD) brings fresh attention to the Frederick Exley Papers held in the library’s Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation. A Watertown, N.Y., native, Exley (1929–92) is best known for his 1968 novel, A Fan’s Notes, which has become a cult classic. Clarke, an associate professor of English at Bowdoin College, tells the story of a boy who searches for Exley in a quest to reconnect with his father. He consulted the Rochester archive in drafting his fifth novel, reading Exley’s letters and listening to several recorded interviews with the author.

“These last were especially valuable, in that they gave me a sense of Exley’s speaking voice, which both played off of and contrasted with his narrative voice,” Clarke says. “I don’t know if I could have written the novel without the help of the Exley archive. But more importantly, the archive does a huge service to those interested in this important, talented, contradictory, sometimes infuriating, sometimes inspiring American author.”

—Kathleen McGarvey

SIMON SCHOOL

Real Estate under the Microscope

Delores Conway makes sense of real estate markets by sifting through the details.

By Kathleen McGarvey

conwayDRIVERS: “Real estate is about location, timing, and ‘price point,’ ” says Conway, who joined the Simon School as a professor of real estate economics and statistics. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Remember that old phrase, “Follow the money”? For Delores Conway, a professor of real estate economics and statistics, the dictum to work by is “Follow the rents.”

“What I study are the dynamic movements in the housing market,” she says. Those movements turn on a basic, bottom-line choice for consumers. “You rent or you buy.”

Conway, who is associate dean for master’s programs at the Simon School, joined the Rochester faculty permanently this fall, after one year as a visiting faculty member. She formerly served on the faculties of the University of Southern California and the University of Chicago.

“Real estate is about location, timing, and ‘price point’—when you get in and out of the market,” Conway says.

Conway—who earned undergraduate degrees in mathematics and computer science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a doctorate in statistics at Stanford—analyzes commercial and residential real estate markets by using a statistician’s precision and eye for particulars.

“I look at a lot of the details” in making sense of the real estate market, she says. “That’s more complicated—and more interesting.”

“I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Delores for nearly 25 years, since the days when we were colleagues in the late 1980s at USC’s Marshall School of Business,” says Mark Zupan, dean of the Simon School. “Delores’s drive for the truth shines through in all of her activities, including her scholarship in fields such as real estate, labor economics, finance, and health care. One of her sayings of which I'm particularly fond is ‘the best data wins,’ and this relentless devotion is at the heart of her research methodology.”

While in her post at USC, Conway directed the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast, which produced research reports on the commercial and residential real estate markets in Southern California. Now she has begun to turn her attention to upstate New York.

The information she uses must be specific to the area she’s studying, Conway says. “A city is good, but you usually can’t get that data, so I examine county data. And then you need to look at the region.”

“Upstate New York is different from Manhattan,” she says. “Markets need to be well defined, and averages don’t work. It’s like saying Switzerland is flat, once you average together the mountains and the lakes.”

Conway works with what she calls the “fundamentals” of real estate: rents, vacancy rates, supply of new buildings, demand, and job growth.

For an upturn in the real estate market, she says, job growth is key. Health care and energy have seen steady employment growth through the recent recession, and she predicts that they may be among areas of future growth in a restructured economy.

But with a national unemployment rate around 10 percent, bank lending tight, and businesses and consumers struggling to reduce debt from the global financial crisis, the commercial and residential real estate markets within the United States remain troubled.

With the economic downturn, there was “too much supply, too much building, and not enough demand,” she says. “Prices dropped and foreclosures started. Then buyers moved out of the market. They want to find a floor in the market” before moving back in.

If rents hold, then mortgages become competitive investments, she says, and a floor in the market emerges.

“This should be an ideal time to buy,” she says. “Interest rates are really low, and there have been huge price declines. But people are holding back because there’s a lot of uncertainty. People are nervous about keeping their jobs.”

SPORTS

Squash, Women’s Swimming Claim League Titles

Highlights from the fall 2010 seasons:

Men’s Soccer: The Yellowjackets earned their sixth straight trip to the NCAA tournament, finishing the season at 10–3–5 overall. Misha Carrel-Thomas ’11 and Steve Welles ’11 earned first-team all–UAA accolades.

Women’s Soccer: Rochester advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament before completing the season with a 12–5–3 mark. Striker Ellen Coleman ’12 repeated as a second team All-American.

Football: Rochester won its last four games to finish 4–5 overall. The streak included a road upset of nationally ranked Alfred. Rochester also beat Hobart, 35–34, in double overtime to win the Centennial Cup, the trophy awarded for the annual game between the two schools.

Field Hockey: Forward Allison Beardsley ’12 scored 32 points on the season to earn second-team all-region honors and lead the Yellowjackets to a mark of 10–9.

Men’s Cross Country: James Vavra ’12 became the first Rochester All-American in 14 years by placing 28th at the NCAA championships, where the Yellowjackets placed 17th as a team.

Women’s Cross Country: Hillary Snyder ’12 earned a trip to the NCAA championships, finishing 12th at regionals and 17th at UAAs.

Rowing: Rochester’s Varsity 8 took fourth at the Head of the Genesee Regatta and fifth at the Head of the Trent, while the Varsity 4 earned a gold medal at the Frostbite Regatta.

Squash: Rochester closed the first semester schedule with a 9–0 win over fifth-ranked Harvard at the Peter Lyman Courts. In November, the Yellowjackets won their fourth straight Liberty League championship with victories over St. Lawrence, Hobart, and Vassar.

Golf: Nicholas Palladino ’14 won the ECAC and Liberty League individual titles and garnered league Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year accolades.

Men’s Tennis: Rochester took third as a team at the Flower City Tournament.

Women’s Tennis: Jamie Bow ’12 came up big at the New York State championships, winning a singles crown and teaming with Lia Weiner ’11 for the doubles title.

Volleyball: The Yellowjackets placed eighth at UAAs, and outside hitter Kelly Mulrey ’13 earned honorable mention all–UAA honors.

Men’s Swimming & Diving: Sam Wilshire ’14 produced a solid rookie season, picking up Liberty League Swimmer of the Week accolades.

Women’s Swimming & Diving: Rochester won its second straight Liberty League championship. Megan Braun ’13 earned Liberty League Diver of the Week and UAA Athlete of the Week honors after leading Rochester to a win over Union.

—Ryan Whirty

Whirty writes about sports for Rochester Review.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Yellowjackets Win Record Sixth Straight Wendy’s Title

womensbball (Photo: Athletics and Recreation)

SIX-PEAT: Hoping to return to the Final Four for the second straight year, the Yellowjacket women’s basketball team is off to a milestone season. In December, the team—led by Laney Ming ’14 and Melissa Alwardt ’11—won a record sixth straight Wendy’s College Classic tournament. Ming, who hit five of six from the floor in the championship game, was named tournament MVP. Alwardt and Danielle McNabb ’14 were named to the all-tournament first team. The Yellowjackets, who advanced to the NCAA Division III Final Four in 2010, began the season ranked fifth nationally in two polls. Under coach Jim Scheible, the team was 8–1 at the winter break.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

New Coach + Quick Learners = Fast Start

First-year coach Luke Flockerzi introduces a new offensive system as men’s basketball gets off to a quick start.

By Dennis O'Donnell

basketballOFFENSIVE HUB: As the “hub” of the Yellowjackets offense, 6-foot-8 sophomore Rob Reid is expected to make many of the decisions about how the team handles the ball in the flow of the game. At the semester break, Reid led the team in assists with 30. “He’s a very good facilitator and comfortable with the ball in his hands,” says coach Luke Flockerzi. (Photo: Athletics and Recreation)

Where’s the center? And the power forwards, for that matter? As the Rochester men’s basketball team takes to the court this winter, Yellowjacket fans used to seeing players in traditional positions will need to acquaint themselves with a new way of thinking about how to organize five athletes and a basketball.

Gone is the standard system geared toward a point guard, off guard, small forward, power forward, and center. Instead, the Yellowjackets feature four perimeter positions and a low-post threat, known as the “hub.”

Let first-year coach Luke Flockerzi draw it up:

Most times on offense, Rochester will set four players high on the perimeter and one—the hub—low, closer to the basket. The players will analyze what the defense shows, then run the best offense to counteract it. It’s not one-on-one basketball. It’s a mixture of seeing, thinking, and reacting—an approach that Flockerzi believes gives his players the freedom to make decisions and play basketball.

“Anyone can bring the ball up the court,” Flockerzi says. “The point guard doesn’t have to initiate the offense because positions are interchangeable.”

Flockerzi debuted the system this winter as he took over the head coaching duties for the Yellowjackets. The former head coach at Skidmore College, Flockerzi succeeds Mike Neer '88W (MS), who stepped down last spring after leading the Yellowjackets for 34 seasons and establishing the program as one of the winningest in NCAA Division III.

basketballDEBUT: First-year men’s basketball coach Luke Flockerzi, a former Rochester assistant coach, introduced a new offensive scheme that he says will give players the freedom to make decisions about moving the ball to the basket. Early this season the team tied a game-high record for three-pointers and set a game-high record for field goal percentage. (Photo: Athletics and Recreation)

Flockerzi, who was an assistant to Neer in 2006–07, guided the Yellowjackets to a 7–3 overall record at the December break, including the championship of the University’s Holiday Inn Airport Invitational tournament. Two of the losses came in a second-round game of the Chuck Resler and the championship of the Wendy’s Classic tournaments. Along the way, the team tied a school record for most three-pointers in a game with 16 in the first round of the Resler tourney and set a record for field goal percentage, hitting 73 percent from the field during the semifinals of the Holiday Inn tournament at the Goergen Athletic Center.

“We have some very talented players in the program,” says Flockerzi.

Those players include the past two Rookies of the Year in the University Athletic Association—forward Nate Novosel ’12 and guard John DiBartolomeo ’13.

“John is one of the top guards I’ve seen at this level,” says Flockerzi, “and Nate is a coach’s dream. He gives it everything he has.”

Mike Labanowski ’11 is a three-point shooter who has expanded his game. “He waits for good shots, and he makes open ones,” Flockerzi says, highlighting Labanowski’s defensive intensity as an important team asset.

David Gould ’11, a swingman, “is the glue of the team,” Flockerzi says. “When you look at his stat line after a game, you’ll see he has done a little of everything.”

Guard Chris (Chip) Dende ’12 and Dan Shapiro ’13 are also expected to get regular playing time. As is Nate Vernon ’14, who at 6-foot-5 is a prototype of the new offense because of his versatility. “He’s one of our best shooters,” says the coach. “Along with John and Nate (Novosel), they are three of the best at their positions.”

Noah Jay ’14, Greg Pennamon ’14, and Peter Wen ’11 will also help stock the perimeter.

The remaining on-court position—the hub—is expected to be handled by 6-foot-8 Rob Reid ’13, who earned playing time down the stretch last season during Rochester’s 15–10 finish.

“He’s a very good facilitator and comfortable with the ball in his hands,” says Flockerzi, who will rely on Reid to make decisions in the flow of the offense.

In January, two players with front-court experience are expected to return to the team after studying overseas. Marcus Roberson, a 6-foot-3 senior, shot 53 percent from the field last year, averaging just under eight points and five rebounds a night. Marcus Williams, a 6-foot-7 junior, played sparingly over his first two years.

“It’s going to be an interesting year,” Flockerzi says.

Dennis O’Donnell is sports information director for the Department of Athletics and Recreation.

A Global College

In the global marketplace for top students, the College Class of 2014 shows Rochester making an impression in Africa.

By Karen McCally ’02 (PhD) | Photographs by Adam Fenster

In the contest for admission to top American colleges, Rochester’s undergraduate dean of admissions, Jonathan Burdick, is not shy in indicating the scope of the competition.

“We’re in a global enterprise and we’re providing services for a global audience,” he says.

The College has long attracted students applying directly from other countries. According to assistant provost for institutional research Vini Falciano, most have come from China, India, Korea, Taiwan, and Canada. In addition, the University’s graduate programs, in all divisions, have long drawn students from around the globe in even larger numbers. International students, for example, make up more than half the student body at the Simon School, more than half of all graduate students in the Hajim School, and about one third of graduate students at the Eastman School and the School of Medicine and Dentistry.

This past year, however, marked a turning point for undergraduate admissions to Arts, Sciences, and Engineering. There are 11 students in the Class of 2014 who call Africa home. And while the number is not large compared to many much larger American universities, what’s significant, says Burdick, is the trend it may set.

“I think we’re at the front of something that can only get bigger,” he says. In much of Africa, expectations are rising, as is a middle class. But infrastructure lags behind. “You’ve got students there who will be looking for a great foundation to do all the things they want to do in their countries.”

Furthermore, on most of the African continent, secondary education is conducted in English. “In terms of English language acquisition and skills beyond, I think Africa is likely to prove over the long term a really important place for universities like ours,” Burdick says.

“We had only had a handful of students from Africa in all schools and levels of the University just a few years ago,” says Falciano. In 2005, there were eight. In the 2010–11 academic year, there are 25.

One reason Rochester has been able to compete more effectively for top international students is the expansion of the Renaissance Scholars program. Says Phil Bradley, an assistant director of admissions who helps select and advise the scholars, Renaissance scholarships had originally been offered to “the best of the freshman class.” In 2003, funding was increased and the effort was renamed the Renaissance and Global Scholars program to reflect a mission that had evolved to attract not only top talent, but top talent from an ethnically, regionally, and internationally diverse pool.

“You want students who are very academically sound,” says Bradley, “but it’s also about the ‘X factor.’ What other really strong piece of the puzzle do they bring?”

This academic year, there are 85 Renaissance and Global Scholars, 27 of them freshmen. They come from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Ukraine, India, and multiple other countries, as well as from Africa.

“Having a much different experience, they enhance the institution,” says Bradley. “In the classes that they’re in, in the clubs and organizations that they’re a part of, they’re going to bring a much different perspective, so that they not only have a great experience, but the students that they meet and the classes that they’re part of are enhanced because of their presence.”

Among the African freshmen, almost half come from the first graduating class of a single school, the African Leadership Academy, a private secondary school outside Johannesburg, South Africa. But, says Bradley, “The beauty of the African Leadership Academy is that they bring students from all over Africa.”

Fred Swaniker, an American-educated Ghanaian social entrepreneur, founded the academy in 2008 for students across the African continent showing exceptional leadership, entrepreneurial, and academic potential, as well as a passion to use their skills to improve political and social conditions in Africa. In numerical terms, the academy is about as difficult—or more difficult—to get into as any top American university. Only 7 percent of a select group of applicants was ultimately admitted to its entering class.

Burdick made contact with leaders at the academy last winter, and ultimately Rochester made offers to seven out of 13 applicants. Six accepted, which makes Rochester home to more academy graduates than any other single university.

The students credit Rochester’s strong programs, particularly in science and engineering, but also the personal attention they received in their first introduction to the University.

“There are times when you speak to someone at the other end of a telephone, and you get the feeling that the admissions officer is doing business as usual,” says Brian Kalugira ’14, of Tanzania, who plans to major in chemical engineering. “And there are people who make you feel like, ‘I’m doing this because I want you here, and I want you to have this opportunity.’ That’s what Dean Burdick made us feel. And to me that was really important.”

africans (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Lendsey Achudi

Maseno, Kenya

As a child in a remote corner of western Kenya, Lendsey Achudi had a difficult start in school.

“The first few years, I went to a public primary school, and the conditions were heartbreaking. We had these mud walls. And then the roof was made of rusted iron sheets so when it rained, it let water in. And then you have one teacher and there are sometimes 80 of you in class,” she says, sitting at a café table at the River Campus Starbucks.

Achudi credits her mother with setting her on the path that would eventually lead her to Rochester.

“My mom saw if I continued in that school, I wouldn’t do well. And I think my mom knew I had this potential that not many other children had. I was able to learn English faster than anybody. English was my third language. I speak Teso, and Swahili, and now I speak French fluently. And a little bit of Spanish,” she says, smiling broadly.

Her mother arranged for her to enroll in a new private school, where Achudi excelled, acing the first round of national exams that determine the educational fate of young Kenyans.

That led her to a public boarding school where, she says, “I participated very actively,” taking on leadership positions in the French club, the math club, and other groups.

In her first semester at Rochester, where she plans to study international relations, she’s shown similar leadership. When she learned many students have little knowledge of Africa and harbor misperceptions about the continent, she drafted an article for the Campus Times to provide classmates a more complex picture of the continent’s mix of challenges and assets and to suggest that Africa plays a greater role in Americans’ everyday lives than many suppose. “The coffee you spend your Declining on at Starbucks is probably from Africa,” she wrote, alluding to the ATM-like system that students use to purchase meals and other items on campus.

Assistant director of admissions Phil Bradley, noting Achudi’s strong leadership skills, appointed her one of two all-class representatives from among the 85 Renaissance and Global Scholars.

While many young Kenyans are drawn to the modern city of Nairobi, Achudi says her passion lies in improving the region of Kenya in which her pastoral tribe, the Tesos, reside as a largely neglected minority. “We haven’t really had a leader because we have just one member in parliament.”

Achudi has high ambitions, and wherever she goes will likely be determined in part by an inclination that she sums up succinctly: “I like challenging environments. I don’t like being the leader among the fools.”

Daniel Bonga

Freetown, Sierra Leone

africans (Photo: Adam Fenster)

When Daniel Bonga left his home in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to attend the African Leadership Academy, it was the first time he had been out of his home country.

It was an eye-opening experience to meet students from all over the continent, but also a peaceful refuge for the young Sierra Leonean who grew up amidst a decade-long civil war that began when he was less than a year old.

“My childhood was not good as compared to a normal childhood,” explains Bonga of his middle class upbringing in Sierra Leone’s capital city. “My father’s business had flourished, but then when the war broke out, they burned everything that he had,” says Bonga of the wholesale and retail clothing store his father operated in Freetown. “He had to start again from scratch. But he didn’t give up. He started out selling socks.”

In 1999, Bonga’s father had only just re- established himself when civil war came again. “Everything was burned again. And he still didn’t give up, but started again. And now he’s doing very well.”

“I’m grateful that everyone I knew is still alive,” says Bonga. “And at least after the war I was able to go to a very good public school in Sierra Leone.” That school was the first step on a path that led him to the African Leadership Academy and then to Rochester.

Bonga is fairly certain of the road he wants to travel now that he is at Rochester. He intends to study electrical and computer engineering and return to Sierra Leone to help rebuild infrastructure decimated during the war.

“Right now, Sierra Leone lacks investors. And one reason might be the political instability. But another might be that we don’t have much of an electrical supply for industries,” he says. Indeed, electricity has been a huge issue in Sierra Leone, where even in the capital city, most businesses must rely on private generators.

Bonga says he’s enjoying his introductory engineering course and is looking forward to delving more deeply into the electrical and computer engineering program that was a major factor in his decision to come to Rochester.

“The professors are quite open,” he says, “always ready to talk to you and answer your questions.”

africans (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Bridget Chabunya

Lilongwe, Malawi

It takes a discerning ear to identify what any North American student might consider an “accent” as Bridget Chabunya talks about her time at the African Leadership Academy, her first semester at Rochester, and her desire to return to her native Malawi to help improve the country’s health system.

“People are surprised when they find out I’m not American,” she says.

Or Canadian.

Chabunya spent 10 years growing up in Ottawa, Canada, where her father was stationed at the Malawi embassy. Then, the family returned home to Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi, in 2005.

“I had bits of my home country with me growing up in Canada. My parents had a big influence introducing me to the culture,” says Chabunya. “Unfortunately, I lost the language, though I can still understand it,” she adds, referring to her native language of Chichewa.

Back in Malawi, Chabunya was nominated by her school’s principal to apply to the African Leadership Academy, and then was admitted. To accept the offer would mean spending a year longer in secondary school than she had planned. She decided to go. “I’m really glad I did,” she says. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.”

At the academy, she presented a yearlong research project she conducted on pharmacogenomics, or the study of the interaction between certain genetic markers and pharmaceuticals. Noting the continent’s struggles with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, Chabunya explained the potential of pharmacogenomics “to create drugs designed specifically for African needs.”

In her culminating project, a demonstration of social entrepreneurship required of all students at the school, she and her classmates started an afterschool program in a South African township with a high poverty level. “We called it KWIT—Kids With Insane Talent,” she says.

“I was, I guess you would say, the president of the organization,” says Chabunya. “And I picked the successor. So I still talk with him and ask him how it’s going,” adding that applications to KWIT have risen this year.

During her first semester, Chabunya chose courses that offered her a solid beginning for study of biological sciences or public health, and she took advantage of the freedom that draws many students to Rochester: biology, chemistry, American Sign Language, and a dance class.

It was her initial visit, however, that clinched her decision. “I met a group of amazing people from the Pan-African Students Association,” she says, referring to the student organization whose members hosted Chabunya and her academy classmates in the spring of 2010. “They just made me feel welcome. Their experience here helped me to realize that I would love it here.”

africans (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Oswald Codjoe

Accra, Ghana

Each year, there are a few brave freshmen who, in a new town, at a new school, and with new friendships only weeks old, plunge into campaigns for student government. This year, one of those students was Oswald Codjoe, who arrived not just in a new city, but on a new continent, and became one of eight freshmen elected to the Class of 2014 Council out of a field of 20 candidates.

“I hope to bring students together to learn from their diversity and grow as a strong community so that, together, we shall live out the school’s creed: Meliora—‘Ever Better,’” he wrote in his campaign message.

Codjoe knows a few things about diversity, not to mention Meliora. Before moving to Johannesburg, South Africa, to become part of the first entering class at the African Leadership Academy, he’d met few people who weren’t from his native Ghana, and virtually no one outside West Africa.

And at the academy, he lived out its mission to help improve the lives of fellow Africans in sustainable ways. At a nearby school for disadvantaged children, Codjoe and several of his classmates helped ensure a steadier food supply for the kids. “We decided to grow a vegetable garden so we could increase production of the vegetables they ate, so that they could feed themselves,” Codjoe says.

He’s mapped out an academic plan at Rochester that includes a potential double major in economics and political science, a hefty dose of French, and a study abroad program. So far he says he’s challenged, but also well prepared. “I passed the Cambridge A Level exam in economics,” says Codjoe, referring to the international college preparatory curriculum on which instruction at the African Leadership Academy is based. “But every time I enter class,” he says of Rochester’s introductory economics course, Principles of Economics, “I learn something new, or I get an in-depth understanding of what I already knew. And that’s what makes me excited to go to class every time.”

The youngest of four children, Codjoe grew up in the capital city of Accra. His siblings and mother still reside there, while his father, a police officer in the Ghana Police Service who has served on United Nations peacekeeping missions in Namibia and East Timor, is now on his third mission in Sudan.

His brothers, both computer technicians, and his sister, enrolled in a secretarial school, “are excited, but also not so excited,” about his being so far from home. “When we’re back home, we sing in a quartet in church every Sunday. And when I’m not around, they can’t sing.”

Codjoe says he’s not sure what his future will hold, “but every once in a while I get this feeling I’ll enter politics.”

“Among African countries, Ghana is doing well in terms of governance and democracy. But like any other country, there’s still more to be done.” Developing the skills of Ghanaian youth, Codjoe says, “is one area where a lot needs to be done.”

africans (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Sarah Ndegwa

Nairobi, Kenya

What immediately surprised Sarah Ndegwa in her first days at Rochester was something many American students at private universities take for granted.

“I didn’t know you can just choose to study what you want,” says Ndegwa, a native of Kenya, a nation with a higher education system developed under British colonial rule. Under that system, university students declare a course of study on day one, and it is one that they’ve qualified for, based on entrance exams.

“I chose neuroscience because I knew I was good at neuroscience,” says Ndegwa of what she once indicated was her intended major. With all the possibilities she now knows she has, Ndegwa says, “I now call myself undecided.” But her ultimate goals have not changed. “I’m really interested in public health. That one I’m sure of.”

Her fall semester schedule included the introductory biology, chemistry, and calculus courses typical for premed students, plus a psychology course. She has one word to describe her classes so far: “Intense.”

“Having come from my country and being one of the best, I come here and think, ‘Oh my God, I have to be the best.’ It’s so much. It’s very challenging. But it’s worth it.”

Ndegwa grew up in the Rift Valley province of Kenya, a member of the majority tribe, the Kikuyu. She was raised by her mother, who holds a degree in hospitality and management that served her well in a nation in which tourism is a major industry. In December 2007, what Ndegwa describes as a peaceful childhood and adolescence was suddenly disrupted, after a surprise victory by the incumbent Kikuyu presidential candidate generated charges of fraud, which in turn sparked violent protests along tribal lines. Ndegwa’s extended family no longer believed Sarah and her mother were safe. “They said to my mom, ‘You have to go. Leave everything behind.’”

Ndegwa graduated from high school in Nairobi where, by happenstance, she learned about the Zawadi Africa education fund, which assists talented African girls without financial means with college application advice and scholarship aid. In a small study room at Zawadi’s Nairobi headquarters, she coached herself in preparation for the SATs. Rochester, which is one of about 40 American colleges and universities that partner with Zawadi, was among five schools to which counselors at the foundation suggested Ndegwa apply.

Although she’s no longer sure she’ll major in neuroscience, she says she knows she’ll stick with the sciences, and perhaps pursue a master’s in public health before going on to medical school.

“I’m really interested in working for international organizations to improve the health systems in Africa,” she says. “When I came here I was really impressed with how you just pay for your insurance, and then you get your card, and you go to your hospital. In my country? Very different. You wouldn’t get treated if you didn’t have money.”

The Heart of the Matter

Raising a glass— a modest one—to the molecule ‘Notch.’

By Kathleen McGarvey

It was termed the “French paradox” when it first came to widespread public attention in a 60 Minutes story in 1991: Despite a diet higher in fat, the French enjoy fewer weight problems and a lower incidence of heart disease than Americans do. Could the answer, researchers wondered, lie in part with the French diners’ consumption of wine with their meals?

How much alcohol can be beneficial?

Rochester researchers recommend that people who drink should follow the American Heart Association’s guidelines for drinking in moderation: an average of one to two drinks a day for men and one a day for women.

Beer: 12 ounces

Wine: 4 ounces

Liquor: 1.5 ounces

In the 20 years since that broadcast, many studies have supported the assertion that moderate drinking can benefit cardiovascular health. Population studies looking at patterns of health and illness and associated factors have shown that heart disease and cardiac-related death is 20 to 40 percent lower in light to moderate drinkers, compared to people who don’t drink.

But how? Scientists may have discovered part of the answer.

According to new research carried out by vascular biologists Eileen Redmond, an associate professor in the Department of Surgery, and David Morrow, an instructor in the department, a molecule with the jaunty name “Notch” may lie behind alcohol’s protective mechanism.

“At the molecular level, this is the first time anyone has linked the benefits of moderate levels of alcohol on cardiovascular disease with Notch,” says Morrow, an expert on the molecule and first author of the study, which was published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, and funded by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.

While well-known to scientists, Notch isn’t exactly a familiar name for most people. But it plays a significant role in how arteries function. A protein molecule located in cell membranes, Notch is a signaling pathway that regulates cells’ fate in dividing, growing, migrating, or dying. Among the cells that Notch influences, research has shown, are vascular smooth muscle cells—in other words, cells found in artery walls.

For 12 years, Redmond and colleague John Cullen, a research associate professor in the Department of Surgery, have researched the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaque in arteries, which restricts blood flow and can result in a heart attack or stroke.

Atherosclerosis “is a multistep process involving several cell types, and the growth and migration of smooth muscle cells in particular plays a key role in the build up of plaque,” Redmond says. It’s a condition with far-reaching effects: the American Heart Association estimates that cardiovascular disease causes about 800,000 deaths each year in the United States. That’s 36 percent of the nation’s total mortality rate.

Non-alcoholic alternatives

Many foods and activities can contribute to a healthy heart without the potentially harmful effects of alcohol.

Fish: Eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids can raise HDL cholesterol and reduce the risk of rhythm disturbances in the heart.

Olive oil: Contains monounsaturated fats, which can raise HDL cholesterol while lowering LDL.

Aspirin: Taking one 81-milligram aspirin per day provides the same antithrombotic effect as alcohol.

Grapes and grape juice: Some provide the same antioxidant benefits as red wine.

Exercise: Can boost HDL levels.

Cullen came to Rochester in 1999 as a postdoctoral fellow to continue his training in Redmond’s lab, after earning his doctorate in cardiovascular pharmacology at Queen’s University in Belfast. In 2006, Cullen and Redmond—who both hail from Ireland—were joined by Morrow, another fellow countryman who came to do his postdoctoral training in Redmond’s lab. His own expertise lay in the Notch signaling pathway and its role in blood vessels.

The researchers collaborated with Paul Cahill, an associate professor of biotechnology at Dublin City University (and one-time faculty member at Rochester), in exploring the effect of alcohol on Notch’s regulation of smooth muscle cell proliferation, and the subsequent changes in the structure and function of arteries. They found that at moderate levels of consumption—about one to three drinks per day—alcohol inhibits Notch and subsequently prevents the build up of smooth muscle cells in blood vessels.

“Now that we’ve identified Notch as a cell-signaling pathway regulated by alcohol, we’re going to delve deeper into the nuts and bolts of the process to try to find out exactly how alcohol inhibits Notch in smooth muscle cells,” Morrow says.

It won’t be an easy task. “The Notch pathway is complex,” says Redmond, “and there are multiple potential regulatory points which could be affected by alcohol.”

Complexity is nothing new, even to laypeople interested in preserving health. The popular media trumpets news of health benefits in foods and drinks just as often as it blares warnings about their dangers—and people often find themselves confused about just what they should be doing to keep themselves healthy.

Laurie Kopin ’92N (MS), a senior nurse practitioner in the Preventive Cardiology Clinic and the executive director of donor relations and executive health at the Medical Center, says the fundamental answers really are ones we already know: quit smoking, maintain a healthy weight, follow a proper diet, and stay active—“all the things we do in our daily lives that influence our propensity to get disease,” she says.

So how does alcohol fit into that picture?

“I tell my patients, if you don’t drink, please don’t start,” Kopin says. And researchers agree.

“It’s a very delicate balance whether you’re going to get a benefit from drinking or be doing yourself harm,” says Redmond.

Recent studies have indicated a role for Notch in plaque development. The Rochester study confirms those findings and demonstrates that alcohol inhibits Notch.

More precisely, it’s the ethanol in alcoholic beverages that’s key. That means that any form of alcohol—wine, as many people know, but also beer and spirits—may help to protect the heart.

But the amounts of alcohol a person can drink before the detrimental effects start to outstrip the benefits is limited: 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, and 1.5 ounces of liquor.

“Think about how little four ounces is,” says Kopin, who’s completing a doctorate at the Warner School. “It’s just a little bit. So when people are filling their wine glasses up near the rim—that’s not four ounces.”

Alcohol increases HDL—the “good” form of cholesterol, which removes troublesome LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream. Red wine and dark beer also contain Resveratrol, an antioxidant that reduces inflammation, thus helping to protect arteries from damage.

Alcohol also helps to keep blood platelets apart in what’s called an “antithrombotic effect,” thereby reducing risk of clots.

There are lots of ways, however, to improve cholesterol numbers, reduce inflammation, and avoid clots—ways that don’t invite the complications alcohol can bring.

“Eating red or purple grapes or drinking Concord grape juice has just the same effect as drinking red wine” when it comes to Resveratrol, says Kopin, who in her work with the preventive cardiology unit helps people make lifestyle choices that will stave off or forestall disease. Exercise can boost HDL levels, too, as can niacin supplements. Monounsaturated fats, such as those found in olive oils, can raise HDL cholesterol while lowering LDL.

Eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids is helpful in raising HDL and preventing rhythm disturbances in the heart. And “taking one 81-milligram aspirin per day has the same anti-thrombotic effect that alcohol does,” Kopin says.

“All those things can do as much good, if not more, than the benefit from alcohol.”

While drinking offers real cardiac benefits, the risks of drinking too much are considerable. There are around 100,000 alcohol-related deaths annually in the United States. Accidents and violence fueled by excessive drinking scar society, and the disease risks are manifold.

“Once you get to three to four drinks per day, the mortality rate doubles,” Kopin notes. Triglycerides—which transport fats to cells—soar, blood pressure increases, and the risk of congestive heart failure, pancreatitis, and certain cancers, including breast, liver, and lung, grows.

Even the basic function of the heart itself can be affected, Kopin says, as too much alcohol can disturb cardiac rhythms.

The phenomenon is called “holiday heart,” she says. People may drink more than usual at holiday parties, and the alcohol can send their hearts into atrial fibrillation.

Cullen has researched the effects of binge drinking on atherosclerosis in a mouse model and found that, while moderate levels of alcohol can benefit arteries, binge patterns of consumption exacerbate vessel blockage. A study he published in the journal Atherosclerosis in 2008 bolsters growing evidence that drinking patterns matter as much, if not more, than total amount consumed when it comes to cardiovascular risk.

Binge drinking—defined by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as five or more drinks for men, or four for women, in two hours—brings about a two-fold increase in risk for a fatal heart attack.

Ethanol—the substance that inhibits Notch in smooth muscle cells—is converted into acetaldehyde when a person drinks alcohol. Cullen’s study showed for the first time that binge levels of acetaldehyde cause an important type of immune cell, the monocyte, to become better able to stick to blood vessel walls, a key step in initiating atherosclerotic disease.

“While daily moderate alcohol reduced plaque development in mice by 50 percent,” Cullen says, explaining his findings, “weekend bingeing increased it by 60 percent.”

So where do researchers go from here?

Redmond and her colleagues say their ultimate goal would be to harness alcohol’s benefits while sidestepping its damaging effects. They hope their research will continue to shed light on the molecular mechanisms by which alcohol affects blood vessels, leading to the development of a “therapy that mimics the beneficial effects of moderate alcohol on heart disease while avoiding the intoxicating and deleterious effects. That’s ideal.”

Kopin’s not so sure. “Medications are great, but you really need to have a holistic approach,” she says. “They need to work in concert with lifestyle changes.” And the more changes you make, she adds, the greater the benefits you reap.

“Your numbers will improve,” she says. “You’ll look better. And the most important thing is, you’ll feel better.”

And whether it’s with 4 ounces of wine or some grape juice, that’s worth toasting.

An Epic Novelist of Adolescent Upheaval

Award-winning author Jennifer Donnelly ’85 explores the challenges of adolescence against the sweep of historical fiction.

By Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)

donnellyPORTRAITS: Donnelly (above) says an article about the death of revolutionary France’s Prince Louis Charles (below) was the inspiration for her new novel. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Jennifer Donnelly ’85 is a historical fiction writer who demands quite a bit of her mostly teenage readers. And, she says, they’re not only up to the challenge, they’re grateful for it.

Last fall, Donnelly, who makes her home in New York’s Hudson River Valley, was on a tour promoting her fourth novel, Revolution (Delacorte, 2010)—not exactly a title that panders to stereotypes of modern teens. The tour brought her not only to bookstores, but also to high schools, where she spoke in auditoriums of anywhere from 100 to 300 students.

Says Donnelly: “One of the most gratifying things I heard, from a 16-year-old girl was, ‘You didn’t talk down to me. You didn’t patronize me.’”

Perhaps the compliment reflects the fact that Donnelly moves effortlessly between writing for young adults and older ones. After graduating from Rochester with a degree in English, she worked as a journalist. And for 10 years, writing early in the morning, during her evenings, and on weekends, she worked on what would become her first novel, and the first of a trilogy, a historical epic for adults, The Tea Rose (St. Martin’s, 2002).

Novelist Frank McCourt called the novel “a splendid, heartwarming novel of pain, struggle, decency, triumph.” A year later, she rose to higher acclaim with her second novel, A Northern Light (Harcourt), a work for young adults. Cast as a reimagining from a young hotel worker’s perspective of the events that inspired Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, the book won multiple awards, including Britain’s Carnegie Medal for children’s literature, an honor that has gone to just one other American author.

In 2006, she published The Winter Rose (HarperCollins), the second novel of the Tea Rose trilogy. In 2010, she released Revolution, and the third and final work in the Tea Rose trilogy, The Wild Rose, is slated for release by Hyperion later in 2011.

donnelly (Photo: Getty Images)

Donnelly argues the distinction between adult and young adult fiction is limiting. “People look for an easy categorization,” she says. “Maybe it’s just not there.”

Her young adult novels are narrated by characters in their teens, but that doesn’t mean that only teens should find them interesting, Donnelly says. “I think a good story with a compelling character that’s well written should appeal to anybody.”

That said, she doesn’t mind at all being called a young adult novelist. “I think young adult writers, some of them at least, are the ones who are taking the biggest risks right now,” she adds, naming two of her favorites, M. T. Anderson and Meg Rosoff. “People like this are brilliant writers. They just so happen to write for young adults.”

Revolution, released in October, is, like all Donnelly’s novels, grounded in copious research. Narrated by a modern teen—17-year-old Andi Alpers, a precocious Brooklyn prep schooler full of angst, despair, passion, and bonded inseparably with her guitar—it asks young readers to delve into much that’s likely to be unfamiliar. The novel explores political and social revolution in a distant country more than two centuries ago. And a key aspect of Andi’s character is her less contemporary musical interests—from the fictional 18th-century French composer Amadé Malherbeau to popular musical groups such as Pink Floyd and the Smiths, bands from the 1970s and 1980s that are likely to be more familiar to older adults than to younger readers.

Donnelly worries little that a dense historical subplot, or cultural references that were most resonant two or three decades ago, will alienate her younger readers. In the first place, she says, “It’s not going to capture everybody. That’s not my intention.” Second, Donnelly believes that the emotional power of her books is what ultimately engages her readers, no matter who the characters are, or in what nation or century they lived. “Emotion is the most important thing. That’s how I connect with my readers,” she says. “If that emotion is not there, I actually feel that as a writer I’ve failed.”

Sara Gundell, the founder of Novel Novice, an organization that reviews young adult fiction and creates learning materials to accompany new releases, concedes that she initially decided to feature Revolution “because it so clearly offered us a lot of opportunities to tie in history lessons.” After reading the book, however, she was struck even more by its emotional power. “I was absolutely blown away by the book in its entirety,” she says. “What makes Revolution stand out as a work of young adult fiction is that it excels at both challenging and then rewarding its readers.”

Revolution begins as Andi, crushed by the death of her little brother, Truman, her mother’s subsequent descent into a deep and debilitating depression, and by her cool relationship with her emotionally remote, work-driven father, accompanies her father on a trip to Paris during her winter break. Concerned about Andi’s mediocre performance in school, her father insists she travel with him where she’s to spend her days in the library, working on her senior thesis on Malherbeau.

She makes an intriguing discovery, however, that occupies her at least as much as her thesis: the diary of a young woman living during the French Revolution, a street performer hired by Marie Antoinette to be a companion to her son, Prince Louis Charles.

The parallels between Andi and the 18th-century Frenchwoman are striking. “Their names are anagrams,” says Donnelly of Andi, whose full name is Diandra Xenia Alpers, and the Frenchwoman, Alexandrine Paradis. Above all, both are heartbroken by loss—of Truman, and of Louis Charles, two young boys who share many personal characteristics, as well as tragic fates.

donnellyCOLDPLAY: Donnelly, walking with her greyhound, Scotty, mixes contemporary pop culture with historic political struggles in Revolution. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Alternating between Andi’s narration, and the long passages from Alexandrine’s diary, Donnelly creates a novel within a novel. Her initial inspiration for Revolution came from an article she read in the New York Times in 1999 reporting on an apparent resolution to a two-century debate over the fate of Louis Charles after his parents, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, were guillotined at the height of the French Revolution. The prince, then eight years old, was imprisoned alone in a dark tower. He died there, and a physician who performed an autopsy on the boy snatched his heart. Miraculously, the organ was kept intact for more than two centuries as it was passed from king to archbishop to descendants of the physician. But over the centuries, several claims were made that supporters of the royal family had rescued Louis Charles and left an imposter in the tower in his place.

In 1999, advanced DNA technology answered the question of whether the heart saved during the autopsy in 1795 was indeed that of Louis Charles. (According to the test, it was.)

What impressed Donnelly about the story wasn’t the intrigue, but the tragedy of the young boy’s slow, painful, and lonely death. She saved the article, and in 2003, after she gave birth to a daughter, she thought again about the story.

“The point that was crushing me at the time, was that this violent and brutal world of ours doesn’t change,” she says. “Terrible things were going on 200 years ago, terrible things are going on now. A lot of those terrible things involve children. How do we live in this world?”

Writing was her way of working through that perennial question. And the person who helped her to do it was Andi Alpers.

“This sounds so nutty, but these characters do just sort of walk out of the mists of the imagination,” Donnelly says. Ensconced in a café in Brooklyn while her daughter was in preschool, steeped in reading about the French Revolution as she plotted the novel, Donnelly took in her surroundings. All around her, on the streets, and in and out of the café, were the students from the nearby elite private schools, St. Ann’s School and Packer Collegiate Institute.

“As I was watching them, observing them, listening to them, it suddenly dawned on me that what was lacking in this story was a present point of view, and that would give me such a wonderful way to draw parallels between past and present” in drawing out the enduring nature of evil and cruelty, she says. “That’s where Andi came from.”

Donnelly also poured a few of her own experiences into Andi. As a young adult, Donnelly says she, too, struggled with depression and a heightened sensitivity to the cruel and tragic elements of the human experience. But also like Andi, she had her art.

Looking back at what it took to get her first novel published, Donnelly refers to her “many, many years of struggle.” At Rochester, she was not always confident in her writing. She admits, for example, that she was too intimidated to take a course with the poet Anthony Hecht—“he cut an imposing figure in Morey Hall,” she later wrote. The next time she saw him was in 2004, as a peer, at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, where they were both receiving prizes for their work.

Donnelly says that when she finally got an agent to help her sell her manuscript for The Tea Rose, “he said, ‘You can write. But you need a lot of work still on things like plot and structure and narrative drive.’”

She worked on the manuscript for two more years. “Even then,” she says, “I got tons of rejections. Pretty much every publishing house in New York slammed the door in our faces. We had to put the manuscript aside and go out again in six months after there had been a bit of movement among the publishing houses.”

In Andi’s case, Donnelly says, “Music sustains her. It’s about the only thing she’s got.” And like Donnelly, who says she was sustained through periods of despair by the legacy of writers who’ve come before—from James Joyce, William Faulkner, Jane Austen, and other long-gone writers she read—“Andi understands as an artist that this legacy exists. She can reach back and clasp hands with her artistic ancestors. And what I want to suggest to teenagers is, ‘reach back, clasp hands with your artistic ancestors. Hold their hands, let them carry you if you’re struggling, and they will sustain you.’”

Donnelly gives both Alex and Andi the final word in Revolution, and from Donnelly’s standpoint, it’s the crux of the book. Drawing from the last line in Alex’s diary, Andi repeats ‘the world goes on, stupid and brutal, but I do not.’ Finally, says Donnelly, “she understands what Alex is trying to tell her. And maybe that’s enough for Andi to get off her suicidal path and to positively impact a few lives around her.”

Donnelly says she doesn’t like to be “preachy and messagey.” Nonetheless, she believes Andi’s realization may give solace to young adults. And perhaps older ones too.

Opera in a Different Voice

Gina Crusco ’77 directs Underworld Productions Opera Ensemble, an unconventional Manhattan opera company.

By Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)

cruscoEVOLVING REPERTOIRE: “We need to keep the repertoire evolving,” says Crusco, photographed at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York City. (Photo: Diane Bondareff/AP Images for Rochester Review)

“Alternative” and “indie” are terms generally used in connection with popular music. But they might just as well be used in connection with opera—that is, if you’re talking about Underworld Productions Opera Ensemble, founded and directed by Gina Crusco ’77.

She founded the company in 2004 to stage productions that were either outside the traditional repertoire or that could be presented in ways that resonated with diverse contemporary audiences.

“I really like to explore the edges of operatic repertoire so we’re not just creating the umpteenth Tosca or another Madama Butterfly,” says Crusco, referring to two operas by Giacomo Puccini that are among the most widely known and performed works in the genre. “Not to disparage those great works,” she adds. “But we need to keep the repertoire evolving.”

In June, the company will stage a production of the 2010 opera by Ben Yarmolinsky, Clarence & Anita. Its libretto is taken verbatim from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings that pitted then Supreme Court judicial nominee Clarence Thomas against his former employee, attorney Anita Hill, in the fall of 1991. The production recalls all of the infamous scenes and phrases that elicited both horror and humor among the more than 20 million people estimated to have watched the hearings on live television over a long October weekend nearly 20 years ago.

After giving some thought to her directorial concept, she hired a trapeze dance company, Fly by Night, to choreograph the production. “At first I had this idea of staging Clarence & Anita not in a Senate chamber at all, but in a circus, complete with trapeze artists and tight-rope walkers and fire-eaters,” says Crusco. And although she’s modified that concept somewhat—“It won’t be a full-blown circus,” she says—there will be “a hint of a circus” that “reflects the tenor of what’s being said.”

In 2009, Crusco staged a production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte—which she retitled Così fan tutte: Defining Women—in which audience members were invited to vote at intermission, via a text message, “for which character should marry whom in the opera’s final scene.” As for ground rules, Crusco noted in the program that the opera would take place not in 18th-century Italy, but instead in 21st-century Massachusetts, “where nuptials between any combination of three men and three women would be legal.”

“I really felt that Così fan tutte, with its indeterminate ending, just invites that kind of response,” Crusco says. “The audience would be responding in their own way anyway. “To actually solicit that from them was a different way of creating a dramatic outcome rather than a directorial top-down stamp on the opera.”

Arts critics had a ball with her concept. “Bring Your Cell Phone to the Opera, Please,” was the headline on the New York Times blog ArtsBeat. But not everyone was amused. New York Post gossip columnist Paula Froelich called Crusco’s approach “a move that purists will pray never comes to the Met.”

Crusco says that although the production “raised lots of hackles and lots of eyebrows,” “it got a wonderful audience response,” as well as a mention in Musical America’s 2010 “Year In Music,” a summary of groundbreaking musical events from the previous year.

Indeed, says Crusco, “Even ‘indies’ need to be acknowledged by the cultural arbiters.” Serving on either the board of directors or the advisory board of the company are faculty from the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, as well as tenor Marcello Giordani. And Crusco, who spent nine years on the voice faculty of the New School University, has sustained the company with grants won from a variety of New York City arts organizations.

A philosophy major on the River Campus who also took voice lessons at the Eastman School, Crusco says much of her inspiration came from the two operatic seasons she spent in the 1980s in Spoleto, Italy, where she was a chorus master. She says she was impressed by the small-scale, intimate nature of many productions in Europe.

“I began to see how opera could have a real human scale, how it could draw the audience into the characters’ inner lives,” she says.

“It doesn’t have to be about the grand spectacle. If it has a kind of immediacy to it, opera can reach people where they live.”

Comedy Update: Doug Abeles ’81

Award-winning Saturday Night Live writer is inducted into Athletics Hall of Fame.

By Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)

abelesFUNNY MAN: Known for doing a “pretty good Mick Jagger” impression as a student, Abeles says he’s funnier now as an Emmy Award–winning writer and producer for Saturday Night Live, where he’s helped guide the show’s “Weekend Update” segment for almost a decade. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Doug Abeles ’81, who was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame over Meliora Weekend last fall, says a lot has changed since he was a master of the 10,000 meters.

The former Yellowjackets track and field and cross country star is an Emmy Award–winning comedy writer and producer for the Saturday Night Live segment “Weekend Update.”

For one thing, he says he’s funnier now.

“I was amusing to my friends, but that was about it” he says of his student days. “I was known at parties for doing a pretty good Mick Jagger impression.”

Abeles, who got into the comedy business after taking a comedy writing class and courting a couple of industry contacts, has written and produced for “Weekend Update” since 2001. He’s often asked to compare the parody news segment, which has aired almost continuously since SNL premiered in 1975, to more recent political satire shows such as Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and Steven Colbert’s Colbert Report.

“Our approach is a little different. It’s for a bit broader segment. We try to make it about both politics and pop culture.”

Often the two intersect. Asked to recall his favorite “Weekend Update” segment, he cites “the Sarah Palin rap,” which aired in October 2008, and featured a very blond and pregnant news anchor Amy Poehler launching into an animated hip-hop performance, rapping lyrics written from Palin’s point of view, while Palin, co-anchor Seth Myers, and a crew of parka-clad backup dancers moved to the beat.

“Every time I see it I’m just bowled over by Amy’s performance,” says Abeles. “I had very little to do with it other than a few things here and there, but I’m very proud that it was on the ‘Weekend Update’ that I helped produce.”

As for Barack Obama, Abeles says the president has supplied steady material.

“Initially he was tough, but it’s been getting easier,” says Abeles with a loud laugh.

Introducing the 2010 Hall of Famers

hall-of-fameINDUCTEES: The newest members of the Hall of Fame include (back) Paul Macielak, Jerrold Winter, Doug Abeles, Kevin Uy, and Timothy Hale; (front) the late Lois Ingersoll Watts, Patricia Dowell, Jessica Lyon Densmore, and Robert Wilson (for Spike Wilson). (Photo: Athletics and Recreation)

During last fall’s Meliora Weekend, the Department of Athletics and Recreation inducted eight alumni into the Hall of Fame. Here’s a snapshot of their accomplishments.

Doug Abeles ’81, men’s cross country and indoor and outdoor track As a senior, Abeles finished 10th individually in the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA Division III outdoor track and field championships and helped Rochester to a high national finish. He won the silver medal in the 10,000-meter run at the New York State championships. In cross country as a senior, Abeles placed fifth at the New York State championship, third at the NCAA regional qualifier, and 32nd at the 1980 NCAA Division III national championships. Abeles is an Emmy award–winning comedy writer and producer for Saturday Night Live.

Jessica Lyon Densmore ’92, women’s indoor and outdoor track Densmore was named Most Outstanding Performer at the University Athletic Association indoor championships each of her four years at Rochester. Her ability to compete in multiple events helped her claim several records for the University and for the UAA. She earned All-America honors in the 4x400-meter relay indoors and the heptathlon outdoors. Densmore is a Latin teacher and cross country and track coach at the Harley School near Rochester.

Patricia Dowell ’78, women’s basketball Dowell became a dominant inside player for the women’s basketball team despite not playing the sport in high school. She’s still among the individual record holders today. As a senior, her skills helped Rochester post a 16–3 record. After graduation, Dowell earned a master’s degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago and is now an alderman of Chicago’s 3rd Ward.

Paul Macielak ’72, football Macielak was a three-year starter at left offensive tackle after starting his freshman year as a defensive tackle. In 1971, he was awarded the Ball-Keating Award as the Most Valuable Offensive Lineman. He’s the president and CEO of the New York Health Plan Association, which represents managed care health plans across New York State.

Kevin Uy ’87, ’93S (MBA), men’s swimming Uy helped Rochester win four straight upstate New York championships from 1983 to 1987. As a senior, he was a key component of a Rochester team that finished seventh at the NCAA championships. In four years, he earned All-America honors in seven events and set multiple records. Uy worked in the aerospace industry before returning to the University to earn an MBA from the Simon School. He works in the financial industry.

Lois (Inky) Ingersoll Watts ’51, ’73W (Mas) women’s intramural sports Rochester didn’t have an intercollegiate athletics program for women when Watts attended from 1948 to 1951. She participated in numerous intramural sports, including basketball, water ballet, and cheerleading, where she served a tenure as head cheerleader. She continued her involvement with the athletics program, working with recruiting and alumni programs in addition to serving on the Hall of Fame Committee. In 2002, she was selected to carry the Olympic torch for the Salt Lake City Olympics. She retired from a 38-year career as a reading consultant at the Allendale Columbia School near Rochester. Watts died in December.

John (Spike) Wilson ’51, baseball Wilson pitched for the baseball team for two seasons, 1947 and 1951, and spent the two years in between as an unpaid pitching coach. In 1950, he attended spring training for the Rochester Red Wings. While he did not receive any money, the NCAA declared him ineligible for two years. His eligibility was restored as a senior after coach Lou Alexander wrote to each school on the schedule to permit him to play. Following graduation, he joined the Navy.

Jerrold Winter ’59, football From 1956 to 1958, Winter played four positions: offensive tackle, center, middle linebacker, and defensive end. In 1958, the defense posted five consecutive shutouts to start the season and gave up just 19 points the entire year. After graduation, Winter served for three years in the Navy, then enrolled at the University at Buffalo’s School of Medicine, earning a PhD in pharmacology. In 1966, he returned to teach and is now in his 43rd year as a faculty member.

Also inducted was Timothy Hale. A longtime coach of the cross country and track and field teams, he coached four individual national champions, 58 All-Americans, and guided the men’s cross country team to the NCAA Division III championship in 1991. He’s now the athletics director at SUNY Oswego.

—Dennis O’Donnell

O’Donnell is the sports information director for the Department of Athletics and Recreation.

In the News

newsJimmie Reyna (Photo: Provided)

Jimmie Reyna ’75 Nominated for U.S. Court of Appeals

Jimmie Reyna ’75, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Williams Mullen and a specialist in international trade, has been nominated by President Barack Obama for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The author of three books on international trade, Reyna has been a U.S. representative on a dispute resolution panel established by the North American Free Trade Agreement since 1994. The former president of the Hispanic National Bar Association, Reyna won the association’s Extraordinary Leadership award in 2007, and has been named by Super Lawyers magazine to the list of Washington, D.C., “Super Lawyers” as well as to the national list of “Best Lawyers in America.”

Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD) Named Vice President of Optical Society

Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD), an associate professor and associate chair of the physics department at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, has been elected vice president of the Optical Society of America. A longtime member of the society who has held multiple leadership roles, Strickland first earned professional renown in 1985, when she and Gerard Mourou, then a professor at the Institute of Optics, invented a technique for the intensification of ultrashort laser pulses called chirped pulse amplification. The society also named three new directors at large, including Jannick Rolland, the Brian J. Thompson Professor of Optical Engineering and the associate director of the Hopkins Center at Rochester.

Galway Kinnell ’49 (MA) Honored by Academy of American Poets

Galway Kinnell ’49 (MA) received the 2010 Wallace Stevens Award, a $100,000 prize given by the Academy of American Poets to recognize “outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry.” A past winner of the Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Award, Kinnell published his first book of poetry, What a Kingdom It Was (Houghton Mifflin), in 1960, and continued writing for more than 40 years, publishing most recently Strong Is Your Hold (Houghton Mifflin, 2006).

Hajim School Grad Recognized for Superconducting Innovations

Amit Goyal ’91 (PhD), who earned his doctorate in materials science at the Hajim School, has been named the 2010 Innovator of the Year by the technology publication R&D Magazine. A researcher at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, Goyal was honored for his role in creating applications for high-temperature superconducting materials. The award is one of the R&D 100 Awards presented annually by the magazine to recognize groundbreaking technological products and their innovators.

Paul Freeman ’56E, ’63E (PhD) Says Sayonara to Sinfonietta

In the 2010–11 season, conductor Paul Freeman ’56E, ’63E (PhD) celebrates his last year as music director of the orchestra he founded, the Chicago Sinfonietta. In 2011–12, he becomes director emeritus. Freeman established the ensemble in 1987 “to serve as a national model for inclusiveness and innovation in classical music.” Known for the ethnic and racial diversity of its musicians and its performances of neglected works by composers of color, the orchestra began the season with a concert titled “For the Common Man,” featuring, among other compositions, Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.

Wrapped Up in Rochester

corretoreQUILTED BEE: Each piece of a quilt that she stitched together from T-shirts and other souvenirs represents personal memories, institutional moments, and connections to Rochester, Corretore says. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Throughout four years at Rochester, Stephanie Corretore ’08 and her friends were avid T-shirt collectors. “If we knew there was a T-shirt to be gotten, we were there. We’d remind each other and stand in line together and save each others’ spots because sometimes they run out,” she says of the student groups who hand out shirts, often for free, at campus events.

Corretore wasn’t about to let her shirts wear out. So the summer after graduation, she decided to stitch them into a quilt.

Doing so did require some compromises. “The cutting was the hardest part,” she says. “It was quite emotional.”

A freshman fellow, a 2006 Orientation volunteer, a class council member, and a member of the coeducational Alpha Phi Omega service group, Corretore says each square features a shirt that represents a personal memory and that some shirts mark important occasions in the University’s recent history as well.

For example, Corretore obtained a Rocky towel the very day the new mascot was introduced, the result of a yearlong initiative to replace “URBee,” the Yellowjacket mascot that had served as the athletics emblem since the 1980s.

Corretore also prizes a “Sting ’Em Rochester” shirt, handed out when the History Channel filmed a 2008 segment for a documentary on planetary nebulae. Physics professor Adam Frank joined the camera crew in the Palestra to deliver a lecture in which Rochester basketball players performed the roles of excited particles. “They gave out these T-shirts so that everyone in the crowd would look uniform, and really bright and enthusiastic,” she says.

She had kept the quilt on her bed, but worried about wear and tear and the long-term effects of sunlight. Now she keeps the quilt boxed up.

It’s hard to imagine, however, that her Rochester memories will fade. An evolutionary biology major, she became a lab technician in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Medical Center. And in January 2011, Corretore starts nursing school—at Rochester.

—Karen McCally

TRIBUTE

Wayne Erdelack ’68: Spirited Teammate

Wayne Erdelack ’68 was a character, larger than life. He was a truly great guy, a born leader, a family man, and one helluva football player.

I first met Wayne in the fall of 1964 on the freshman football team. He was a tough kid from the north side of Pittsburgh. We became good friends, roommates, and fraternity brothers and played alongside each other on the field for four years. Wayne, who played center, loved Rochester football. Cocaptain, along with Dave Ragusa ’68, ’76W (Mas), in our senior year, he never missed a single offensive play over that four-year period.

Wayne was a spirited teammate. Each week he would play the 1812 Overture, just prior to the start of the game, to get us all in the mood. This was a 10-inch 78-RPM record, long before iPods. Wayne would also remove the bridge holding his front teeth before each game, making himself quite a sight for the opposing defensive lineman. During our senior year we played against an excellent Amherst team coached by the legendary Jim Ostendarp. At the end of the game, which we won, Wayne approached the coach and yelled, “How do you like the score, Jungle Jim?” Coach Ostendarp was speechless.

I also remember Wayne with his motorcycle, which he rode to school each year from Pittsburgh. He loved the movie The Wild Ones, starring Marlon Brando, and Wayne and his motorcycle were inseparable despite the Rochester weather.

Wayne went on to serve in the Army, graduated from Case Western Reserve University law school, and had a distinguished career as corporate counsel for Nestle. He passed away in November at his home in Cleveland, surrounded by his wife, Barbara, and sons Drew and Wesley.

Drew Mittelman ’68 and I remained in touch with Wayne over the years. We visited with him the weekend before he passed. We reminisced about the time we all saw the movie Animal House together with our wives in 1978. We were the only people laughing hysterically. We had lived it together.

—Larry Brodney ’68

Brodney is founder and president of Brodney & Sons, a commercial flooring company in Waltham, Mass. He played tackle on the Yellowjackets football team.

Books & Recordings

Books

Intellectuals Incorporated: Politics, Art, and Ideas Inside Henry Luce’s Media Empire﻿

By Robert Vanderlan ’04 (PhD)﻿

University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010﻿

Vanderlan, a visiting assistant professor of history at Cornell, tells the story of Archibald MacLeish, Dwight Macdonald, James Agee, and other American intellectuals who wrote for the mass market magazines of Henry Luce’s media empire from the 1920s to the 1960s.﻿

The Public and Its Possibilities: Triumphs and Tragedies in the American City﻿

By John D. Fairfield ’78, ’85 (PhD)﻿

Temple University Press, 2010﻿

Fairfield, a professor of history at Xavier University in Cincinnati, examines American history through the lens of public life, arguing that “our unrealized civic aspirations provide the essential counterpoint to an excessive focus on private interests.”﻿

Of Poetry and Song: Approaches to the Nineteenth-Century Lied﻿

Edited by Jürgen Thym﻿

University of Rochester, 2010﻿

Thym, a professor emeritus of musicology at the Eastman School, edits an anthology on the interaction between the poetry and music in German lieder.﻿

Revolution

By Jennifer Donnelly ’85﻿

Delacorte, 2010﻿

In her latest novel for young adults, Donnelly intertwines the stories of modern American teen, Andi Alpers, and a young woman in revolutionary France, Alexandrine Paradis.

Language Development﻿

By LouAnn Gerken ’81 (PhD)﻿

Plural Publishing, 2010﻿

Gerken, the director of cognitive science at the University of Arizona, explores recent research on the development of language skills in infants and the ways in which those skills develop in the early childhood years.﻿

The Death of Elizabeth I: Remembering and Reconstructing the Virgin Queen﻿

By Catherine Loomis ’97 (PhD)﻿

Palgrave Macmillan, 2010﻿

Loomis, as associate professor of English at the University of New Orleans, draws on diaries, letters, memoirs, and other eyewitness accounts, as well as hundreds of poems and plays written in the queen’s memory, to reconstruct the final days of Elizabeth I.﻿

A Spicing of Birds: Poems by Emily Dickinson﻿

Edited by Jo Miles Schuman and Joanna Bailey Hodgman ’74 (MA)﻿

Wesleyan University Press, 2010﻿

Hodgman coedits an anthology of 37 poems that Dickinson wrote about birds, illustrated by works of 19th-century masters of bird art.

My Neck Hurts! Nonsurgical Treatments for Neck and Upper Back Pain﻿

By Martin Taylor ’99M (Res)﻿

Johns Hopkins University, 2010﻿

Taylor, a neurologist in Columbus, Ohio, provides a guide to physical, manual, and injection therapies, as well as medications and exercises to relieve chronic neck pain without surgical intervention.﻿

Lens Design Fundamentals, Second Edition﻿

By Rudolf Kingslake and R. Barry Johnson ’72 (MS)﻿

Academic Press and SPIE Press, 2010﻿

Johnson, a cofounder of the Center for Applied Optics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, offers an updated edition of the text by the late Kingslake, a founding faculty member of Rochester’s Institute of Optics and widely regarded as the father of lens design in the United States.

Photographic Composition: A Visual Guide﻿

Richard D. Zakia ’70W (EdD) and David A. Page﻿

Elsevier/Focal Press, 2010﻿

Zakia, a professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology, and coauthor David Page offer a “visual grammar” to help ordinary digital camera users improve their composition skills.﻿

Graduating from Guilt﻿

By Holly Michelle Eckert ’99E (DMA)﻿

PuddleDancer Press, 2010﻿

Eckert, a faculty member at Antioch University in Seattle and a trainer in the nonviolent communication method established by clinical psychologist and confliction resolution expert Marshall Rosenberg, presents a six-step process to overcoming guilt.﻿

Short Cuts﻿

By Alexander Humez ’66, Nicholas Humez, and Rob Flynn﻿

Oxford University Press, 2010﻿

Humez coauthors an exploration of the ways in which humans tend to communicate in the briefest way possible, absorbing information in small “nuggets of data.”﻿

Chatroom to Bedroom: Rochester, New York﻿

By Alexsandra Sukhoy ’03S (MBA)﻿

Creative Cadence, 2010﻿

her previous novel, Chatroom to Bedroom: Chicago, with the story of a big-hearted but ambitious MBA student who gradually descends into a world in which “men begin to look like nothing more than tradable commodities.”﻿

Between the Menorah and the Fever Tree﻿

By Eldred Chimowitz﻿

CreateSpace, 2010﻿

In his first novel, Chimowitz, a professor and associate chair of chemical engineering at Rochester, follows a young Jewish-African boy, Chungle, whose life takes him from his boyhood in 1950s Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) to his youth in South Africa under apartheid to his emigration to the United States.﻿

How to Write & Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit﻿

By Robert Bly ’79﻿

Linden Publishing, 2010﻿

Copywriter Bly offers a guide to creating how-to books, audio CDs, DVDs, and online content. The book provides advice on researching topics, building a reputation, and marketing products online.﻿

Exley

By Brock Clarke ’98 (PhD)﻿

Algonquin Books, 2010﻿

In a novel about deception, Clarke, an associate professor of English at Bowdoin College, presents Miller Le Ray—a 9-year-old prodigy from Watertown, N.Y., who hopes to save the life of his father, a diehard fan of Frederick Exley’s A Fan’s Notes, by locating the (unfortunately) late Exley and bringing him back to Watertown.﻿

The Absence of Work: Marcel Broodthaers, 1964–1976﻿

By Rachel Haidu﻿

MIT Press, 2010﻿

Haidu, an associate professor in the Department of Art and Art History and the Graduate Program in Visual and Cultural Studies at Rochester, examines the art of the Belgian poet-turned-visual-artist Marcel Broodthaers.

Recordings

Sundial Lotus﻿

By Salo﻿

Innova Recordings, 2010﻿

Salo, a New York–based ensemble that melds jazz, new music, and rock, features compositions by bassist Ben Gallina ’04E. Other members of Salo include saxophonists Alex Hamlin ’00E, Ed Rosenberg ’03E, and Josh Rutner ’03E, and pianist Red Wierenga ’02E.﻿

The Chamber Music of Manuel Ponce﻿

By Robert Lehmann ’92E (MM)﻿

Centaur Records, 2010﻿

Together with violinist Jennifer Elowitch ’88E, violist Kimberly Mitchell Lehmann ’93E (MM), and cellist William Rounds, violinist Lehmann performs selections from the 20th-century Mexican composer including Duo for violin and viola, String Trio, and String Quartet﻿.﻿

Music for a Lost Earth﻿

By Kamran Ince ’87E (DMA)﻿

Naxos, 2010﻿

Composer Ince presents 17 vignettes reflecting the themes of global distress and dysfunction. Ince has released three other digital CDs with Naxos in 2010—Galatasaray, Hammers & Whistlers, and Constantinople﻿.﻿

Martinu: Chamber Music with Flute﻿

By Fenwick Smith ’72E﻿

ArkivMusic, 2010﻿

With his Boston Symphony Orchestra colleagues, flutist Fenwick Smith ’72E performs four varied works of the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu.﻿

Opus One﻿

By Shauli Einav ’08E (MM)﻿

Plus Loin Music, 2010﻿

Composer and saxophonist Einav performs original compositions, such as “Jerusalem Theme,” “Kavana,” “Hayu Leilot,” and “Shavout,” that meld jazz with the musical heritage of his native Israel. Joining him are trombonist Andy Hunter, bassist Joseph Lepore, and others.﻿

DVD

Operation Sail ’76﻿

By Donald Messina ’56, ’57 (MA)﻿

AVC Studio, 2010﻿

Messina presents a documentary of the international maritime celebration of the United States Bicentennial. The DVD includes narration and music, as well as both aerial and water-level views of the Parade of Ships, in which tall ships and smaller vessels from around the world sailed into New York Harbor on July 4, 1976, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.﻿

Books & Recordings is a compilation of recent work by University alumni, faculty, and staff. For inclusion in an upcoming issue, send the work’s title, publisher information, author, and author’s class year, along with a brief description, to Books & Recordings, Rochester Review, 22 Wallis Hall, P. O. Box 270044, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0044; or by e-mail to rochrev@rochester.edu.﻿

He’s Got Drive

Consumer Reports test engineer Tom Mutchler ’93 lends his automotive insight.

Interview by Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)

masterclass (Photo: David Cowles for Rochester Review)

I’m an engineer at ‘the track.’ We have 327 acres in Connecticut, where Consumer Reports owns its own test track.

We have over 50 different tests that we do on cars, ranging from acceleration and braking and emergency handling to going out for a daylong drive with five or six cars all in a convoy, after which we come back and record our results.

Tom Mutchler ’93

Cromwell, Conn.

Automotive Test Engineer, Consumer Reports

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Car driven at Rochester: 1981 Buick Electra. “My grandfather was nice enough to loan it to me. It wasn’t the best car in the snow. I remember it in the Hill Court parking lot just spinning its back tires.”

I drive a different car to and from work every day. At the end of the day, I walk up to a wall with a board of keys on it. And there are usually 40 or 50 different cars that are available for me to drive. I’ll drive a car home and back the next day, paying attention to how it handles, how easy its controls are to use, and its fuel economy. Each car has a logbook where we record our notes.

My wife and I own one car, a 2010 Honda Odyssey. We don’t have kids. But we have this minivan because we kayak, we mountain bike, we do all these outdoor activities. It’s so nice to have the space. The way we wound up with it is we took the car on vacation. And then we started borrowing it on weekends.

If you’re going to buy a car, be really honest with yourself. How much car do you need? There’s been this tendency toward buying large SUVs or four-wheel drive. But if you live in a place where it only snows once a year, you probably don’t need four-wheel drive. You might watch ads where you see an SUV going off-roading, yet you’re probably never going to do that. If you’re able to separate your wants from your needs, you’ll probably buy a vehicle that will cost you less money and get better fuel economy.

There are two companies that clearly stand out. One of them is Hyundai. Hyundai used to be a laughingstock. Even today, people will say, ‘Hyundai? Are you crazy?’ But they’re incredibly determined, and it’s showing up in their products. Virtually every car they come out with ends up scoring very well and winds up being very reliable.

The other stand-out company is Ford. They’ve been very focused. That’s a horrible pun. But they’ve taken cars that were OK cars, like the Mustang and the Fusion, and they’ve extensively reworked them. The Focus and the Fusion are more reliable than the Japanese competition, which to many people would have been unimaginable just a few years back.

One of the things I’ve learned is that it’s very difficult anymore to say that an entire brand is good. Ford has a few products that aren’t that great. Toyota has some terrific products, and they also have some lousy products. There are some recent Hondas we don’t recommend.

It’s fascinating to be in the business at this point because it’s anybody’s game. You can’t say anymore, ‘Oh well, that car’s made by so-and-so, it’s not going to be good.’ You can now be surprised all the time. And we are.

STUDENT LIFE

Quidditch, Anyone?

backcover (Photo: Adam Fenster)

MEET THE THESTRALS: Rochester was well-represented in the fourth annual Quidditch World Cup, the national tournament of teams playing a “muggle” version of the magical broom-based game made famous in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. One of 46 teams in the November tourney in New York City, Rochester’s Thestrals advanced to the round of 16. For more about the team, visit www.rochester.edu/pr/Review.