Rochester Review

September–October 2015, Volume 78, No. 1

Editor

Scott Hauser

Associate Editors

Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)

Kathleen McGarvey

Contributors

Valerie Alhart, Adam Fenster, Peter Iglinski, Jim Mandelaro, Bob Marcotte, Melissa Mead, Mark Michaud, Sara Miller, Dennis O’Donnell, Monique Patenaude, Scott Sabocheck, Leonor Sierra, Helene Snihur, and Brandon Vick

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E-mail: rochrev@rochester.edu www.rochester.edu/pr/Review

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ISSN: 0035-7421

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Rochester Review:

Lighting Up Rochester

By Joel Seligman

presidentHISTORIC NEWS: Vice President Biden announced that Rochester would be the headquarters for a new national photonics institute. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

On July 27, Vice President Joe Biden announced the exciting news that a consortium of which the University is a key partner had won a national competition to advance United States photonics manufacturing capability. This is a historic achievement, one of the largest awards ever made of its kind. Rochester will now be the headquarters of the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics or AIM Photonics, which will be a leader in a critical 21st-century advanced technology. AIM Photonics also will have operations in other cities throughout the country.

Rochester was chosen after a lengthy competition administered by the Department of Defense to be the headquarters for the photonics initiative because of its historical strengths and for its ability to help provide a comprehensive solution to photonics packaging and assembly. Photonics—which is the science of using light in processes from advanced manufacturing to transmitting data—has a strong footprint in Rochester. Photonics and related fields including optics and imaging account for an estimated 17,000 jobs in our region. AIM Photonics is expected to emulate the success of the electronics industry for the past 40 years and become an innovative ecosystem of development. AIM will create a hub focused on the design, manufacturing, and packaging of circuits that combine photonic and electronic components.

Integrated photonics has the potential to revolutionize the carrying capacity of Internet networks, improve performance in biological research, cyber defense, banking, investing, video conferencing, weather models, as well as other applications. The photonics industry’s use of light to produce energy and operate sensors and computer chips will become increasingly important in fields such as manufacturing, where laser-guided robots make precision parts, and in computer processing and development of semiconductor technology. Defense applications include night-vision systems, satellite-surveillance systems, infrared, flexible displays, sensors, directors, data communications, and lasers. AIM Photonics will bridge the gap between research and innovation, retooling semiconductor fabrication and packaging methods and equipment that made integrated circuits widespread.

AIM Photonics will receive $110 million from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and another $250 million from the State of New York. Additional funding commitments from public and private partners, including the States of California and Massachusetts, will exceed $245 million over the next five years for a five-to-one matching of federal funds. More than $130 million of those funds are committed to the Rochester region. The institute will be part of the federal National Network for Manufacturing Innovation proposed by President Barack Obama in October 2014 to “create a competitive, effective, and sustainable manufacturing research-to-manufacturing infrastructure for U.S. industry and academia to solve industry-relevant problems.”

The consortium behind AIM Photonics comprises a coast-to-coast academic- industry partnership that includes the University of Rochester, SUNY Polytechnic University, RIT, MIT, the University of Arizona, the University of California–Santa Barbara, and Columbia University, as well as corporate partners led by Boeing, IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin, Infinera, Corning, and Synopsis. In all there are 90 partners from 18 states.

The University leadership team, led by Robert Clark, senior vice president for research and dean of the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and Duncan Moore, vice provost for entrepreneurship and the Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor of Optical Engineering, was pivotal in helping achieve this success. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s commitment of $250 million in support from New York State was particularly decisive.

The total investment by state and federal governments will drive transformative development in the Finger Lakes region and beyond. I also am deeply grateful to the New York congressional delegation, led by Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Louise Slaughter, as well as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Tom Reed, for their support. Others were instrumental in their efforts to advance our consortium’s application through this extremely competitive process, notably including Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, Dr. Alain Kaloyeros, president and CEO of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and RIT President William Destler. AIM Photonics is the culmination of several years of bipartisan support from our congressional delegation and was made possible by the recent enactment of the Revitalize American Manufacturing Innovation Act.

Rochester has a long and hallowed history of training successive generations of optics and imaging workforces. With this award, we are fortified in our leadership role in photonics, a pivotal emerging part of optics. The new institute will empower the best talent, sustainable relationships, and infrastructure required to make the United States a global leader in this industry, leveraging the capabilities of our University as well as those of other academic partners to make this revolution possible. A critical milestone in the revitalization of Rochester has been achieved with this award.

Thumbs Up for Student Activism

I enjoyed the article on student activism (“An Active Year”) in the July-August issue.

It is great to see young people who were brought up to believe “greed is good” taking an interest in social and economic justice for all.

I could not imagine such an article being published during my days at UR. Activism was not popular among students in the mid-’70s. The leader of the University, W. Allen Wallis, believed in freedom but not dissent. In 1974, the hospital workers organized, won recognition for their union, and negotiated their first contract.

Things did not go as smoothly on the River Campus. In the fall of 1975 the workers went on strike. In between classes, I joined the workers on the picket line with other sympathetic students. A rally was called on the steps of Rush Rhees Library attended by students, faculty, and workers. The University’s response was to turn on the lawn sprinklers in an attempt to break up the rally.

At that point the union knew that it had won. Rather than break up the rally we sang “We Shall Not Be Moved” and then joined workers on the picket line.

Now, whenever I am in Strong Memorial Hospital, I tell my story to union members. Also, I recite the words I learned on the picket line many years ago: “1-1-9-9, We Care All the Time.”

John Testa ’76

Rochester

Thumbs Down for Political Bias

I have always looked forward to receiving my University magazine to find out what is happening on campus, whether it is new developments in science, music, literature, or from my favorite business school, the Simon School. This was true until I saw the cover of the latest issue (July-August). My initial fear was confirmed after reading your lead story.

All too often, universities have become instruments to promote biased views on politics, social issues, or global warming, and an accurate dialogue will take a back seat to promoting a particular agenda.

I always believed that Rochester was an institution that was not like the majority of schools whose agendas are more important than the truth. Your article, “From Ferguson to Rochester,” did little to promote the best that our school has to offer.

The Ferguson incident took place over six months ago and what was initially reported as another case of police brutality turned out not to be true. The initial reporting that Michael Brown was shot in the back with his hands up was a total fabrication. The police officer was cleared of all charges even though the Department of Justice acted as if they were hoping for an indictment rather than hoping for the truth to come out.

The young lady in your story was crying when she found out that the police officer was not indicted. Would she have felt better if he had been indicted but the truth turned out to be that the indictment was unwarranted? Unfortunately, I believe the answer is yes. Today truth and real justice, regardless of race and ethnicity, take a back seat to what is politically convenient. Occasionally I ask myself, what are our universities teaching today? I’m afraid I know.

In my opinion, your magazine had ample time to, at the very least, print another story, to accurately portray what took place that day in Ferguson. You had the opportunity but decided not to. Instead, for those who don’t follow the news, your magazine did little to inform the reader of what really took place.

Do you not have some responsibility to inform the reader of the truth? Apparently not.

Harvey Jacobson ’82S (MBA)

Manhattan Beach, California

I am an alumnus of the Simon School and a proud one at that. I still wear my Rochester gear with pride.

That said, I felt compelled to call into question your judgment. Your misguided efforts regarding “An Active Year” from the July-August edition were a disappointment at best.

The body of the discussion reads like a celebration of liberalism. Contrary to liberal belief, there is nothing noble about the ignorant and ill-informed parading around like fools.

To put a blatantly wrong “protester” of the Michael Brown mayhem on the very cover of this typically wonderful periodical is beyond disappointing. Your story had so many inaccuracies and half-truths that it’s pointless to even begin to list them.

Apologize for insulting the intelligence of your alumni and park your political bias at the curb. You’re supposed to be journalists reflecting the views of one of the nation’s greatest institutions of higher learning, not a pack of Democrat shills.

John Gatsios ’92S (MBA)

Medina, Ohio

Celebrating Saxophones

Loved your great article, “Saxophone Heaven” (July-August)—very nicely written and terrific pictures.

I play the clarinet and the sax. While living in Buffalo, in the late 1950s, I took private lessons from Marvin Kamm ’36E, a great teacher, musician, and nice man. He truly inspired me and was also among the first students to go to the Eastman School of Music. (To read about him on the Internet, search for “Lenoir Sax.”)

Nowadays I mostly play jazz, swing, and blues music, especially the songs of the ’30s through the ’60s (the good old standards). I love to play for dances and occasionally for church services.

Terrific article. Keep up the good work!

Jim Harrick

Hornell, New York

Remembering a Mentor

It was with great sadness that I read of the passing of Professor Jesse T. Moore in the July-August issue.

As a history major, I was fortunate to take many of Professor Moore’s classes and have him as a faculty advisor. To those of us lucky enough to know him, he was a great teacher, but so much more: an advisor, a confidant, and a friend.

I’ll always remember two things about my years at school—his big bear hug at my department graduation and his wonderful story about his own doctoral thesis. Those being the days before Xerox machines, he told us he was afraid that his one and only copy of his thesis would be lost if his house caught fire. So he stored it in the only fireproof place he could think of—his refrigerator.

I’ll always share that story with fond memories of this wonderful and inspirational man.

Andrew Silverman ’81

Weston, Florida

Yes on Né

As a gay man in a same-sex marriage I was delighted to read in the July-August 2015 issue of the marriage of Jason Buitrago ’14W (MS), and I wish all the best for him and his husband (Class Notes).

The notice refers to Jason’s husband as “Chris Buitrago (née Stroud).” The use of “née” in this instance is in error, since “née” is the feminine form of the French word for “born.” The masculine form of that adjective, “né,” should rather be used in this instance. With the recent Supreme Court decision making same-sex marriage legal throughout the U.S., I expect that this use of “né,” which up until now may have been quite rare, may become a bit more common.

John Sheridan ’98E (DMA)

South Orange, New Jersey

A Fellowship of Friends

I was interested in the thoughts of Nina Gaby ’86N, ’90N (MS) about friendships that end, sometimes suddenly and without explanation (Master Class, May-June). Yes, that can involve “women unfriending other women” painfully. But often, I believe, there is no falling out, just a moving on.

I read an idea attributed to Lillian Rubin: “friends of the heart and friends of the road.” I had thought all good friends were of the “heart” variety—lifelong, deeply sharing thoughts and experiences. Rubin said friendships of the road can be just as deep, but are dependent on sharing one particular time of your life, and fade when those circumstances change. I thought, “Yes!”

In 1978 I arrived at the School of Nursing as a “nontraditional student,” having been in the workplace using my first BS degree. I expected to be isolated between 20-year-old students and professors not much older than myself. Who knew there would be a whole handful of us in that class? Each with a different first career, from art to psychology to chemistry?

We quickly found each other and became fast friends. Now, 35 years after graduation, I am in touch with one of them. But I remember all of those friends warmly and thankfully.

I feel the same way today about friends with whom I navigate the caregiving of our elderly parents. Most of us will move on some day, healthier for having been friends of the road.

Leanne Jackson ’80N

Fishers, Indiana

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.

COGNITIVE SCIENCE

Breaking Good

curve (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Spin Cycle: Yellowjacket pitcher Rob Mabee ’15 and catcher Nolan Schultz ’17 help demonstrate the science behind why a curve ball can be baffling to so many baseball hitters. According to new research by Duje Tadin, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at Rochester, and colleagues at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea, the brain uses a neurological algorithm much like that used by global positioning systems to estimate the path of the ball as it comes toward the batter. But the spin given the ball by the pitcher relative to the position of the batter often confuses that algorithm, making the flight of the ball seem to arc much more sharply than it actually does.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Rising to a Challenge

dalailama (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Social Setting: The Dalai Lama greets Simon Business School students Mikayla Hart ’16S (MBA), Cesar Quijano Serrano ’15S (MBA), and Robert Kauffman ’16S (MBA), along with (from left) Duncan Moore, vice provost for entrepreneurship; Joel Seligman, president and CEO; and Michael Wohl, associate director of social entrepreneurship, after the inaugural Tibetan Innovation Challenge in New York City this summer. The new intercollegiate social entrepreneurship competition, sponsored by the University, asked students from across the country to propose business ideas to help alleviate economic challenges facing Tibetan refugees. Placing third, the Simon students proposed a plan to provide Tibetans living in India with financial training and access to capital.

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP

First in Photonics

photonics (Photo: Adam Fenster)

LEADING LIGHT: Vice President Joe Biden announced this summer that Rochester will be the headquarters of the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics. Known as AIM Photonics, the institute will bring together universities, companies, and federal agencies in a consortium whose goal is to advance optics-based technology for defense, commercial, consumer, and research applications in much the same way that integrated circuits transformed those fields over the past 40 years. The latest addition to the National Network of Manufacturing Institutes, an initiative launched by President Barack Obama, AIM Photonics is slated to receive more than $600 million in funding from federal, private, and state sources, including $250 million committed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Rochester was selected in a Department of Defense competition based on a proposal put together by an academic and industry consortium that spans 18 states and includes the University, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, RIT, MIT, the University of Arizona, the University of California–Santa Barbara, and Columbia University.

INVENTION

On Your Marks, Get Set . . . Hack!

With just 36 hours to invent a new app, Thomas Pinella ’18 and Dylan Wadler ’18 took first place with Message in a Bottle at RocHack’s second annual hackathon.

Interview by Kathleen McGarvey

hackersBOTTLED UP: Dylan Wadler ’18 (left) and Thomas Pinella ’18 won Rochester’s second annual “hackathon” with their social media website, Message in a Bottle (mibNote.com), which allows users to leave notes for others to find based on GPS location. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

They say good things come to those who wait—but for competitors in DandyHack’s Spring ’15, Rochester’s second annual “hackathon,” there was a lot of pressure for ideas to come together quickly. Sponsored by RocHack, a student group of “computer enthusiasts,” the event was open to any college student and drew about 94 participants. Teams of up to five people were invited to take advantage of the tools in Ronald Rettner Hall for Media Arts and Innovation to build anything—software projects are traditional in hackathons, but hardware and other projects were welcome. Thomas Pinella ’18, a computer science major from Winchester, Massachusetts, and Dylan Wadler ’18, a mechanical engineering major from Huntington, New York, took first place with Message in a Bottle (mibNote.com), a social media site designed to allow users to leave notes for others to find based on a global positioning system.

What is a hackathon, and what’s it like to compete in one?

Pinella: People either get together in small teams or work individually to create a unique project within a small period of time—36 hours, in our case. It can be very intense, and extreme lack of sleep is to be expected, but at the same time, it’s a lot of fun, and the end product makes it worth it.

How did you develop the idea for Message in a Bottle?

Pinella: Originally we wanted to do something with hardware. Our first great idea was to build a motorized skateboard you could sit on that uses your phone as a steering wheel—essentially, a small car. But we soon realized we had neither the time nor the resources to complete this. After scratching a dozen other ideas—including Morse code encoded text messages, and an Etch-a-Sketch app—we finally decided to make mibNote.com. It was one o’clock in the morning, we were tired of thinking of ideas, and Dylan really wanted to do something with GPS coordinates.

How does it work?

Pinella: When you go to mibNote.com, the site begins tracking your GPS coordinates to within six decimal places—approximately an 11-centimeter accuracy—and it will display notes that have been written near your location. You can leave your own notes by specifying a category, which we call tides (personal, business, travel, and so on), and attaching your signature—basically a pseudonym—to it. All notes are anonymous.

Wadler: There are also no users, so anyone could just go on and post a note. It encapsulates the idea of not really knowing who the sender is and just receiving a note in a bottle. That’s where the name comes from.

How would you like to develop it further?

Pinella: First, we want the site to look prettier. Eventually, we also want to add a revenue-making part so that we can pay for more hosting and make some profit. We were thinking that businesses could pay a monthly subscription that would allow them to leave notes advertising their businesses, and it would give them added features, such as being able to add images to their notes.

Wadler: I am going to work on an app for the Pebble smartwatch, possibly alongside an app for Android phones. That way more people could use mibNote without having to access a web browser.

How did being in the hackathon influence the app you developed?

Wadler: Coming up with ideas is always difficult, but with constraints I find that something awesome can come out of it. Having almost no time to complete our project, let alone think of an idea, couldn’t have been replicated outside the hackathon.

Pinella: Without the hackathon, there’s no way I would have spent close to eight hours trying to think of a cool idea to pursue. It acted as a catalyst and helped keep us focused. How can you procrastinate when you know that you have less than 36 hours total to create something from scratch?

What advice do you have for people interested in competing?

Wadler: You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. I know it’s by far the most interesting to do, and probably rewarding, to go and write all your code from scratch, or build something out of raw materials—but you just can’t in such a narrow time frame. Hacking is the idea of taking things around you and making something new out of them, so don’t be afraid to break things. Take baby steps. You’ll get to your end-goal if you get there in increments.

Pinella: I can now see the advantage of having an idea of what you want to do before the hackathon begins. That way, you can get started immediately. But don’t let not having an idea stop you from competing in a hackathon. It’s still a lot of fun, and you will probably think of something that you otherwise never would have thought of doing. But whatever your idea is, pursue it and finish it. The last 10 percent of a project can be the most difficult to complete, but also the most rewarding and the most important. A finished project is almost always more impressive than a half-finished project, even if it was a great idea. And get at least a few hours of sleep—it helps.

VISUAL ARTS

Artistic Acquisitions

New works highlight the Memorial Art Gallery’s post–WWII collection.

magFIRST LOOK: Thomas’s Portrait of Qusuquzah #6 (2015) is on display this fall. (Photo: Memorial Art Gallery)

Mickalene Thomas is earning an international reputation for her artistic vision of what it means to be a woman in the 21st century. In work that explores traditional notions of beauty, gender, race, and representation, the Brooklyn-based visual artist and film maker has earned wide praise not only for her vibrant, elaborate paintings, but also for her complex vision and deft allusions to art history and classical genres.

Her Portrait of Qusuquzah #6 (2015), a work in acrylic, enamel, oil, and rhinestones on a wood panel, is one of nine recent acquisitions by the Memorial Art Gallery that were introduced this summer as part of the first major reinstallation of the gallery’s collection of postwar and contemporary art in several decades. Also added to the collection were works by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Hung Liu, and the late Beauford Delaney.

Jonathan Binstock, the Mary W. and Donald R. Clark Director of the Memorial Art Gallery, says the new works take their place in the gallery’s long artistic narrative.

“The beauty of these acquisitions is how well they fit into MAG’s historical collections. They can be exhibited together, in the context of a modern and contemporary art installation, or inserted into other areas of the museum, as provocative foils that expand the conversation on the relevance of art, both past and present, for contemporary audiences.”

Thomas’s work, along with Convertible Series, Group 10 (2011), a mirrored wall sculpture by Farmanfarmaian, Three Fujins (1995), an allegorical painting by Liu, and Delaney’s Charlie Parker (1968), will remain on view as part of the permanent collection installation.

Under the Armor

A new book by historian Richard Kaeuper takes a broad look at chivalry through a resolutely medieval lens.

chivalryHANDS-ON: A 19th-century depiction of Robert Bruce killing Sir Henry Bohun at the Battle of Bannockburn on June 24, 1314. (Photo: Corbis)

Gallant knights on horseback, banners unfurling before stirring tournaments—today’s popular notions of the chivalric world are profoundly influenced by people in the 19th century who saw the Middle Ages through a romantic haze, says Richard Kaeuper, professor of history.

And he is out to change that.

Kaeuper has devoted his career to it, with books such as Holy Warriors: The Religious Ideology of Chivalry (University of Pennsylvania, 2009) and Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe (Clarendon Press, 2001). Now he’s completing a book, commissioned by Cambridge University Press, called Medieval Chivalry, which looks at the concept generally.

The way people for the past couple of centuries have thought of chivalry isn’t the way medieval knights experienced it. Chivalry was a violent, often grisly, phenomenon. “It’s hands-on cutting and thrusting. It’s a very bloody profession, and they admire it to excess,” he says. But he also insists that chivalry is more than a timeless warrior code.

Though its influence is still felt, chivalry is specific to a historical period—from roughly the second half of the 11th century into the 16th century—and it underpins medieval society in many ways. “It’s an immense topic that goes everywhere,” he says.

The term “chivalry”—unlike “feudalism”—is a medieval one, and an essential concept for the age. It denotes “deeds of great valor performed by knights,” he says. But it also refers to the collective body of knights present in an action and—most important—a set of ideas and practices. He writes that “virtually every medieval voice we can hear accepts a chivalric mentalité and seems anxious to advance it (and often to reform it toward some desired goal) as a key buttress to society, even to civilization.”

Chivalry is “pretty much a French creation,” and then it moves through Western Europe. The English, the Italians, the Spanish, and the Germans not only adopt it but make it their own.

He identifies three phases of chivalry. The first, he calls “knighthood before chivalry”—the beginnings of the military profession in the period before kings and other noblemen would have called themselves knights. In the second period, such high-born men begin to cultivate an identity as knights. Tournaments come into being and literary romance and epic flourish. And in the third phase, which he calls “chivalry beyond formal knighthood,” the influence of chivalry pervades society. By then, it’s a “set of ideas that organizes thought and behavior.”

Kaeuper uses five “model” knights to guide readers through the concepts of his book: cross-Channel, 13th-century hero William Marshal; 14th-century king of Scotland Robert Bruce; 14th-century French knight and author Geoffroi de Charny; late 14th-century Castilian warrior Don Pero Niño; and 15th-century English knight and author Thomas Malory, still famous for his Le Morte d’Arthur. All the figures—whose lives illustrate changes over time in chivalry and its geographical range—are the authors or subjects of a major textual work.“They’re active participants” in the chivalric world, he says.

As a historian, Kaeuper finds enormous value in literary texts. “I use a lot of miracle stories, as well as standard imaginative literature,” he says. “They’re important—because they are imaginative, because they show what people are worried about, what they’re hoping for.”

The title of his book is deliberate because Kaeuper wants to emphasize that what he is examining is medieval chivalry, not post-medieval chivalry or neo-Romantic chivalry. Describing his task as “cutting a path through the thickets of Romanticism,” Kaeuper says that people in the 1800s in England and continental Europe, and to a lesser extent, the United States, looked back to the Middle Ages in a search for national identity and in an effort to escape problems of modernity.

“Far from dark,” he writes, “the medieval past was not only colorful and fascinating, but too important and too useful to be ignored. The romantic revivers did not and perhaps could not recognize that they were altering the original drastically and investing it with meanings that would have surprised its first practitioners.”

According to Kaeuper, the chivalric world resonates still—and he feels its power as it touches on issues of violence, religion, governance, and more.

“It’s a scary subject, because it’s so serious,” he says. “The editor of one of my books wrote to me and said, ‘This isn’t just about the Middle Ages. This is a modern book.’ That’s not the goal. My goal is to understand the Middle Ages. But you can see how it applies.

“If you start thinking modern as you go into the past, you distort the past. If you start with the past and see if it informs the present, I think you’re on the right path.” ﻿﻿

—Kathleen McGarvey

The Inner Ear: A Beautiful Sensor

A Rochester engineer explores the biomechanics of a remarkable biological structure.

earHEAR, HEAR: Ibrahim Mohammad ’17—a Xerox Engineering Research Fellow in the lab of Douglas Kelley, assistant professor of mechanical engineering—built and tested a laboratory model to simulate the movements of the inner ear’s hair cells in support of Jong-Hoon Nam’s project. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Nearly four decades ago, English researcher David Kemp discovered that the human inner ear not only receives but also generates sounds as part of its normal functioning.

The finding led to the standard method now used to screen hearing in newborns. But even now, scientists are not sure how or why these “otoacoustic emissions” occur.

Jong-Hoon Nam, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and of biomedical engineering, hopes to provide answers to that and other mysteries of the incredibly complex sense of hearing. His lab is combining computer simulations with a novel microfluidic chamber to focus specifically on the organ of Corti. The organ—a complex, truss-like strip consisting of inner and outer hair cells, a basilar membrane and supporting cells—plays a key role in converting sound-generated oscillations in the cochlea’s fluid-filled chambers into electrical signals that go to the brain.

“The biomechanics of the organ of Corti have been underinvestigated,” he says. “We would like to know how the complicated structure of the organ of Corti contributes to the overall function of the cochlea.”

With support from an NIH grant that could total $1.8 million over the next five years, Nam hopes to lay groundwork that could eventually lead to better hearing aids or more finely customizable implants. Because the inner ear can process a wide range of both frequencies and loudness, understanding its processes might lead to more sensitive pressure transducers and other engineering applications. “Engineers continually obtain ideas from biological systems,” Nam says. “And the inner ear is a beautiful sensor, operating over a remarkably wide range.”

Nam and his lab will employ novel experimental and computational approaches, including the development of a microfluidic chamber that imitates the physiological conditions of the cochlea. That’s designed to help “address the pivotal question in cochlear research—how outer hair cells, the cochlear amplifier, work within the organ of Corti.”

Nam’s team is also developing a computational model that incorporates the physical, electrical, and fluid mechanical properties of the organ of Corti and the entire cochlea. Members of the group are developing the computer codes themselves because no commercial program provides an easier way to solve such problems.

Nam notes that much of the historical research on the inner ear has occurred at two extremes of scale: the macro biophysics of the cochlea as a whole, and the physiology of individual cells and molecules. By focusing on the multicellular physics of the organ of Corti, and the electromechanical interaction between outer hair cells and the microstructures around them, Nam hopes to “bridge” previous findings and provide a “new integrative paradigm of hearing research.”

—Bob Marcotte﻿﻿

Probing Earth’s Magnetic Shield

discoverFIELD SHIELD: An artist’s depiction (not to scale) of Earth’s magnetic field deflecting highenergy protons from the sun four billion years ago (Illustration: Michael Osadciw)

Since 2010, the best estimate of the age of Earth’s magnetic field has been 3.45 billion years. But a researcher responsible for that finding has new data showing the magnetic field is far older.

John Tarduno, professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and a leading expert on Earth’s magnetic field, and his team say they now believe the field is at least 4 billion years old. The findings were published in the journal Science.

The magnetic field helps to prevent solar winds—streams of charged particles shooting from the sun—from stripping away the Earth’s atmosphere and water that make life on the planet possible.

A record of that field’s direction and intensity can be found in minerals from the earliest periods of Earth’s history. Tarduno’s new results are based on a record of magnetic field strength fixed within magnetite found in zircon crystals—formed more than a billion years ago—from the Jack Hills of Western Australia.

“We know the zircons have not been moved relative to each other from the time they were deposited,” he says. “As a result, if the magnetic information in the zircons had been erased and re-recorded, the magnetic directions would have all been identical.”

Instead, he found that the minerals revealed varying magnetic directions—convincing him that the intensity measurements recorded in the samples were as old as four billion years. The findings support previous zircon measurements that suggest an age of 4.4 billion years for the magnetic field.

In a separate study, a team led by Tarduno found that a region of the Earth’s core beneath southern Africa may play a special role in reversals of the planet’s magnetic poles. Thanks to their knowledge of ancient African practices—in this case, the ritualistic cleansing of villages by burning down huts and grain bins—the researchers were able to assemble data about the magnetic field in the Iron Age. When burning, the clay floors reached a temperature of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius, hot enough to erase the magnetic information stored in the magnetite and create a new record of the magnetic field strength and direction at the time of the burning.

Reversals of the North and South Poles have occurred irregularly throughout history, with the last one taking place about 800,000 years ago. Once a reversal starts, it can take as long as 15,000 years to complete. The new data suggests the core region beneath southern Africa may be the birthplace of some of the more recent and future pole reversals.

Results of the study were published in the journal Nature Communications.

—Peter Iglinski﻿﻿

Young Adults’ Social Lives Can Predict Midlife Well-Being

It’s well known that social connections promote psychological and overall health. Now research shows that the quantity of social interactions a person has at age 20—and the quality of social relationships at 30—can bring benefits later in life.

The 30-year longitudinal study, published in the journal Psychology and Aging, shows that frequent social interactions at age 20 provide psychological tools to be drawn on later: they help people figure out who they are, the researchers say.

Surprisingly, the study suggests that having a high number of social interactions at 30 doesn’t have psychosocial benefits later.

But 30-year-olds who reported having intimate and satisfying relationships also reported high levels of well-being at midlife. Meaningful social engagement was beneficial at any age, but more so at 30 than 20.

Cheryl Carmichael ’11 (PhD) conducted the research as a doctoral candidate. She’s now an assistant professor of psychology at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

—Monique Patenaude

Nursing Home Care for Minorities Improves

While disparities continue to exist, the quality of care in nursing homes with higher concentrations of racial and ethnic minority residents has improved—and the progress appears to be linked to increases in Medicaid payments.

That’s according to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs and led by Yue Li, associate professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences.

There are an estimated 1.3 million older and disabled Americans receiving care in some 15,000 nursing homes across the country. Over the past 20 years, the number of African-American, Hispanic, and Asian residents of nursing homes has increased rapidly, and now accounts for nearly 20 percent of people living in U.S. nursing homes. But the institutions remain segregated, and homes with high concentrations of racial and ethnic minorities tend to have more limited financial resources, employ fewer nurses, and provide a lower level of care.

State Medicaid programs are the dominant source of funding for nursing homes, providing roughly half of total payments for long-term care. In recent years, states have tried to influence the quality of care by increasing reimbursement rates and linking those payments to improvements.

In a study using data from more than 14,000 nursing homes from 2006 to 2011, the researchers found that reported deficiencies in clinical and personal care and safety declined in nursing homes with both low and high concentrations of minorities. They also compared these trends to state Medicaid reimbursement rates and found that an increase of $10 per resident per day was associated with a reduction in the number of reported clinical-care deficiencies.

—Mark Michaud

Stress in Low-Income Families Can Affect Children’s Learning

Children living in low-income households who endure family instability and emotionally distant caregivers are at risk of having impaired cognitive abilities, according to new research from the Mt. Hope Family Center.

The study of more than 200 low-income mother-and-child pairs tracked levels of the stress hormone cortisol in children at ages two, three, and four. It found that specific forms of family adversity are linked to both elevated and low cortisol levels in children—and kids with such levels, high or low, also had lower-than-average cognitive ability at age four.

Family instability includes frequent changes in care providers, household members, or residence.

Such instability, the researchers say, reflects a general breakdown of the family’s ability to provide a predictable environment for children.

“We saw really significant disparities in children’s cognitive abilities at age four—right before they enter kindergarten,” says lead author Jennifer Suor, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology. “Some of these kids are already behind before they start kindergarten, and there is research that shows that they’re unlikely to catch up.” She adds that the findings support the need for investment in community-based interventions that can strengthen parent-child relationships and reduce family stress early in a child’s life.

The study was published in the journal Child Development.

—Monique Patenaude

discoverGREAT EXPECTATIONS: Babies’ brains respond not just to what they see, but also to what they expect to see, a kind of neural processing formerly thought only to happen in adults. (Photo: iStockphoto)

Babies’ Expectations May Help Brain Development

Infants can use their expectations about the world to rapidly shape their developing brains. That’s the finding of researchers at Rochester and the University of South Carolina, who performed a series of experiments with infants five to seven months old. Their study showed that portions of babies’ brains responsible for visual processing respond not just to the presence of visual stimuli, but also to the mere expectation of such stimuli.

That type of complex neural processing was once thought to happen only in adults, not in infants, whose brains are still developing important neural connections. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and was led by Lauren Emberson while she was postdoctoral fellow at Rochester’s Baby Lab. She is now an assistant professor in psychology at Princeton. Richard Aslin, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and codirector of the lab, also authored the study.

The researchers exposed one group of infants to a sequential pattern that included a sound—like a rattle or a honk—followed by an image of a red cartoon smiley face. Another group saw and heard the same things but without any pattern. After a little more than a minute, researchers began omitting the image 20 percent of the time.

By using light to measure oxygenation in regions of the babies’ brains, the scientists were able to see activity in the visual areas of the brains of infants exposed to the pattern—even when the image didn’t appear as expected.

“There’s a lot of work that shows babies do use their experiences to develop,” Emberson says. “That’s sort of intuitive, especially if you’re a parent, but we have no idea how the brain is actually using the experiences.”

—Monique Patenaude

Imaging Sciences, Autism Building Gets Under Way

inbriefTEAMWORK: Children and families helped celebrate the groundbreaking of a new UR Medicine building on the South Campus that will house outpatient imaging services as well as the new William and Mildred Levine Autism Clinic. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

A new building on the University’s South Campus will house state-of-the-art outpatient imaging facilities, as well as the region’s first stand-alone clinic to integrate care of autism with pediatric neuromedicine and child and adolescent psychiatry services.

Ground was broken in late August for the 90,000-square-foot, three-story building. Home to outpatient imaging and interventional radiology clinics, as well as autism, neuromedicine, and behavioral health pediatric programs, the building will allow those services to move from the Medical Center to a more easily accessible location along East River Road and I-390. The first two floors will be devoted to imaging, including spacious, private patient areas with advanced technology for diagnostics and treatment. The third floor will house the new William and Mildred Levine Autism Clinic. Supported by a $1 million gift from the William and Mildred Levine Foundation, the clinic will offer care in a child-friendly environment that meets the physical, sensory, and environmental needs of children.

The $28 million building will be completed in early 2017.

Specialties Rank among ‘Nation’s Best’

Four adult specialties at Strong Memorial Hospital have been named to U.S. News & World Report’s 2015–16 ranking of the top 50 programs in the nation. The rankings consider data on nearly 5,000 eligible hospitals, only 137 of which had one program or more on the list.

Strong was recognized for diabetes and endocrinology (34th), gynecology (tied for 22nd), nephrology (39th), and neurology and neurosurgery (41st). It was that program’s fifth consecutive year of top50 results.

The hospital’s programs for cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, otolaryngology, gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, orthopaedics, pulmonary, and urology all scored in the top 10 percent of eligible hospitals. UR Medicine’s Highland Hospital was considered high-performing in gynecology.

Campus Hosts World Student Conference

About 200 high school students from 20 nations who are studying for highly regarded international baccalaureate degrees spent a week this summer at the University. Rochester was the site of the fourth annual International Baccalaureate World Student Conference.

With a theme of “reaching solutions through play,” the conference featured speakers Jane McGonigal, an American game designer and author, and Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor of The New Yorker magazine.

More than 4,000 schools and 70,000 educators worldwide are involved in programs for the international baccalaureate. A 2012 study by the University of Chicago Consortium found that public high school students in the diploma program were 40 percent more likely to attend a four-year college.

Poet Receives NEA Award

inbriefENGLISH PROFESSOR: Grotz joined the faculty in 2009. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Jennifer Grotz, professor of English and director of the University’s translation program, has been awarded a fellowship for literary translation from the National Endowment for the Arts. The fellowship will support the English translation of several poems by the Polish writer Jerzy Ficowski as part of a collaboration with poet and translator Piotr Sommer.

Ficowski was a human rights advocate in his youth and part of the underground movement to destabilize Nazi rule in Poland. Much of his work is focused on the Polish Roma population. He’s also renowned for his biography of Bruno Schulz, known as the “Polish Kafka.” Grotz is the poetry editor of Open Letter Books and directs the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference in Middlebury, Vermont. Her most recent book of poems, The Needle, explores Polish and American 20th-century poetry and their traditions.

Young Pianists Compete at the Eastman School of Music

inbriefPIANO PRIZE: Brian Le of Silver Spring, Maryland, won this year’s Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition. (Photo: Kate Melton)

Brian Le, a 17-year-old pianist from Silver Spring, Maryland, earned first prize at the Eastman Young Artists International Piano Competition. One of 22 competitors from eight countries taking part in the annual program for 15-to-18-year-olds, Le earned top marks with his performance of the first movement of Frédéric Chopin’s Concerto No. 1 in E Minor with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, under conductor Neil Varon.

He received the gold medal, a cash prize of $10,000, and a spot on the DiMenna Center Piano Concert Series in New York City. Other honorees were silver medalist Yaowen Mei, 18, of Wuhan, China; bronze medalist Misha Galant, 17, of San Ramon, California; and finalists Tommy Jing Yu Leo, 15, of London, England, and Evelyn Mo, 16, of Oak Hill, Virginia.

Each pianist presented two solo programs of recital repertoire and participated in a master class led by a member of the jury. Five judges—faculty members at universities as well as performers—assessed the competitors.

Rochester Earns Designation as ‘Storm Ready’

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service has recognized the University as “StormReady” for its preparedness to handle all types of severe and potentially life-threatening weather. Rochester is the first private university in New York to earn the certification. The program encourages communities to improve hazardous weather operations by providing emergency managers with clear guidelines.

To be officially StormReady, the Office of Environmental Health and Safety confirmed compliance with several critieria, including establishing a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center, promoting public readiness through community seminars, and training severe weather spotters.

Nationally, 164 universities have earned the recognition.

Novel, Poetry Earn Best Translated Book Award

inbriefLITERARY HONORS: Winners of the Best Translated Book Awards for 2015 (Photo: Provided)

A Chinese novel and a collection of Mexican poetry were the top picks for the eighth annual Best Translated Book Awards, administered by the University’s literary translation program.

The Last Lover (Yale University Press, 2014), a novel by Can Xue and translated from the Chinese by Annelise Finegan, won the top prize for fiction.

Recognized as runners-up in the category were Harlequin’s Millions (Archipelago Books, 2014) by Bohumil Hrabal, translated from the Czech by Stacey Knech; Faces in the Crowd (Coffee House Press, 2014) by Valeria Luiselli, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney; and Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (Europa Editions, 2014) by Elena Ferrante, translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein.

Diorama (Phoneme Media, 2014), a book of verse by Rocío Cerón, won the poetry category. It was translated from the Spanish by Anna Rosenwong.

The award is the only one of its kind to honor the best original works of international literature and poetry published in the United States during the previous year. It is organized by Three Percent, a website of Rochester’s translation program and its translation press, Open Letter Books.

MELIORA CHALLENGE

Signature Celebrations

Faculty are appointed to professorships named in honor of alumni and friends.

The University honored the achievements of several faculty members during the 2014–15 academic year with ceremonies to mark their appointments to named professorships. Established through the generosity of University alumni and friends, the professorships are part of a long-standing tradition to celebrate the national stature of Rochester’s faculty.

Establishing endowed faculty positions is a key priority for The Meliora Challenge, the University’s fundraising initiative that continues through June 30, 2016. As of the fiscal year that ended June 30, a total of 93 new positions had been established during the Campaign. In 2014, the Campaign’s original goal of 80 endowed faculty positions was increased to 100.

Mark Bils

Hazel Fyfe Professor in Economics

A professor in the Department of Economics and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Bils has established a distinguished career as an economist.

A member of the faculty since 1985, he has examined topics such as how wage-setting and pricing contribute to business-cycle fluctuations and measuring the importance of new and better consumer products. He is the associate editor of the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics.

An anonymous donor’s bequest honoring the Fyfe Family created the professorship, named in honor of Hazel Fyfe Gallaher ’46.

Sally Norton

Independence Chair in Nursing and Palliative Care

A nationally recognized expert on palliative care, Norton has been the principal investigator or coprincipal investigator on several National Institutes of Health–funded studies that have examined the communication strategies used by clinicians to discuss end-of-life issues.

Codirector for research in the Division of Palliative Care in the Department of Medicine, Norton is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

The professorship was created by the Independence Foundation, which is committed to supporting organizations that provide direct services and support—in broad areas of cultural and arts programming, legal aid, and health and human resources—to those who would otherwise lack access. It’s the second professorship established by the Foundation at the School of Nursing.

Gary Morrow

Benefactor Distinguished Professor

An authority in cancer control and survivorship, Morrow ’77M (Flw), ’88 (MS) is credited with building the Cancer Control Program at the Medical Center. That work has resulted in the selection of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center as one of only two cancer centers in the country chosen by the NIH as a hub for a national network of investigators, cancer care providers, academic institutions, and other organizations.

A professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Surgery at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, Morrow has published widely on topics related to the physical and physiological effects of cancer treatment.

The professorship was established by an anonymous donor.

Ray Dorsey

David M. Levy Professor in Neurology

The director of the Center for Human Experimental Therapeutics and the Center for Health and Technology, Dorsey ’07M (Flw) is considered one of the nation’s leading clinicians exploring the application of telemedicine models to treat patients who have Parkinson’s disease.

Widely recognized for his research, Dorsey is part of a Medical Center team that is pioneering the use of smartphone technology that allows patients with Parkinson’s to track their symptoms in real time and share the information with researchers.

The professorship was funded by a gift from Levy’s estate to honor his support for the Department of Neurology and research related to Parkinson’s.

Ruth Lawrence

Northumberland Trust Professor in Pediatrics

Lawrence ’49M (MD), ’58M (Res) has led a distinguished career as a pediatrician, clinical toxicologist, and neonatologist. In addition to helping pioneer neonatology as a specialty, she is an international authority on breastfeeding and a poison control expert.

The director of the Breastfeeding and Human Lactation Study Center, which she founded in 1985, and the author of Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession, now in its eighth edition, Lawrence was the founding member and past president of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine.

The professorship was established by an anonymous donor.

Richard Phipps

Wright Family Research Professor

Widely cited for his research on pulmonary disease, Phipps holds faculty positions in the Departments of Environmental Medicine; Medicine; Microbiology and Immunology; Obstetrics and Gynecology; Ophthalmology; Pathology and Laboratory medicine; and Pediatrics.

Phipps has also been recognized for his contributions to understanding B-cell lymphoma, lung diseases, and several diseases with immunity and inflammatory components.

The professorship was established through an estate gift from Chauncey and Simone Wright to support a faculty member conducting medical research at the School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Krystel Huxlin

James V. Aquavella, M.D. Professor in Ophthalmology

An internationally known ophthalmologist, Huxlin is the director of research at UR Medicine’s David and Ilene Flaum Eye Institute and has secondary appointments in the Departments of Neurobiology and Anatomy and Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

A member of the faculty since 1995, Huxlin focuses her work on understanding how the adult visual system repairs itself.

The professorship was established through a gift from Aquavella, a noted ophthalmologist who has been a member of the faculty since 1977. It is one of two endowed positions he created in 2013 in memory of his late wife, Kay, a nurse and administrator, who was committed to the establishment of the Flaum Eye Institute.

James Aquavella

Catherine E. Aquavella Distinguished Professor in Ophthalmology

A clinician and researcher in the University’s Flaum Eye Institute for more than four decades, Aquavella is a specialist in cornea and external eye disease. He was the first fellowship-trained corneal surgeon in the United States.

The second of two endowed positions Aquavella established in honor of his late wife, Kay, a nurse and administrator at the Flaum Eye Institute, the professorship will be held by Aquavella in an honorary capacity until the next professor is selected.

Henry Kautz

Robin and Tim Wentworth Director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science

The founding director of the University’s Goergen Institute for Data Science and former chair of the Department of Computer Science, Kautz ’87 (PhD) has held leadership positions at Kodak Research and AT&T Laboratories.

A fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Kautz conducts research in social and public health, natural language learning, pervasive computing, search algorithms, and assistive technology.

The position was established through a gift from University Trustee Tim Wentworth and his wife, Robin. One of the couple’s daughters is a member of the Class of 2016 and another graduated in 2011. Wentworth Atrium in Raymond F. LeChase Hall, the home of the Warner School of Education, is also named in recognition of the couple’s support for the University.

Endowed Positions Established

Several professorships were also established by alumni and friends during the past year.

Tansukh, Sarla and Rajesh Ganatra Professorship in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

Established by Tansukh Ganatra, a former vice chairman and CEO of North Carolina–based US LEC, his wife, Sarla, and his son, Rajesh

Lawrence N. Chessin, M.D. ’58 and Rita R. Chessin Professorship in Infectious Diseases

Established by Lawrence Chessin ’58M (MD), a retired infectious disease specialist at the Medical Center, and his wife, Rita

Donald M. Foster, M.D. Distinguished Professorship in Biostatistics and Donald M. Foster, M.D. Professorship in Biomedical Genetics

Established through the estate of Donald Foster ’50M (MD)

Martha M. Freeman, M.D. Professorship in Biomedical Genetics

Established through the estate of Martha Freeman ’44, ’45N, ’51M (MD)

Albert and Phyllis Ritterson Professorship

Established through the estate of Phyllis Ritterson ’55M (MS)

Edward A. and Alma Vollertsen Rykenboer Professorship in Neurology

Established through the estate of Edward Rykenboer, Class of 1912

Marjorie B. Morris Endowed Professorship in Cardiac Surgery

Established by Marjorie Morris, of Clifton Springs, New York

Professorship in Medical Education

Established by an anonymous donor

THE ARCHIVIST ASKS ALUMNI:

What’s Your Class Yell?

And other questions about University history from Melissa Mead, the John M. and Barbara Keil University Archivist and Rochester Special Collections Librarian.

ataSONG OF SPEEGLE: Swimming coach Speed Speegle often entertained students with his memorable song, “Rex, the Piddlin’ Pup.” While he frequently sang the song with his guitar, the melody has not made its way to the University’s archives. Can you hum a few bars? (Photo: University Libraries/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)

We’re the Class of . . . !

At last May’s commencement ceremony for Arts, Sciences & Engineering, Board of Trustees Chair Ed Hajim ’58 boasted, “Better than good, better than great, we’re the Class of Fifty-Eight!”

A few minutes later Senior Class Council President Mehr Kashyap ’15 replied: “Not just one ’Jacket, we’re the whole hive! Feel the sting of Twenty-One-Five!”

While some in the audience on the Eastman Quadrangle may not have known it, these were two class “yells,” a tradition designed to encourage class spirit that stretches back to 1885. You can find a list at the website: rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/yells.

But the records are silent for many years. Do you remember your class yell? Let us hear it!

Do you remember ‘Rex’? And can you sing it?

James Speegle ’60, ’61 (MA), the son of coach Roman (Speed) Speegle, sent me the words to his father’s memorable song “Rex, the Piddling Pup,” but we have no record of the tune. The lyrics are posted here: livinghistory.lib.rochester.edu/speegle. There’s also an audio recording of the first dedication of the Speegle Pool in 1977 in what is now the Goergen Athletic Center, and a letter that Coach Speegle wrote to Rochester students serving in World War II (look for his reference to guitar-playing).

If you remember the tune to “Rex,” send an email, or a singing telegram. And you can share your own memories of Coach Speegle singing, swimming, and coaching in the comments section on the webpage at livinghistory.lib.rochester.edu/speegle.

A fraternity mug for Jane?

While food is discouraged in Special Collections, the University Archives hold a large collection of dinnerware, from Wedgewood dinner plates with campus buildings emblazoned on them—created in 1951 to stock the pantries of loyal sons and daughters of Rochester—to Boar’s Head Dinner commemorative glasses.

There are also fraternity and sorority ceramic mugs, each with the crest of a Greek group painted on one side and a name on the other. We were recently contacted about a 1977 Theta Chi mug, with “Jane” as the imprinted name. Since Theta Chi is a fraternity, is this a nickname or a girlfriend’s name?

Chi Rho, Chi Rho, It’s Off to School We Go!

Chi Rho began in 1909 as a sophomore honorary group, with members selected at the end of their freshman year. It took as its logo an Egyptian-style mask, and the identities of the new recruits were concealed by the names of Egyptian kings (Ramses, Ptolemy, Necho, and so forth). Only after the selection of new members were the old ones revealed; later, Dandelion Day became the occasion for the (literal) unmasking.

Know the Answers?

Share your story in an email to rochrev@rochester.edu. Please put “Ask the Archivist” in the subject line.﻿﻿

Why “Chi Rho”? Members of the Class of 1909 had their Greek instruction from Professor Ryland Morris Kendrick, himself a member of the Class of 1889, and son of Professor Asahel Clark Kendrick. The Greek letters do have a Christian symbolism, but perhaps they were intended to signify the word chrestos which can be translated as “kind” or “good”—a sophomoric aspiration to Meliora?

The group was charged with promoting good fellowship, ensuring that freshmen learned “The Genesee” and other school songs, and with spreading the “Rochester Hello” spirit. But it did not always live up to its good name, and the words Chi Rho “struck terror” in the hearts of “trespassing” (walking on the Quad instead of using the tunnels) frosh.

An ever-better revival of the group occurred in spring 2015, with a dozen rising sophomores once again charged with sharing University traditions and history.

Were you in Chi Rho? If your memories are not too hazy, send them in to teach a new generation about University traditions.

GLOBAL ROCHESTER

Ghana

Building a Partnership

ghanaINTERNATIONAL VISIT: A delegation from the University visited colleagues at the University of Ghana last spring to explore educational and research exchange programs. (Photo: Provided)

The global terrain of higher education is changing rapidly, says Jane Gatewood, associate provost for global engagement. Emerging economies are investing heavily in postsecondary education, just as the United States is cutting investments.

“At the same time, the challenges we face in the 21st century are really global challenges,” she says. Public health and economic issues aren’t confined by national borders. And the demand for higher education grows throughout the world.

“No one institution can tackle these challenges by itself,” Gatewood says. “We have to partner with strong institutions around the globe.”

ROCHESTER AND GHANA

People

10 alumni living in Ghana

9 students from Ghana in fall 2014

41 study abroad students since 1995

Select Group

The University of Ghana is the latest university to be invited for membership in the World Universities Network, a selective consortium of 18 institutions designed to facilitate international scholarly and research exchanges. Rochester has been a member since 2012.

Mr. Ambassador

Eugene Cretz ’72 served as the U.S. ambassador to Ghana from 2012 until July. A career diplomat, he was ambassador to Libya from 2008 to 2010.

A partnership between Rochester and the University of Ghana is an example of just such a collaboration. The first delegation of scholars and researchers from Ghana will arrive at Rochester this fall, part of a growing effort to build ties with the leading higher educational institution in the west African nation.

In the spring, 12 representatives from Rochester spent three days at the University of Ghana in Accra, exploring how the two universities could work together. The delegation laid the groundwork for undergraduate, graduate student, and faculty exchanges, public health fieldwork, and research partnerships.

“The visit was extremely productive,” says Wendi Heinzelman, the dean of graduate studies in Arts, Sciences & Engineering and a professor of electrical and computer engineering, who helped organize the visit.

“We came away from the visit genuinely energized about the possibilities for continued engagement. Actually being at the University of Ghana allowed us to learn about their programs, interact with their faculty and students, and determine where we might partner with them most effectively for both universities.”

Members of the group were intrigued by the potential collaborative projects across a range of areas, including public health, nursing, biology, materials science, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, anthropology, archaeology, technology, and historical structures, and others.

Rochester and the University of Ghana have had an exchange agreement for the past five years, and for the past four years two graduate students from Ghana have spent an academic year in Rochester.

Heinzelman says the model was set up to address concerns that students from developing countries sometimes go abroad for doctoral degrees but don’t return home.

The one-year visitation program allows students to be exposed to a different system and access different resources, including developing relationships with Rochester faculty. They then return to Ghana and can share what they have learned with their colleagues there.

At the same time, the visits can establish groundwork for ongoing research partnerships when the students return to Ghana.

—Leonor Sierra

SCOUTING REPORT

What’s the Outlook for the Yellowjackets?

A preview of the 2015–16 athletic seasons.

By Dennis O’Donnell

sportsTOP TACKLE: Academic All-American Matthew Mender ’16 will help anchor the Yellowjackets from his position as defensive tackle on a football team that returns the majority of its starters for the fall season. (Photo: Athletics and Recreation)

There is promise aplenty on the athletic fields for the coming season.

Fall

Cross Country: The men’s team finished 11th at the NCAA Atlantic Regional Run last season. Eric Franklin ’17 earned All–UAA and all-region honors. The women’s team will be led by Katie Knox ’16. She earned All–UAA and all-region honors, then ran at the NCAA championship meet. Eddie Novara takes over as coach of both teams.

Field Hockey: Rochester won the Liberty League regular season title last year for the first time in school history. Returnees include All-Americans Tara Lamberti ’16 in goal and Michelle Relin ’16 on the forward line.

Football: The Yellowjackets return the majority of their starters from last season (5–4 overall record), including the eight who earned All–Liberty League honors last year. Rochester has five home games this season.

Soccer: Rochester’s men made their ninth NCAA playoff appearance in the last 10 years in 2014 and reached the second round of the tournament. The Yellowjackets were 10–5–4 overall. The women’s team finished 6–8–4, relying on a stingy defense that held 13 of 18 foes to one goal or fewer.

Volleyball: With six wins in their last eight matches, the Yellowjackets stormed to a 17–19 finish overall, including a sixth place finish at UAAs. Rochester will host the UAA championships November 6 to 7 at the Palestra and Zornow Sports Center. The UAA champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.

Winter

Basketball: The Rochester women finished 15–10 and ended with three wins in the last four games. Al Leslie ’18 and Lauren Deming ’18 earned All–UAA honors as freshmen. Leslie was the UAA Rookie of the Year, a WBCA All–American, and the D3hoops.com Rookie of the Year. The men’s team was 10–15 overall. Sam Borst-Smith ’17 and Mack Montague ’17 earned All–UAA honors. Rochester will host the 50th edition of what is now the Wendy’s College Classic tournament at the Palestra from December 3 to 5, when the men’s semifinalists and finalists tip off. The Palestra will be the site of the 23rd tournament for the women, with Rochester hosting the semifinals and finals as well.

Swimming and Diving: All-Americans Vicky Luan ’16, Khamai Simpson ’17, and Emily Simon ’17 return in the pool. Danielle Neu ’17, who was an All-American in 2014, is back on the diving board. Rochester’s women have won six straight Liberty League titles. The men have won three in a row. Gunnar Zemering ’18 was the Liberty League Rookie of the Year last season.

Squash: The Yellowjackets have four All-Americans returning to the lineup this year: Neil Cordell ’16, Tomotaka Endo ’18, Ryosei Kobayashi ’17, and Mario Yanez Tapia ’17. Rochester beat two No. 1–ranked teams last season (Harvard and Trinity). The Yellowjackets finished fifth at the national championships.

Track and Field: Both teams had superb indoor seasons with the women finishing third overall at the ECAC championships (the highest finish in school history) and the men winning the New York state team title. In the spring, the men won the state title again. Boubacar Diallo ’16 earned All-America honors in the triple jump, finishing fourth at the NCAA meet. Cameron Edwards ’16 will try to secure her fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA championships. She’s competed three times in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.

Spring

Baseball: Four of the top six hitters are back. Five All–Liberty League honorees return overall as Rochester aims to improve on its 26–16 finish last season. The Yellowjackets finished third in the Liberty League competition.

Softball: For the second year in a row, Rochester won the Liberty League softball title and competed in the NCAA Division III national championships. The Yellowjackets return five players who hit .324 or higher. Eleni Wechsler ’17 earned all-region honors for the second straight year. Shelby Corning ’17 was named to the ECAC Upstate New York team. Rochester was 29–13.

Lacrosse: A clutch late-season win over RIT boosted Rochester into the Liberty League playoffs for the second time in school history. Top scorer Jamie Wallisch ’17 was named first team All–Liberty League. Three other all-league honorees will join her on the field this season.

Golf: Rochester had three earn all-region acclaim in 2015: Dominick Schumacher ’16, G. W. VanderZwaag ’16, and Jona Scott ’17. All three are back. Rochester won the UAA championship and finished third at the Liberty League championships.

Rowing: The first varsity eight finished fifth overall in its race at the New York state championships. The Yellowjackets were third overall at the Liberty League championships. A challenging schedule included a mid-April meet in New England in which three teams ranked sixth or higher.

Tennis: Rochester’s men were ranked 13th regionally and 40th in Division III overall in an 8–11 finish. Jonny Baker ’17 earned second team All–UAA honors after he won all three of his matches at the championships. The Yellowjacket women were 8–10 overall and secured a No. 17 regional ranking.

Dennis O’Donnell is director of athletic communications for the Department of Athletics and Recreation.﻿﻿

A Space to Heal

More than bricks and mortar, Golisano Children’s Hospital reflects a new model for pediatric care.

By Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)

golisanoPEDIATRICIAN-IN-CHIEF: Nina Schor, the William H. Eilinger Chair of Pediatrics, presides over the eight-story, stand-alone Golisano Children’s Hospital. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Since construction workers broke ground on Golisano Children’s Hospital in September 2012, the Greater Rochester pediatrics community, and hundreds of families with children living with complex medical conditions, have been awaiting and anticipating the new facility as though it were a baby in gestation.

The largest capital project in the University’s history, the hospital officially opened its doors in July, completing phase one of a two-phase project. While phase two, which is under way, includes construction of a new pediatric intensive care unit and operating suite, phase one has already lifted the Medical Center into the forefront of pediatric care.

There’s been a building boom nationally in children’s hospitals. Universities with stellar teaching hospitals, such as Johns Hopkins and the University of Michigan, like Rochester, boast new, stand-alone children’s hospitals. There’s much more at stake than bragging rights. Nina Schor, the William H. Eilinger Chair of Pediatrics and pediatrician-in-chief of the hospital, says the trend is taking place because “in some ways, we are victims of our own success.”

“Children who not that many years ago would have succumbed to chronic illness long before they reached adulthood are not only surviving, but in many cases thriving,” she says. “But they need episodic help when they have an exacerbation of their illness, or they may need technology to keep them healthy and functioning.”

It’s also the case that the entire approach to caring for children in the hospital has changed.

A generation ago, it was standard procedure to keep parents out of the room when doctors or nurses drew blood from a child, started an IV, or performed a spinal tap, for example. In recent years, the thinking has changed dramatically. Parents are welcomed as part of the health care team as never before. They’re not only a source of comfort to their child, but they hold important information that medical professionals might not be able to elicit from the child on their own. And when the child is released, it’s helpful for parents to know as much as possible about the treatments their child has endured, and how to care for the patient at home.

“The whole mind-set has changed 180 degrees,” says Schor. “But this requires a very different physical plant.”

golisanoA PLAYFUL DESIGN: The seventhfloor Christie Simonetti Playdeck offers a space to accommodate siblings and patients, and a scenic view, connecting patients to the world outside the hospital walls. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

The centerpiece of the Medical Center’s component of The Meliora Challenge: The Campaign for the University of Rochester, the eight-story, 245,000-square-foot hospital is named for Paychex founder and philanthropist B. Thomas Golisano, who provided the lead gift of $20 million. The new hospital includes 52 private patient rooms, spacious enough for parents to stay comfortably with their child. It also houses conference rooms that provide a quiet setting for parents to meet with their child’s health care team. Computer terminals, as well as a professional liaison librarian, are available to help family members who often want to learn as much as they can about their child’s illness. The hospital also includes meeting places large enough for families to interact. “You need a space big enough for families to meet with one another so that the families more experienced with a particular illness can talk to the families with a child who’s newly diagnosed,” says Schor.

The new building allows for major improvements in the care of premature or sick infants, who make up a sizeable portion of the patient population. As in the rest of the hospital, parents can stay with their child in the 68-bed Gosnell Family Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

golisanoFAMILY-CENTERED: Chief clinical officer Tim Stevens consults with members of the Williams family—parents Terrence and Michelle and daughter Rusheen—about son Roshane, 15, a dialysis patient, in the Walmart and Sam’s Club Pediatric Lobby. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

“Parents are soothing to the children,” says Tim Stevens ’87M (MD), ’05 (MPH), medical director of the NICU and clinical director of the hospital. “They promote the healing environment. And premature babies, sick babies, as they get older, start working on their feeding skills. To have mom near them for breastfeeding is obviously critical.”

There are smaller details as well, that nonetheless have a sizeable impact: healing gardens, play areas designed for both patients and their siblings, and bright murals featuring landscapes and cityscapes of western New York.

Schor emphasizes that the project is not yet finished. In a second phase, expected to be complete by 2017, the hospital will develop a pediatric heart transplant program, building on the skills and reputation of George Alfieris, an internationally recognized pediatric cardiologist and the only pediatric cardiac surgeon in the region.

golisanoHEALING TOUCH: Danielle Scarborough, of Elba, New York, holds the hand of her son, Hudson, born by emergency C-section in July. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

The hospital will also construct a new pediatric intensive care unit and six pediatric operating rooms, capitalizing on the talents of Walter Pegoli, whom colleagues credit with building a first-rate surgical program in his role as chief of pediatric surgery and the Joseph M. Lobozzo II Professor in Pediatric Surgery.

Hospitals are, by their very nature, intense, emotional places. An important part of helping families make their way through the experience belongs to the Wegmans Child Life Program, whose specialists work with families to help bring some normalcy to their time in the hospital. But creating a hospital that offers peace, respite, and as much levity and play as patients can take on, is no easy task. On move-in day, for example, patients weren’t just rolled from the old facility into the new. They were treated to a scavenger hunt along the way.

“We prepared for any medical emergencies along the route and made sure that necessary equipment and monitoring were in place,” says Denise Clough, pediatric nurse manager. “The logistics and responsibility of transferring our patients was pretty intense, but we knew it was also important to have some fun along the way. After all, this is a pediatric hospital and we are all about the kids.”

A Dedication to Pediatric Care

golisano_sideNAMESAKE: “The only wealth that you get to keep is that which you give away,” said Golisano, the hospital’s lead benefactor, at a dedication ceremony in May. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

It was B. Thomas Golisano’s $20 million lead gift in 2011 that set plans in motion to build the new hospital. A longtime generous donor to the University, Golisano had already given $14 million in 2002 to what was then the Strong Children’s Hospital for upgrades to laboratories, medical technology, and the recruitment of a significant number of additional clinical experts and faculty members. But as Golisano observed in his 2011 announcement, “A new facility is necessary to keep pace with medical and technological advancements and meet the modern standards of a children’s hospital.”

A native of Irondequoit, just outside Rochester, Golisano is the founder of Paychex, which is among the nation’s leading payroll processing firms. Since 1985, he has given nearly $150 million to various institutions, with a focus on health care, education, and services and opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. In addition to his two gifts to the hospital totaling $34 million, Golisano’s foundation has given more than $2 million to establish a partnership with the University, the Institute for Innovative Transition, serving young adults with developmental disabilities as they make their way to further education or the workforce, and to support initiatives to improve oral health care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

A Vaccine Was Born

A Rochester innovation transformed pediatric medicine over the past quarter century.

By Scott Hauser

vaccineAIMING HIGH: “We were really aiming at something that American pediatricians were looking for,” says Porter Anderson, a Rochester biochemist who helped develop the first vaccine for toddlers and infants that was effective against a form of bacterial meningitis. (Photo: Medical Center Communications)

Nina Schor remembers the sharp demarcation between the prevaccine and postvaccine eras in the pediatric history of Haemophilus influenzae type b, an infectious bacterium better known by its initials, Hib.

There were the little details, like the smell. As a resident at Boston Children’s Hospital in the 1980s, Schor remembers the infant and toddler ward filled with children being treated with the antibiotic ampicillin to fight off the infections caused by Hib. At the worst, those include not only meningitis, but also pneumonia, arthritis, and epiglottitis—a life-threatening infection of the throat.

The diapers on the ward would take on a readily recognizable odor as the kids excreted ampicillin in their urine.

“We used to joke that as you got off the elevator on Division 26 of Boston Children’s, you could smell the ampicillin in the air,” says Schor, now the pediatrician-in-chief at Golisano Children’s Hospital and the William H. Eilinger Chair of Pediatrics. “I mean, the whole ward smelled from the diapers of these babies.”

By 1994, when she was an associate professor of child neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, the infections were so rare that a single case of a six-month-old admitted with meningitis caused by Hib became an important teaching moment for medical students and residents at the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

“Before the cultures came back and the gram stain was done, we—the intensivist, the general pediatrician, and I—had made the diagnosis because the kid clearly had meningitis and was anemic,” Schor says. “And so we said, ‘Gee, we haven’t seen this in half a dozen years, but this looks like Haemophilus influenzae.’ And sure enough, that’s what it was.

“And the next thing we knew, it seemed like a hundred students and residents who had never in their lives seen a case of Haemophilus meningitis came down to the PICU to see this very unusual baby.”

“It seemed like overnight that it went from seeing this as the predominant disease on the infant and toddler ward to not seeing it at all,” Schor says. “I’m sure there was a middle zone in which it transitioned, but it just seemed to me to happen very rapidly.”

A key point in that history can be traced to a makeshift lab in the School of Medicine and Dentistry. There, at the time when Schor was a resident on the wards of Boston Children’s Hospital, a Medical Center team was refining an approach to vaccine technology that helped launch a new era in pediatric medicine.

Led by the pediatrician David Smith, a team including chemist Porter Anderson, now professor emeritus of pediatrics, and former Medical Center pediatric immunologist Richard Insel developed their version of “conjugate vaccine technology,” an approach to boosting the immunity-inducing power of vaccines that’s credited with nearly eradicating a once widely feared childhood infection.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Rochester vaccine for use in infants in the fall of 1990. (A different version, based on the work of NIH scientists Rachel Schneerson and John Robbins, had already been approved for toddlers.)

Steven Cochi, a senior advisor to the director of the Global Immunization Division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the Rochester work was a “big game changer.”

“The disease virtually disappeared because the vaccine worked,” say Cochi, himself a pediatrician who has tracked the incidence of Hib infections for more than 30 years. “And that’s the message here: vaccines work, and we need to use them.”

According to CDC figures, before the advent of an effective vaccine, there were roughly 20,000 Hib infections annually in the United States, primarily among children younger than five. By 2011, only 14 Hib infections in children younger than five were reported in the country. “It has become a rare disease in the United States,” says Cochi.

While the original Rochester vaccine was eventually superseded, the technology behind it was licensed for what became a highly effective vaccine against pneumococcal meningitis, an equally dangerous childhood infection that has also become rare in the United States. Far and away the most lucrative in Rochester’s history, the agreement has accounted for more than $150 million in licensing revenue.

Anderson, who received an honorary doctor of science degree at the School of Medicine and Dentistry’s commencement ceremony last spring, says he was drawn to solving a complicated biochemical question when Smith approached him about working on a vaccine. The two originally had met at Boston Children’s Hospital, where Smith’s training as a physician had prompted the idea of developing a Hib vaccine.

Lacking a background in chemistry, Smith turned to Anderson. When Smith joined the Rochester faculty, he recruited Anderson to join his small team.

“We were really aiming at something that American pediatricians were looking for, or hoping for, and that they needed,” Anderson says. “Such was state-of-the-art pediatric care in the U.S. that Haemophilus meningitis was something that scared the heck out of pediatricians. I learned about this through David Smith.”

Throughout his career, Anderson has described himself as a “Yankee engineer”—“I like solving problems with the materials at hand more than framing hypotheses,” he has written. He credits the entrepreneurial spirit of the Medical Center with fostering an atmosphere in which a small group of physicians and research scientists could work collaboratively on a problem. That wasn’t always the case in medical research at the time, he says.

Setting up a lab in the Medical Center, the team worked through iterations of the vaccine, developing an initial version that used a surface carbohydrate molecule from Hib bacteria to effectively induce immunity in toddlers.

But that early version was not as effective in infants, the most at-risk population. When Smith found that he couldn’t interest a pharmaceutical company in commercializing their research, the three established their own start-up, Praxis Biologics.

Working from a small “clean room” in what is now the Larry and Cindy Bloch Alumni and Advancement Center, Praxis began making the plain carbohydrate vaccine for toddlers in 25-microgram doses for shipment across the country.

The income from those sales funded continued research, particularly the work on a vaccine that would be effective in infants. The breakthrough came when the team combined the plain carbohydrate molecule with a protein from a different bacterium. The result was an antigen that boosted immunity in children younger than two.

“The pediatric infectious diseases chief, Keith Powell, used the vaccine in his infant daughter, whose name is Lindsey, and he took the blood samples,” Anderson says. “With that set of before-and-after blood samples, the rise in antibody was so dramatic that I knew it was going to work.”

Anderson later endowed a professorship in recognition of Lindsey Powell, the Lindsey Distinguished Professorship for Pediatric Research, a position currently held by Francis Gigliotti.

Another physician, Michael Pichichero, who was on the faculty at the time but is now in private practice, also was instrumental in testing the early iterations of the vaccine. “And that sort of helped refine the chemistry of it,” Anderson says, “to optimize how to put the vaccine together.”

By the time that Praxis demonstrated the effectiveness of the technology, commercial companies had made considerable progress on their own versions of a Hib conjugate vaccine. “All of a sudden, there were three or four Hib conjugates,” Anderson says, including versions that induced immunity against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and hepatitis. Praxis was in danger of being left behind, but the team members turned their attention to whether the technology would work as a way to combat Streptococcus pneumoniae, a family of bacteria that also causes meningitis and other invasive diseases. A bacterium from that family was, at the time, the cause of millions of ear infections annually in children. Led by chemist Ronald Eby, the Praxis lab developed a pneumococcal conjugate, leading to vaccine technology that would be licensed to Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, now a subsidiary of Pfizer, and that would be marketed as the Prevnar vaccine. Members of the Wyeth team, including Dace Viceps Madore ’69, Maya Koster ’83, Eby, and Veluplillai Puvaneserajah, received the National Medal of Technology from President George W. Bush in 2007 for their work to develop Prevnar.

For his pioneering work, Anderson—along with Smith, who died in 1999, and Schneerson and Robbins—received the 1996 Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award, one of the highest honors in medical science. Anderson was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 2010 and was appointed as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2011. After he retired from the University in 1994, Anderson came out of retirement in 1996 to work on a new vaccine project with colleagues at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he and Smith first met nearly 30 years earlier. The goal is to develop an inexpensive vaccine against pneumococcus that can be applied nasally or orally in children, a delivery technique that would be cheaper and easier to implement in parts of the developing world.

“Even before [the Praxis technology] was licensed, it was understood that it would be so expensive that it couldn’t be afforded in the Third World, where the burden of pneumococcal disease is highest,” Anderson says. “People in the World Health Organization realized this and were wondering about what to do. I was part of the thinking about that, and I envisioned a very cheap way to make a vaccine that would prevent all the types of pneumococcal infection.

“I’ve been at that ever since. My motivation was that I knew the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine called Prevnar was going to be a financial success and a partial success for pneumococcal disease in the industrial world. And I thought, ‘Well, just for fun, I’ll try and do something that’s kind of a competitor of that,’ and so I did.”

Schor says she only learned the story of Rochester’s conjugate vaccine technology after taking the position as chair of pediatrics in 2006. The more she learned, the more she realized that the work represented an early example of what today is known as translational medicine—the idea that scientists can move a discovery into a viable, effective treatment more quickly when they are organized to bring their talents together.

“Now more than ever, the dialogue between the bench and the clinic is critically important,” she says. The academic background, training, and skills of several perspectives can be a powerful combination, especially when brought together as a team.

“The power really is in the partnership between the scientist and the clinician.”

A Towering Reunion

Fifty years ago, members of the Class of 1965 were among the first Rochester students to live in a coed hall, one of many signs that social and cultural changes were afoot—on campus and in the world around them.

By Scott Hauser

fifty-mainCLASS TRADITIONS: When members of the Class of 1965 returned for their sophomore year, they were expected to inculcate the incoming freshman class in the ways of campus life, such as the proper etiquette for wearing beanies, and other traditions. (Photo: University Libraries/Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)

For the first two years of her life as a Rochester undergraduate, Gwen (Meltzer) Greene ’65 joined other women students late in the afternoon to wait for dinner in the Women’s Residence Halls. At the appointed time, the women took their seats for meals that were served family style. After dinner, the time was their own, but the women—and only the women—had to be back in their dorm by 11 p.m. on weeknights and by 1 a.m. on weekends.

When Greene and her classmates returned to campus for their junior year in September 1963, the residential world of the River Campus was noticeably different. Greene moved into “the Towers,” a pair of high-rise residence halls that had opened that summer. Restricted to upperclassmen in the Classes of 1964 and 1965, the dormitories represented an experiment in campus living that was new in American college life—men and women were assigned to live on different floors in the same building.

Gone were the curfews and other parietal rules for the women in the Towers (although they remained in effect for the Women’s Residence Halls), gone were many of the dinner rituals (the Towers complex would include a new cafeteria-style dining hall), and disappearing quickly was the notion that young people—and young women in particular—could not be empowered to take a greater role in supervising themselves.

“Moving into the Towers, that was the defining thing for our class,” Greene says as she prepares for her 50th reunion this fall.

Now a member of the University’s Board of Trustees, Greene says it’s hard to describe the excitement that many students felt about being part of such a moment. “It was defining for the whole country. It helped changed the whole residence hall structure of college.”

Such memories are on the minds of many members of the Class of 1965 as they look forward to returning to campus for reunion and other activities during Meliora Weekend, October 8 to 11. As part of a 50th reunion tradition, the reunion’s organizing committee asked each member of the class to contribute brief summaries of their lives since graduation as well as short accounts of their fondest campus memories.

According to some of those memories, the transition to coed living made a deep impression, but for most, being on the River Campus from the fall of 1961 to the spring of 1965 was excitement enough: it was a time of making strong friendships, of immersion in oftenrigorous academic opportunities, and of enjoying the camaraderie of being among a group of smart and energetic young people.

fifty-mainCAMPUS KEEPSAKES: Sharon Cornell Rose ’65 has kept her stuffed “U of R” dachshund and other mementos of campus life. (Photo: Adam Fenster)

There are memories of panty raids and beer blasts, fraternity parties and Dandelion Day; there was Frosh Camp and Flag Rush. The freshmen wore beanies and proudly put to memory a handful of Rochester spirit songs.

But seeping into that narrative are inklings of political, social, and cultural change in the world around them.

Some note the deepening cold war, prompted by the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. They remember the pall cast over campus when John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

As the class members returned for senior year, they had witnessed Freedom Summer, as well as violent race riots in Rochester, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. And by the spring of 1965 some faculty and students were organizing “teach-ins” and taking part in national marches against the escalating war in Vietnam.

Campus life mirrored some of those tensions as well.

Some who were in NROTC write that they forged close friendships and found support for their studies—but also recall increasing antiwar sentiment making their experience at Rochester “caustic” and “unpleasant.”

The class also includes Bonnie Thornton Dill, one of the first African-American women to live in a Rochester dorm. When Dill was admitted, the administration sent letters to some of her women classmates, asking if they would be comfortable rooming with an African American. Dill, now the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Maryland, notes that she made good friends at Rochester and received a good education, but that being the only African-American woman “was not something I’d recommend to my children or grandchildren nor is it something I would do again.”

“I think what all of it meant was that there was change in the air, and people were just beginning to cope with it,” says Barbara Baer ’65, who transferred to Rochester as a junior and moved into the Towers, where she was elected to the first council that represented students there.

“Something was going on that was much deeper than just the day-to-day of going to class,” says Baer, who majored in political science before embarking on a career as a political strategist in New York City. “It was really the beginning of the real revolution in the way we think, act, and behave.”

By the early 1960s, colleges across the country were beginning to recognize some of those changing dynamics. Indiana University is believed to have opened the first coeducational dorm in 1956, according to the Chicago Tribune, but at a time when many elite universities had not yet become coeducational, the concept of men and women living in a single building was slow to catch on.

At Rochester, administrators credited students with being “intelligent young people, capable of mature judgment” who could handle the new arrangement but were careful to assure alumni and parents that the University was moving cautiously.

“It is only the confidence and pride in the judgment of Rochester men and women that has permitted us to embark on this program,” wrote Joseph Cole, dean of student affairs, in the September-October 1963 issue of Rochester Review.

“We recognize the Towers as experimental and we expect it will be necessary to evaluate the program on the basis of experience. Not all of the upperclass students can be accommodated in the Towers; this insures the opportunity of choice for those students (and parents) who feel that the Towers do not provide a living unit appropriate for the needs of a given student.”

Today, the Towers are Anderson and Wilder Halls, the original complex’s dining center is now the Sage Art Center, and a newly opened dorm, O’Brien Hall, completes what is known as Jackson Court. The Women’s Residence Halls is the coed Susan B. Anthony Hall. And the idea of being assigned to live in a building based on sex or of having a curfew would be as puzzling to students as the idea that students once had to wait in a common area to use a single phone.

Celebrate Meliora Weekend

In addition to reunion celebrations for classes ending in ’0’s and ’5’s, Meliora Weekend, October 8 to 11, features homecoming, parents weekend, and a program of presentations, talks, and activities for alumni, students, faculty, parents, and friends. Learn more at the website, Rochester.edu/melioraweekend.

Former Yellowjacket quarterback and Hall of Fame inductee David Wormuth ’65 has watched campus change over several decades, first as a member of the Class of 1965 who relinquished a scholarship to play football at Syracuse in order to transfer to Rochester, and later as associate director of admissions. Rochester always had high expectations for its students, he says. “Rochester was quite unique in being small, selective, and coed,” he says. Although thought to be slow to change, the University had a willingness to experiment, as the transition to the Towers can attest. “I marvel at that. I thought Rochester was a fairly conservative school at the time.”

Dick Rice ’65 says that regardless of the impending social and political changes facing students, there was an excitement about being at Rochester during the early 1960s.

“When you walked across campus, you looked someone in the eye because you knew they were your friend,” says Rice, who in a career as a consulting engineer worked on many of the buildings that have sprung up on campus since 1965. “It reminds me of why the U of R is special.”

In many ways, the practicalities of the era—no cellphones, no laptops, few cars—helped bring classmates together, he says. “We recognized the importance of education, and we didn’t have the distractions that pull people away.”

Some of the class statistics attest to a focus on academics—the class included Rhodes Scholar–winning physics student Tim Londergan—as well as time for social engagement, personal friendships, and a commitment to their alma mater.

Several have had prominent careers in academia, business, and other fields. Of the more than 600 or so in the class, 32 married another Rochester graduate. At least 26 children of the class eventually enrolled at Rochester.

In addition to Greene, two others—Tom Sloan and Sheila Blumstein—have served as current or former trustees.

Members of the class raised families—and are proud parents and grandparents—served in the military, and volunteered in social, cultural, and community organizations.

A French major, Greene moved to New York City after graduation and eventually became a financial advisor for JP Morgan Securities. On campus, she tried to take advantage of as many opportunities as she could, volunteering to write the constitution for the Towers, helping teach inner-city school children, and serving as an usher at W. Allen Wallis’s inauguration as University president.

The society of the early 1960s put less pressure on students, she says, giving them more time and space to explore. Since graduation, she has mentored students interested in working on Wall Street and has counseled students who were recipients of scholarships that she has established. She has noticed that current students seem to be much more aware of how to move ahead in their careers.

“For me, college was a time to learn who I was and get a greater sense of self-confidence, and know that I was with a lot of smart people,” she says. “It never would have occurred to me that I was building a résumé.”

Baer says the sense of developing maturity and growing independence are important aspects of college life, then as now. Learning to navigate the social and administrative nuances of a coed dormitory was part of that, but so was finding the time to discover what you wanted out of life.

“The U of R really changed my life,” she says. “It’s important to do well academically, and to find your passion. But the people you meet, if you’re lucky, can really shape part of what the rest of your life will be. That kind of opportunity to exchange ideas, to talk, to think, it doesn’t come often in the rest of your life. College is the one time when you can really start to understand what the world is like. I think the U of R did that for me.”

The Adventures of Tyler Socash

socashUR FRIENDS: Jamie Rindfuss ’13, Bridget Kruszka ’13, Socash, and Paul Kintner ’12 hiked together for three days at the start of the Pacific Crest Trail. Rindfuss, Kruszka, and Kintner connected with Socash again 16 days into his trek. (Photo: Courtesy of Tyler Socash ’09, ’15W (MS))

Twenty-eight-year-old Tyler Socash ’09, ’15W (MS), is living his dream.

On June 24, Socash left his job as an admissions counselor at the University. The next day, he flew to the Pacific Northwest where he began hiking the 2,633-mile Pacific Crest Trail from Canada to Mexico. When he finishes that trek, he plans to fly to New Zealand to hike the 1,864-mile Te Araroa (also known as the Long Pathway). After that, he will fly back to the United States to hike the 2,185-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.

His goal is to do what no one else has done before: hike the three trails in one year—a total of nearly 7,000 miles.

Socash’s adventure was prompted by a financial decision. “I thought I needed to finally buy a car to get back and forth from an internship while I was finishing up my master’s in school counseling at the Warner School,” Socash says. He was just about to buy a $24,000 bright orange 2015 Subaru Crosstrek when something compelled him to research the trails, which he had previously thought about hiking, and see how much it would cost to hike them all sequentially.

Ironically, the total cost of all three treks was about the same as that new Subaru. Socash put aside his thoughts for his tangerine dream car and opted for a long, wooded adventure on the shoe leather express instead.

Born in Old Forge, New York, a small town nestled just inside the Adirondack Park, which spans an astounding six million acres in New York state, Socash spent a lot of time exploring the woods and waterways of the North Country as a kid. Things have not changed much for him as an adult.

In the last eight years, Socash has climbed the challenging, rock-hopping Adirondack “46” (the 46 highest mountains in New York) five times. He has hiked the length of the 133-mile NorthvillePlacid Trail, which some call the “Appalachian Trail of the Adirondacks.” He has competed in the annual, three-day, 90-mile canoe race from Old Forge to Saranac Lake. He has backpacked a 50-mile adventure around Cranberry Lake in the Adirondacks. He has hiked all the mountains in New York with fire towers on them, too—29 in all.

Socash has also climbed to the highest point in seven U.S. states. And he’s on a quest to explore every U.S. National Park. So far, he has made it to 12.

“Tyler’s positive outlook on life and his vast array of outdoor experiences will serve him well on this adventure,” says Seth Jones, the Adirondack Mountain Club’s education programs coordinator and one of Socash’s hiking partners over the last few years. “I have no doubt that he will complete the whole thing and will be smiling nearly every step of the way.”

As an undergraduate who majored in neuroscience, Socash did just about everything he could squeeze into his schedule. He was involved in five intramural clubs and participated in varsity tennis, cross country, and track. He was also a residential advisor and a teaching assistant, started the Fill Fauver schoolspirit initiative (which evolved into UR BlueCrew), and was president of the Students’ Association in his senior year. He also earned the Seth H. and Harriet Terry Prize for his commitment to student life.

After graduation, Socash wasn’t quite sure what direction to take. So, he did what young men often do in such a situation: he called his mom. “She asked me what I was passionate about,” he recalls. “I immediately responded, ‘Hiking!’ And she simply said, ‘Do that.’ ”

During the next two years, Socash worked as a wilderness trip leader with the Adirondack Mountain Club, which meant living in a tent for months at a time. At the end of his second year as a guide, a friend suggested he talk to his alma mater about joining its admissions department. A few weeks later, Socash met with Jonathan Burdick, the University’s dean of admissions and financial aid. He joined the department a month later.

As a conservationist who calls himself a “living Lorax,” Socash is committed to using this experience to show others the beauty of the woods and the value of protecting open spaces. “I’m youthful, I’m dedicated, and I’m backpacking for a year,” he says. “I hope there’s something about this trip that inspires others to get out and explore the world or to pursue whatever it is they are passionate about.”

—Kristine Thompson

Tyler Socash chronicles his adventure at tylerhikes.blogspot.com and on Instagram, @tylerhikes.

Globalism, in Stories

mykaROMANIAN REFLECTIONS: In her new collection of stories, author Myka draws upon her Peace Corps experience in early postcommunist Romania. (Photo: Gretchen Ertl/AP Images for Rochester Review)

Ten days after graduating from Rochester, Lenore Myka ’94 was on a plane headed to Bucharest, Romania, as a Peace Corps volunteer. Though the Peace Corps was 33 years old at the time, to Romanians it was nearly as fresh-faced as its youngest volunteers. It had been there just three years. Two years before that, the nation had watched with solemn satisfaction as a firing squad sealed the fate of its longtime dictator. Myka was entering a world that was ambiguous and uncertain—to Romanians, and to the international workers and volunteers who’d flocked there to serve them.

Myka, who teaches writing at Boston University, draws from her Peace Corps experience in a collection of short stories to be released this September. The 11 stories that make up King of the Gypsies (BkMK Press, University of Missouri–Kansas City) explore what she calls “the mechanics of cross-cultural interaction.” The context for that interaction is global transformation.

“I think it’s really hard to work in organizations overseas,” she says. “It’s also very seductive. You do tend to live a much better quality of life than you would in your native country.”

During Myka’s time in Bucharest, the Romanian capital was experiencing a swift infusion of capital. High-end restaurants, hotels, and boutiques lined the streets, while only a few Romanians—but nearly every Western aid worker—had the means to patronize them. Myka encountered her fair share of children like her invented character, Irina [see excerpt, page 49].

“They were really, really bold, as Irina is,” Myka says. “But they always impressed me because they were such survivors. They knew how to coax people into helping them out.” The Peace Corps cautioned its volunteers to keep them at a distance, which was not easy for Myka. “You had to create an armor against their experiences,” she says. “In ‘Rol Doboş,’ I imagined what might have happened if I hadn’t done that.”

Myka wrote quite a bit at Rochester. She was a student of novelist Joanna Scott, the Roswell Smith Burrows Professor of English, who has offered praise for Myka’s new collection. She describes the stories as reflections on “the condition of foreignness.”

“Whether the condition of foreignness is perceived as threatening or exhilarating, oppressive or liberating, it becomes motivation in this collection to think sensitively, boldly, and creatively about identity,” Scott writes.

Author Lorraine López, whose 2010 book Homicide Survivors Picnic and Other Short Stories was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Prize, praises Myka for her depictions of social class and poverty among women and girls. Asked by Vela magazine for some of the best women writers on social class, Lopez named six women including Myka. Myka produced “unforgettably powerful stories,” Lopez wrote, adding, “I am moved by the way the stories drive home the hard truth that the feminization of poverty has a global impact that is quite different than what is experienced in this country.”

Myka’s first published collection had a long gestation period. “When I attempted to write about Romania before, I had much more of an agenda,” Myka says. “It really took me a good decade before I could start writing about Romania without feeling that it was really precious and sentimental.”

Since completing King of the Gypsies, Myka has started writing stories set closer to home. The theme of cross-cultural encounters animates those as well. She says, “It’s all very compelling and ripe creative territory.”

—Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)

EXCERPT

Trafficked in Bucharest

Irina is 13 years old, but she looks younger than that. She tries to keep it that way. Lured into a brothel in Bucharest in the early years of postcommunist Romania, she escaped. Found by her captors in an orphanage, she escaped again. Now she survives by begging on the streets of the capital, seeking just enough to eat to keep herself going. Just enough to maintain the childlike appearance that might help win the sympathy of the Western aid workers who’ve poured into the Romanian capital.

By Lenore Myka ’94

myka_side (Photo: iStockphoto)

She can smell their fur coats that carry the scent of chicken fat and rosemary, perfume and cologne. Saliva pools up in the caverns of her mouth. A few yards behind her, the guests of the Intercontinental Hotel push through the revolving doors of the front entrance, releasing blasts of hot air and piano music, the jingle of keys, laughter.

Irina’s American is late.

She swallows hard. In front of her, great piles of snow have covered the cracked cement park, hiding its crumbling stairs and shrubs that in the summertime catch loose pages of newspapers and food wrappers in lifeless branches. It is below freezing and there is more snow than Irina has ever seen. The wind blows it up and over curbs and collapsing benches, against the walls of buildings so that it creates tunnels of light down narrow back streets. Irina watches cars and people navigate the brown rivers of icy slush in Piaţa Universitaţii; a hunched figure dusts snow off the row of wooden memorial crosses displayed in the center of Magheru Boulevard, uncovering the date scratched onto all of them: December 22, 1989. It was only five years ago but feels to Irina like a century; she had been eight then.

A gust of wind dips up and under her knotted skirts, nips at her legs. She pulls her coat to her still-childlike chest, adjusts the string she uses to keep it closed; sucks on the tips of her bare, throbbing fingers. If she weren’t afraid of the consequences, she’d curse her American. At least she has her boots. She’d discovered them only this morning. They are several sizes too big, the soles are worn flat, but the wool lining is still good and saves her small feet.

Irina has developed a routine over the past few months, as much as she has ever had one since escaping the brothel. In the early morning hours, after the last metro stop has closed and she has nowhere to keep warm, she kills time by moving. She searches dumpsters and sneaks into yards where someone might store sacks of potatoes and onions, jars of canned pickles and peppers, or might hang laundry outside in the cold air, as stiff as salted animal hides. Five times a week, en route to work, the woman pauses in the middle of her commute to take Irina to a café. Even now, with her face directly in the sharp wind, Irina can taste the cup of hot cocoa and the slice of doboş—the only thing she ever orders—and hear the heavy tongue of her American negotiating in Romanian for extra whipped cream.

Across the street, the church bell tower chimes nine o’clock. Irina squints into the gray winter light and listens to the slightly off-key bells that seem not to pay tribute to the heavens but to warble helplessly after them, reminding her of the mutterings of dying pigeons that line the city’s building ledges and scramble under park benches, pecking at each other’s eyes, fighting over a breadcrumb. It’s been over an hour. Irina’s stomach grumbles. She sucks harder on her fingers but they continue to throb. A sound like heaving emanates from above. The sky finally relents; once again it begins to snow. . . .

“Kel-ly.”

Irina sings out the name, as if her American might materialize out of the morning rush hour, coming to her like a well-trained dog. “Where are you, Kelly?”

It is not her American’s real name but one Irina has given her, something she stole from a television show all the kids had watched at an orphanage where Irina lived for a short time. Her sisters hid her there but it didn’t last; eventually she was discovered and brought back to the brothel. Kelly Beverly Hills. The name comes from Irina’s favorite character on that television show, a girl with blond hair just like her American’s and the same smile, too—straight white teeth so large they fill up her face.

Snow has begun to collect on Irina’s head, the moisture seeping through her scarf, frigid water sinking into her scalp. She shivers more now, her teeth rattling when she relaxes her jaw. Recently her American has come later and later, and each time Irina resists thinking what this might mean. What if Kelly doesn’t come at all today? The thought makes her want to scream and rage about the street, knocking over magazine displays, smashing the spotless windows of expensive restaurants, perfumeries, electronics stores that fill up the blocks of the boulevard. Instead, Irina works her stiff fingers over her scarf, trying to pull it more tightly to her throat. . . .

Irina glimpses her American’s shoes. . . . Several yards ahead of her, a beacon of color flashing, then obscured behind a tangle of gray, black and brown pant legs. Irina leaps up onto the curb, speeding now, not bothering to avoid puddles and slush, running into briefcases and book bags, knocking the straps off shoulders, ignoring the comments thrown her way. She nearly passes her American by, shoving into her, hearing the faint oof! the woman makes. Irina skids to a halt. Wheels around. Finally.

“Kel-ly Be-ver-ly He-ills!”

The woman is not surprised to see her and—Irina cannot be sure—may not be pleased. “How are you, Irina?”

Irina throws herself upon the woman, clasping her around her waist, pressing her face into the American’s side. With her nose pushed against wool, she inhales slowly, the scent filling her head, making her unsteady on her feet. Irina wants to burrow past the layers of clothing so that she might find the spot underneath where it is dark, silent, hidden. She wriggles her aching fingers through the folds of the woman’s coat, trying to find a way inside. The woman accepts her embrace, even returns it, but the coat is buttoned up, impossible to penetrate.

Excerpt from “Rol Doboş” in King of the Gypsies: Stories (BkMk Press, University of Missouri–Kansas City, 2015), the debut collection of short fiction by Lenore Myka ’94. Reprinted with permission.

In the News

in_the_newsROCKET SCIENCE: Cassada will investigate asteroids, and Mars. (Photo: Robert Markowitz/NASA)

He’s an Astronaut!

Josh Cassada ’00 (PhD) is one of NASA’s newest astronauts. In July, he completed a two-year training program along with seven others selected in 2013 from among more than 6,000 applicants, the second-largest applicant pool in NASA’s history. A former naval aviator, a physicist, and previously the cofounder and chief technology officer for Quantum Opus, Cassada received technical space system training, robotics instruction, and specialized hardware instruction at space centers around the world. In the coming years, he and the seven other newly minted astronauts aim to be part of the first human mission to an asteroid, as well as to Mars. NASA now employs about 45 astronauts.

Champion Doctor

Bojan Zoric ’98 was a leading scorer and an Academic All-American when he played on the Yellowjackets men’s soccer team. Now he’s a physician for some of the world’s greatest soccer athletes: the 2015 World Cup–winning United States Women’s National Team.

The championship game was “exactly the type of game I like to see,” Zoric told Dennis O’Donnell, director of athletic communications at Rochester, in July. “No one needed me.” By which he meant, of course, there were no injuries during the game.

Zoric has been on the team’s medical staff since 2008 and also served the team during their gold medal performance at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He grew up playing soccer, first in Croatia and then in Sweden, where his family moved when he was six. He came to the United States for college because it allowed him to pursue both higher education and soccer. In addition to serving the team, Zoric is part of a group orthopaedics and sports medicine practice, Sports Medicine North, in Peabody, Massachusetts.

Celebrating the Dalai Lama in Song

To celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday last July, Michael Wohl ’88 announced the completion of Songs for Tibet II, a follow-up to the 2008 recording Songs for Tibet, produced by the Art of Peace Foundation, which Wohl founded and directs. Wohl, who is also associate director of social entrepreneurship and entrepreneur-in-residence at the University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, wrote in the Huffington Post that the follow-up recording is intended to support Tibetans’ “desires for fundamental freedoms of expression.” Like the first Songs for Tibet, Songs for Tibet II features a star lineup, with 16 songs from such artists as Kate Bush, Elbow, Lorde, Of Monsters and Men, Sting, and Peter Gabriel.

Hail, Fellows

Among the hallmarks of a university’s renown is how many of its students and recent graduates become winners in a handful of prestigious international scholarship and fellowship competitions for postgraduate study.

Traditionally, the most competitive awards fund study in the United Kingdom. This year, three recent alumni—Jyothi Purushotham ’13, Jakob Seidlitz ’13, and Anjalene Whittier ’14—won such awards. Each will be pursuing advanced study in some aspect of health and medicine this fall at either Oxford or Cambridge.

Rochester students and alumni have had increasing success in these competitions in recent years, according to Belinda Redden, the director of fellowships for the College, who advises applicants. “I’m not surprised by this year’s results,” she says, noting that three Rochester candidates won the highly coveted Fulbright student grant to the UK in 2011. “I saw our previous success as a harbinger of things to come.”

Jyothi Purushotham ’13

fellowships (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Jyothi Purushotham ’13 heads to Oxford in the fall, where she’ll pursue a master of science degree in the university’s Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine. Her focus will be global health and research practices, and her goal, she says, is to “understand how science and medicine and technology can be used in different settings that aren’t a traditional well-equipped hospital.”

The Medical Sciences Graduate School Studentship that will fund her research is the second major scholarship Purushotham has received for study abroad. After graduation, the Rochester native headed to India on a Fulbright, where her research focused on delivering eye care to marginalized, rural populations.

Upon returning to Rochester, Purushotham joined a new population health lab at the Medical Center, created through a collaboration of the ophthalmology and psychiatry departments, and the Center for Community Health. There, she helped lead a diabetes education project aimed at equipping low-income Rochester residents who have the illness—especially those who are unable to see a doctor regularly—with tools and guidelines to better manage their condition at home.

Jakob Seidlitz ’13

fellowships (Photo: Athletics and Recreation)

The teenage brain has long been ignored by neuroimaging researchers because it is so fraught with changes. As a result, much is still unknown about the neurological origins of mental illnesses that begin to develop in adolescence.

Jakob Seidlitz ’13 is tackling the challenges of understanding the adolescent brain by working with researchers at the National Institutes of Health who are pioneering neuroimaging of an often unstable and unpredictable time in human life. He was recently chosen as one of 12 candidates nationwide to pursue doctoral studies through the National Institutes of Health Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program. Seidlitz, who will receive his PhD from Cambridge, is the first Rochester student or alumnus ever to win the award.

“The goal of my future research is to understand the trajectory of certain structures in the brain and how they relate to behavior,” says Seidlitz, who majored in brain and cognitive sciences. He’ll spend two years at the University of Cambridge, and two more at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, working with two distinctive data sets to help understand the onset of mood and anxiety disorders and to evaluate treatments.

Seidlitz credits the research experiences he had through his major, as well as a study abroad program at the University College London, for developing his interest in international scientific collaboration. Working with two labs and two data sets for the PhD is “a great way to get a largerimpact PhD, and it’s a great way to connect similar science in two places,” he says.

He’ll also take a translational approach. “My PhD is going to be really clinically focused. I’m a firm believer that if you’re not mindful of the clinical implications of some of the processes that you study, it’s hard to direct your research.”

Anjalene Whittier ’14

fellowships (Photo: Adam Fenster)

Anjalene Whittier ’14 is a steadfast advocate of disability rights, focused on reducing barriers to care for disabled people and promoting evidence-based intervention for minority youth with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities.

This fall, she heads to Cambridge University, where she’ll pursue a PhD in psychiatry on a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. The scholarship, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is among the most prestigious awards for study in the United Kingdom. This year, Whittier was one of 95 scholars selected from a global applicant pool of about 4,000 candidates.

“I will be investigating the intersection of intellectual disability and psychosis,” she says. “I hope that my work will allow us to obtain a better understanding of their co-occurrence, and to also promote a high quality of care for those affected by both conditions.”

Whittier grew up in Rochester and graduated from the School of the Arts, a specialized middle and high school that’s part of the Rochester City School District. After graduation, she studied in Spain with the help of the Joseph P. O’Hern Scholarship for Travel and Study in Europe, funded by Rochester’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. —Maya Dukmasova ’12, ’13 (T5)

SIMON BUSINESS SCHOOL

Alumni Honors

zemskyHoward Zemsky (Photo: Provided)

New York economic development officer receives Simon’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Howard Zemsky ’86S (MBA), the president and CEO of Empire State Development and commissioner of the New York State Department of Economic Development, received the Distinguished Alumnus Award during the June commencement ceremony for Simon Business School.

Nominated for his post by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and confirmed by the Senate, Zemsky holds the top economic position in New York, working closely with Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul and the cochairs of the state’s Regional Economic Development Councils. The 10 councils were created by Cuomo in 2011 and given the responsibility of devising long-term job-creation plans to tap into different attributes of each area. Zemsky has cochaired the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council.

In 1981, Zemsky took over his family’s meat processing business, based in Buffalo, New York. It later became Russer Foods, one of the largest producers of delicatessen meats. After selling the business, he established a Buffalo-based private equity and real estate investment firm, Taurus Capital Partners.

Zemsky has been a featured speaker for Simon and is a member of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society.

TRIBUTE

Paul Freeman ’56E, ’63E (PhD): ‘A Class Act on and off the Podium’

freemanMAESTRO: Freeman founded the Chicago Sinfonietta, a world-class orchestra noted for its racial and gender diversity. (Photo: Jennifer Girard/Chicago Sinfonietta)

When I was first invited to join the Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra in 1991, I felt much pride and excitement in belonging to the nation’s most diverse orchestra. I felt a little trepidation, though, playing for a maestro I did not know. Who was this Paul Freeman? What was he like?

As it developed, I couldn’t have landed in a nicer place. Maestro Freeman turned out to be the most wonderful gentleman I have ever performed with; a true class act on and off the podium. He viewed the musicians in his orchestra as valued colleagues. Indeed, we functioned as one big happy family and were treated as such.

Maestro Freeman was a tireless promoter of his orchestra, which he founded in 1987. Legend has it that he once walked into a bank and emerged a short while later with a $10,000 donation. I believe that legend; with his energy and positive spirit, he could talk just about anybody into just about anything.

Maestro brought us on many tours all over Western Europe and the United States; we played in some of the finest concert halls in the world. He also championed new music and young talent. Our soloists came from all over the world and included names such as Sharon Isbin and Chick Corea, but more often we’d host a young soloist just making a name for him or herself.

Our recordings were full of premieres. I will never forget sight-reading a really difficult piece one morning, then recording it in the afternoon. Whatever the circumstances, though, the Maestro always approached the project with a positive attitude. This earned him a 200 percent effort from his orchestra. If he asked for it, we gave it.

The Maestro conducted like he did everything else in life: with infectious, bubbling, positive elan. His cues were sometimes bigger than life (I will never forget the famous “gong cue,” a pirouette of balletic proportions) and always propelled us forward with his signature unstoppable energy. On the rare occasions when our ensemble’s speed flagged, a simple “come along now” would restore the momentum and we’d be on track again.

Maestro died in July at age 79. Although he passed his baton on to new leadership four years ago, we maintain his signature stamp on almost everything we do, most importantly, the presentation of rising young artists from diverse cultures. I look forward to carrying on his legacy for years to come. Au revoir, Maestro Freeman. I will be forever grateful for the time we spent together changing the world through beautiful music.

—Carol Lahti Dylan ’87E (MM)

Dylan is assistant concertmaster of the Chicago Sinfonietta.

TRIBUTE

Robert Arceci ’80 (PhD), ’81M (MD): ‘An Abrupt End to a Remarkable Career’

arceciPEDIATRIC ONCOLOGIST: Arceci is remembered as a giant in the field, with a subspecialty in blood cancers. (Photo: Phoenix Children’s Hospital Foundation)

When Robert Arceci died in a tragic motorcycle accident on his way to work last June, it marked an abrupt end to a remarkable career. A physician and researcher who studied childhood hematologic malignancies for more than 30 years, Bob was highly regarded for his insight into childhood hematological malignancies and his unusual gift for helping young patients and their families through a most difficult period.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1972, Bob spent his next nine years in the MD/PhD program at Rochester. While I was busy shuttling back and forth from the River Campus to the Medical Center library from 1973 to 1977, working toward my bachelor’s degree in neuroscience, Bob was earning his PhD in molecular and developmental biology. If I did see him on campus, it must have been in passing, perhaps in those countless hours in the library. Nevertheless, we never actually met.

It was in 1988 that I first met Bob. He was a fellow in pediatric hematology/oncology at the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. I remember doing experiments in his lab at Dana-Farber and riding on his motorcycle back to his house, where I met his wife, Jeanie, and two children, John and Andrew. It was a memorable and cherished time. We went on to publish three papers together on resistance to cancer drugs.

Bob left Harvard in 1994, and after several other appointments, including one as director and King Fahd Professor of Pediatric Oncology at Johns Hopkins, relocated in 2013 to Phoenix. I caught up with Bob again that year. At the same time he was beginning his new roles—professor of pediatrics at the University of Arizona, director of the Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, and the first director of the Ronald A. Matricaria Institute of Molecular Medicine at Phoenix Children’s Hospital—I had taken the job of chief scientific officer of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Bob had a long history with the organization and became a valuable guide to me in my new role. Following Bob’s death, the LLS named a five-year, $550,000 grant, the Robert Arceci Career Development Award, in his honor.

Over his career, Bob maintained an active research laboratory, clinical practice, and taught countless students. He published more than 140 papers, and served as editor-in-chief of the journal Pediatric Blood & Cancer. Perhaps more importantly, he was thoughtful and generous with his time. He had a uniquely gentle way about him that made him an incredible human being, researcher, and physician.

—Lee Greenberger ’77

Greenberger is the chief scientific officer of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

In Memoriam

Alumni

Frederick L. Agnew ’38, July 2015

Elizabeth Jones ’39E, May 2015

John D. Chamberlain ’41, ’48 (MS), April 2015

Helen Waltz Staley ’42E, July 2015

Phyllis Metcalfe Taylor ’42, May 2015

Emory D. Champney ’43, ’47 (MS), June 2015

Constance White Main ’43E, May 2015

Aser Rothstein ’43 (PhD), ’84 (Honorary), July 2015

Betty Ingram Stegenga ’44E, May 2015

Thelma Moore Tyler ’44N, June 2015

Helen Thomas Coleman ’45, June 2015

William K. Rogers ’45M (MD), May 2015

Barbara Wheeler Ashton ’47, October 2014

David Dearolph ’47, July 2015

Jane Harrison Humm ’47 (MS), December 2013

Barbara Roberts Ferstead ’48, December 2014

Betty Hanson McAninch ’48E, June 2015

Walter R. J. Brown ’49 (MS), June 2015

Norma Schaller Guyon ’49, July 2015

Genevieve Antunes Keeler ’49, ’50N, July 2015

John E. Schlauch ’49, June 2015

June Siegrist ’49N, April 2014

Robert S. Dean ’50, July 2015

Charles J. Feltz ’50, November 2014

Wilbert R. Fraser ’50, July 2015

George W. Lang ’50, June 2015

Clayton E. Machmer ’50, May 2015

Robert P. Madden ’50, April 2014

William R. Nummy ’50 (PhD), June 2015

Robert P. Schwab ’50, July 2015

Edwine Noye Kimberly ’51, November 2014

D. Bruce Cloughly ’52, May 2015

Margaret Lyon Conrad ’52, June 2015

Edward F. Hoffman ’52, June 2015

Roberta Owen Johnston ’52N, June 2015

Robert G. Menninger ’52M (MD), June 2015

Barbara Lewis Paine ’52, June 2015

George W. Peters ’52, August 2014

Leroy C. Stevens ’52 (PhD), March 2015

Rebekah Yates Anders ’53M (MD), July 2015

Hyman Gesser ’53 (Flw), December 2014

Harry Glenchur ’53M (MD), October 2014

Mark D. Hull ’53, July 2015

Emma Rohman ’53N, ’57N, December 2014

E. Neil Courtney ’54E, June 2015

Lyle B. Democker ’54, July 2015

Ada Thompson Josephthal ’54, ’59 (MA), May 2015

Raymond P. Lang ’54, July 2015

Walter G. Dunn ’55, July 2015

Robert L. McDonald ’55, January 2015

Stephen L. Bair ’56, June 2015

Paul D. Freeman ’56E, ’58E (MM), ’63E (PhD), July 2015

Rodger E. Kramer ’56E, March 2014

Mary Kelley Peck ’56, May 2015

Barbara Kirsch Schaefer ’56E, June 2015

Robert E. Steinkraus ’56M (MD), June 2015

Charles L. Weed ’56, ’61M (MD), June 2015

Cyril M. Worby ’56M (MD), ’60M (Res), July 2015

Herbert L. Gelernter ’57 (PhD), May 2015

Robert C. Godwin ’57E (MM), June 2015

Gratia Greene Alkire ’58, June 2015

Duane E. Grant ’58 (MS), May 2015

Susumu Okubo ’58 (PhD), July 2015

Peter T. Perkins ’58M (Res), ’58M (Flw), July 2015

Mary McGinn Kelly ’59, ’59N, July 2015

Robert N. Williams ’59, June 2015

Mary Newton Zweig ’59E, May 2015

Marlene Reed French ’60, ’61N, May 2015

Gail Harkness ’60, ’61N, ’63N (MS), July 2015

Gregory W. Wendholt ’60, October 2013

Richard E. Caldarone ’61W (Mas), July 2015

David F. Dieter ’61, June 2015

Bob Hoke ’61M (MS), May 2015

Marilyn Heberger Wehrheim ’61, ’82 (MS), June 2015

Kjell G. Westin ’61, ’73 (PhD), ’84S (MBA), July 2015

David E. Davidson ’62M (MS), June 2015

James W. Hadley ’62, June 2015

Richard C. Leone ’62, July 2015

Bion W. McClellan ’62 (MS), ’73S (MBA), July 2015

Ann Arbesman Tatelbaum ’62W, June 2015

Walter G. Horne ’64M (Mas), May 2015

John R. Jamieson ’64, January 2015

Frederick P. Li ’64M (MD), ’66M (Res), June 2015

Mary Guarino Wojcik ’65N (MS), July 2015

Barbara Bocskay Beardsley ’66, ’66N, November 2014

Patricia Thomas Botkin ’66W (EdD), July 2015

Robert F. Holmes ’67, May 2015

Sally Keenan ’68W (MA), June 2015

Karl E. Kromal ’68, May 2015

Alice Zawadzki ’68 (MS), June 2015

Ellen Wessler Harris ’69, July 2015

John C. Rinaldo ’70S, May 2015

Wesley Kobylak ’71, July 2015

Lois Ingersoll Yatarola ’71W (MA), June 2015

Kenneth H. Cohn ’72, June 2015

Nils R. Gurdin ’72, June 2015

Lawrence A. Killelea ’72W (Mas), June 2015

Robert P. Tomasso ’72, March 2014

Wayne B. Wensley ’72, May 2015

Donald J. Pajerek ’73E, July 2015

Sanford R. Bauman ’74, June 2015

Deborah Reid D’Antoni ’74, June 2015

Richard W. Neubert ’74S (MBA), July 2015

Nan Orthmann Greis ’75E (DMA), June 2015

James W. Millner ’75, July 2015

Robert W. Rubin ’77, June 2015

William M. Fiore ’78M (MD), ’83M (Res), ’83M (Flw), July 2015

Duncan M. Cruickshanks ’79, May 2015

Mary Catherine Shay ’79N (MS), June 2015

Agnes Rosen Sobie ’79 (MS), June 2015

Robert J. Arceci ’80 (PhD), ’81M (MD), June 2015

Enrique A. Giroud ’80, April 2015

Dmitri Pyrros ’81, June 2015

Carl M. Perdue ’84, July 2015

John C. Austin ’85, May 2015

Arthur W. Broadhurst Jr. ’85N, June 2015

Paul F. Tero ’85W (PhD), May 2015

Yekara Ford Freund ’87N (MS), January 2014

Kenneth C. Krebs ’88S (MBA), June 2015

Glenn J. Palmer ’91W (MS), July 2015

Lynne Haggard Rumney ’92E (MM), July 2015

John P. Meade ’97M (MPH), June 2015

Peter D. Selby ’01S (MBA), June 2015

Books & Recordings

Books

Music and the Exotic from the Renaissance to Mozart

By Ralph P. Locke

Cambridge University Press, 2015

Analyzing a variety of musical forms written and performed in early modern Europe, Locke explores the musical expressions of attraction, envy, and fear aimed at non-Western people and cultures. Locke is a professor of musicology at Eastman and senior editor of the Eastman Studies in Music series of the University of Rochester Press.

Porous Boundaries: Art and Essays

Edited by Cyril Reade ’03 (PhD) and David Peters Corbett

Manchester University Press, 2015

Reade, an associate professor of art history at Rutgers University–Camden, and Corbett present art and essays celebrating the interdisciplinary work of Janet Wolff, director of Rochester’s Graduate Program in Visual and Cultural Studies from 1991 to 2001. In addition to Reade, contributors include Rochester professors Joanna Scott and Allen Topolski; professors emeriti Carl Chiarenza and Arch Miller; and visual and cultural studies alumni Margot Bouman ’09 (PhD), Lucy Curzon ’06 (PhD), Howard Singerman ’96 (PhD), and Walid Raad ’96 (PhD).

The Dynamics of Inheritance on the Shakespearean Stage

By Michelle Dowd ’97

Cambridge University Press, 2015

Exploring themes such as marriage and remarriage, misbehaving male heirs, and families with only daughters, Dowd demonstrates how Shakespearean drama questioned and reimagined inheritance practices in early modern England. Dowd is an associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Astrology and Cosmology in Early China: Conforming Earth to Heaven

By David Pankenier ’68

Cambridge University Press, 2015

Through archaeological discoveries, classical texts, inscriptions, and other evidence, Pankenier demonstrates how astronomy—indistinguishable from astrology in the ancient world—shaped an emerging Chinese culture and influenced art, architecture, calendrical science, technology, and political and military affairs. Pankenier is a professor of Chinese at Lehigh University.

Rochester Knockings: A Novel of the Fox Sisters

By Hubert Haddad and translated from the French by Jennifer Grotz

Open Letter, 2015

Grotz, editor of Open Letter’s poetry series, presents a translation from the French of the Tunisian author Haddad’s novel based on the true story of Margaret, Kate, and Leah Fox, the 19th-century Rochester founders of the Spiritualist Movement. Grotz is a professor of English at Rochester and teaches creative writing, poetry, and literary translation.

Haunting and the Educational Imagination

By Barbara Regenspan ’73, ’80W (Mas), ’94W (EdD)

Sense Publishers, 2014

Regenspan explores the social theoretical concept of haunting— unacknowledged and often depersonalizing assumptions behind widely shared values and beliefs—and its impact on curricula. An associate professor of educational studies at Colgate University, Regenspan argues that values and beliefs such as individualism and American exceptionalism “mask classism, white supremacy, sexism, and homophobia, which exist as a ghostly presence in the curriculum.”

King of the Gypsies: Stories

By Lenore Myka ’94

University of Missouri–Kansas City, 2015

In her first published collection of short stories, Myka, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Romania, explores the themes of cross-cultural interaction and globalism, as played out in the early years of the nation’s postcommunist transition.

Long and Short: Confessions of a Portfolio Manager

By Lawrence Creatura ’87, ’94S (MBA)

By Mill City Press, 2015

Creatura, a portfolio manager at Federated Clover Investment Advisors, shares lessons from his 20-year career in investment management, aimed at new and experienced investors.

The Book of Twos: The Power of Contrasts, Polarities, and Contradictions

By Joseph Amato ’70 (PhD)

Ellis Press, 2015

Amato, a retired professor of history at Southwest Minnesota State University, explores the ways in which “the concept of twos—contrasts, comparisons, polarities, dualities, and contradictions—has been fundamental to human thought from infant development to national identities.”

Anxiety Muted: American Film Music in a Suburban Age

By Stanley Pelkey ’04E (PhD), ’06 (MA)

Oxford University Press, 2014

Pelkey, the associate dean of engagement and entrepreneurship at Florida State University’s College of Music, explores the ways in which the social tensions of the 1950s and 1960s manifested themselves in television and film soundtracks.

We Had a Ball . . . The Indelible Influence of Youth Sports on the Game of Life

By Nancy Hoehl Shapiro ’84W (MS)

Mill City Press, 2015

Shapiro presents reminiscences and reflections from people of all ages who played sports as children, as well as commentary from coaches and physicians. Sharing humor and lessons learned, contributors emphasize the need “to keep the focus on the kids.” Contributors include Raymond Fancher, professor emeritus in the history and theory of psychology program at York University, who taught psychology at Rochester in the late 1960s.

Mok: The Incredible Labrador

By Noel David Allan ’56

Amazon Digital Services, 2015

Allan shares stories of his best friend, Mok, a black Labrador. Spanning 15 years, the stories are accessible to children as well as adults. Along with Mok, Allan hunts and fishes “from Alaska to Baja, Mexico.”

From Clueless to Class Act: Manners for the Modern Man

From Clueless to Class Act: Manners for the Modern Woman

By Jodi R. R. Smith ’90

Sterling, 2015

Smith, founder and president of Marblehead, Massachusetts–based Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting, presents a pair of contemporary, up-to-date etiquette guides for men and women, with advice pertaining to both professional and social encounters.

Out of Synch

By Warren Firschein ’89

Chapter Two Press, 201

Aimed at middle school-aged girls, Firschein’s novel tells the story of 13-year-old Kate Phillips, and her quest to reach the Olympics in the sport of competitive synchronized swimming. Firschein, who lives in the Tampa Bay area, is the father of two young synchronized swimmers.

From the Needle to the Grave: My Sister’s Journey with Heroin Addiction as Told through Her Journals

By Heidi Carson ’01W (MS)

CreateSpace, 2014

Drawing from the journals of her sister, Carson, an educational and workforce training consultant in Rochester, tells the story of her sister’s four-decade struggle with heroin addiction.

The Manuscript

By Paul Richter ’67 (PhD)

Bookbaby, 2014

Set in Vienna during Hitler’s Anschluss—the invasion and annexation of Austria by Germany in March 1938—Richter’s novel tells the story of two young scholars, a lost manuscript, and the life-altering drama that ensues.

Getting (More of) What You Want: How the Secrets of Economics and Psychology Can Help You Negotiate Anything, in Business and in Life

By Thomas Lys ’82S (PhD)

Basic Books, 2015

Lys, the Eric L. Kohler Chair in Accounting at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, offers negotiating tips drawn from research in behavioral and classical economics, psychology, and strategic thinking.

The Fluorescent Protein Revolution

Edited by Richard Day ’87M (PhD) and Michael Davidson

CRC Press, 2015

Day and Davidson present essays exploring the ways in which advances in the engineering of fluorescent proteins, live-cell imaging, and super-resolution instrumentation have helped launch novel investigations in cell biology, medicine, and physiology. Day is a professor in the Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology at Indiana University’s medical school.

Ebola

By Dale Dapkins ’68

Whiz-bang Publishers, 2014

Dapkins offers a “what if” mystery novel inspired by the Ebola outbreak of 2014.

Printed Music

Band Brilliance Complete Band Method Intermediate Book 2

By Michel Nadeau ’88E

Band Brilliance, 2015

Nadeau, who teaches elementary band in the Commack School District in Commack, New York, offers his second methods book.

Christ Is Alive!

By J. William Greene ’85E (DMA)

Concordia Publishing House, 2015

Greene publishes his sixth collection of organ music, focused on music for the Easter season. Greene is a composer and organist-choirmaster at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Recordings

Blue 13

By Junghwa Lee ’99E (DMA)

Albany Records, 2015

Lee, associate professor of piano at Southern Illinois University, performs the complete piano works of composer Frank Stemper.

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, author or performer, a brief description, and a high-resolution cover image, 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.

College-Ready = Adult-Ready

A psychologist who studies first-semester freshmen shares some observations on how students—and their parents—can make a successful transition.

Interview by Karen McCally ’02 (PhD)

masterclass (Illustration: David Cowles for Rocheser Review)

Developmentally, 18-year-olds are in a category called emerging adulthood. It’s a big period of identity transformation. The nature of their parental relationships changes, and their peer groups and friendships are changing as well. They have to redefine themselves academically. They might have been at the top of their high school class, but where are they going to fall now? And they’re dealing with the end of their physical maturation. So there’s a lot for late adolescents to be worrying about in their first semester in college.

For the college professor, working with these first-semester students is a completely different experience than working with any other student in college. In observing first-semester freshmen, I often see the features of social anxiety. At Misericordia, our classes are very small. And even then, some students will never talk, will never participate. But they are very talkative and chatty when I meet with them one-on-one. And I’d say, “Why don’t you ever talk in class?” And they’d say, “Oh, I don’t know. I never feel like I have anything good to say.” To me, that type of self-doubt and concern about others’ perceptions could be a mark of social anxiety.

Alicia Freeman Nordstrom ’97

Professor of psychology, Misericordia University; researcher on college social anxiety; creator of The Voices Project, an experiential diversity project for Introduction to Psychology students

Home: Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Majors at Rochester: psychology, religion

On being a student at Rochester: “I met my husband, Justin Nordstrom ’97, at Rochester, and he’s a college professor, too. We were so inspired by our professors that we wanted to be them. As a psychology major, I worked closely with Andy Elliot, who made me want to be a researcher. Emil Homerin and Anne Meredith in the religion department were role models. As a religion major, I also took Bill Green’s Theories of Religion. It struck terror into students’ hearts. But that’s what taught me to read critically, to analyze arguments, to ask, what’s the evidence? I developed a course called Controversies in Psychology, based on Theories of Religion. Twenty years later, I’m teaching my students the skills I learned in that class.”

I got interested in parent-child relationships, because as a professor and an advisor, I’ve found they have so much influence over a student’s adjustment to college. We’ve been talking about how students have to adjust and redefine themselves, but parents have to do that, too. If the parents aren’t undergoing their own parallel process of readjusting and redefining their role and relationship with their child, then what are the effects going to be on the child? As an instructor and an advisor, I’ve gotten calls and emails from parents asking questions about their student’s schedule. And when that happens, I think: “Here’s a parent who really isn’t readjusting yet.”

My research has focused on intrusive parents. What’s been called the helicopter parent is now also called the snowplow parent. The snowplow parent tries to push all the bad stuff out of the way to make the path clear and easy for their child. And, working with my colleagues, we’ve found that those students—particularly if they had two parents who were intrusive—had worse outcomes in academic performance, self-esteem, feelings of competency, as well as depression and anxiety.

Students with neglectful parents—parents not involved in any way—also had pretty bad outcomes. What’s important is to aim for the sweet spot of moderate involvement. That means asking your kids whether they like their classes. Asking them about the decisions they are making. And if they say they’re having trouble, encouraging them to see the professor, rather than calling up the professor yourself. I’ve had students whose parents proofread their papers, or who study with them on the phone. That’s a little too much involvement, and doesn’t empower the student to solve problems and take ownership of their education. It’s not necessarily the case in parenting that more is better.

ORIENTATION

Friendly Faces

backcover (Photo: Adam Fenster)

CLASS SPIRIT: Orientation leaders Gaella Kabeya ’18, of Lusaka, Zambia (clockwise from lower left); Tate Richards ’17, of Southaven, Mississippi; Becca Walters ’16, of Kendall Park, New Jersey; Cody Civiletto ’16 (Key), of Rochester; and Jackie Meyer ’18, of Simsbury, Connecticut—with director Eleanor Oi ’13S (MBA) and Matthew Spielmann ’09—organized programs and events in advance of the arrival of the Class of 2019.