In Review

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

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

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

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.