University News

Sarah Mangelsdorf

University President Sarah Mangelsdorf has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most highly regarded honors for artistic, academic, and scientific leaders who engage in advancing the public good.

Mangelsdorf, who also holds the title of G. Robert Witmer, Jr. University Professor, is one of 276 artists, scholars, scientists, and executives in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors inducted into the 2020 class.

Joining her as a member this year are songwriter and activist Joan Baez, Brandeis University law professor Anita Hill, former US attorney general Eric Holder Jr., author Ann Patchett, poets Joy Harjo and Claudia Rankine, NIH immunologist Yasmine Belkaid, University of Washington president Ana Mari Cauce, and Duke University president Vincent Price.

Also elected this year was Grammy Award–winning composer and Eastman School of Music graduate Maria Schneider ’85E (MM).

Since July 1, 2019, Mangelsdorf has served as the 11th president of the University, where she is also a professor of psychology.

Appointment Adds to Diversity and Inclusion Efforts

Adrienne Morgan

Adrienne Morgan, who has for two decades led initiatives in medical education diversity and inclusion, has taken on two new roles to better integrate equity and inclusion efforts in the Medical Center and the University.

In July, Morgan became senior associate dean for equity and inclusion at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, where she will oversee diversity and inclusion initiatives across all programs within the medical school.

The position is in addition to Morgan’s role in the University’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, where she was appointed as associate vice president late last year. As associate vice president, Morgan helps advance strategic goals and initiatives that promote inclusivity throughout the University and ensure that individuals from all cultures, backgrounds, and abilities feel welcomed and supported at the University.

At the Medical Center, Morgan will oversee diversity and inclusion initiatives across all programs within the medical school, including undergraduate, graduate, and graduate medical education. The goal is to foster a more equitable and anti-racist culture and create paths of opportunity for underrepresented individuals interested in medicine throughout their careers.

She assumes the role from Linda Chaudron, senior associate dean and Medical Center vice president for inclusion and culture, who has begun a yearlong, partial sabbatical to develop plans for new faculty and staff leadership development programs while becoming the director of the Paul M. Schyve, M.D. Center for Bioethics. When she returns, Chaudron will serve as the director of a newly formed Center for Gender and Leadership at the Medical Center.

Hajim Dean Reappointed

Wendi Heinzelman

Wendi Heinzelman, who in 2016 was the first woman appointed to serve as dean of the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, has been reappointed to a second five-year term. The appointment was approved last summer by the University’s Board of Trustees.

Under Heinzelman’s leadership, the Hajim School has increased research expenditures and added new initiatives in data science, high-energy-density physics, and augmented and virtual reality, among other areas.

She has also expanded experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate students, increased the diversity of Hajim’s undergraduate and faculty communities, and increased the number of women on the faculty and enrolled in Hajim bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD programs.

A professor of electrical and computer engineering with a secondary appointment in computer science, Heinzelman was dean of graduate studies in Arts, Sciences & Engineering before being named the Hajim dean.

A fellow of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and the Association for Computer Machinery, Heinzelman earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University, and her master’s and doctoral degrees from MIT.

She joined the Rochester faculty in 2001.