University Notebook

Arthur Satz

The Department of Music in the School of Arts & Sciences has become the first named department in the school, thanks to a gift from former music major and influential arts education leader Arthur Satz ’51.

The late president of the New York School of Interior Design, Satz bequeathed the largest ever gift geared toward supporting the humanities at Rochester.

In addition to establishing the Arthur Satz Department of Music, the commitment will establish a minimum of five new professorships in fields related to the humanities. Honey Meconi, a professor with appointments in the School of Arts & Sciences and at the Eastman School of Music, has been awarded the first of the professorships as the Arthur Satz Professor for the Department of Music.

In 1963, Satz joined NYSID, where he eventually became the school’s president and board chair. During his career there, he upgraded the institution from a certificate school into a full-fledged bachelor’s and master’s degree-granting institution. Before that, he was a faculty member in the music departments at Yale University and Vassar College.

New Director of the Frederick Douglass Institute Appointed

Jeffrey McCune Jr. (Photograph: Porsché Cain)

An award-winning author on issues of race, gender, and identity and a professor at Washington University in St. Louis has been named director of the Frederick Douglass Institute.

Jeffrey McCune Jr., who is currently associate professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies and of African and African American studies at Wash U, will begin his tenure at the institute in June 2021.

As director, McCune will bring together faculty, students, and staff from across academic disciplines to collaborate in the study of the African diaspora and offer programming that explores and promotes African and African American studies at the University. He will also oversee the institute’s interdepartmental undergraduate major and minor programs, as well as the institute’s certificate and fellowships programs.

In 2006–07, McCune was a postdoctoral fellow at the institute and a faculty associate at the University’s Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in speech/theater and secondary education from Cornell College, and a master’s degree in communications studies from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He earned his PhD in performance studies, with a focus on African American and gender studies, from Northwestern University.

Among McCune’s top priorities as director will be to revitalize the institute’s academic and programmatic services and expand its scope from an institute to a full department for African and African American studies in the School of Arts & Sciences.

Kristin Doughty, an associate professor of anthropology and director of the Anthony Institute, is serving as interim director until McCune joins the University.

Board Elects Two Members, Honors Life Trustees

The University’s Board of Trustees elected two new members last spring during a virtual meeting in which the board also recognized three new life trustees.

New Trustees

Martin Sanders

Martin Sanders is cofounder and CEO of Io Therapeutics Inc., a privately held company based in Santa Ana, California, that develops treatments for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and cancers. He is also the executive chairman of the company’s board of directors. He is a medical doctor with a long career in clinical care and research. He and his wife, Corazon, established a professorship at the Eastman School of Music in appreciation of the voice teacher of their daughter, Laura, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastman.

Elizabeth Ward

Elizabeth (Betsy) Ward ’86 is the chief financial officer at MassMutual, a nearly 170-year-old life insurance company. Before becoming CFO in 2016, she held several prominent positions at the Springfield, Massachusetts–based company, including chief enterprise risk officer and managing director at the company’s subsidiary asset management firms. Ward earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and Spanish from Rochester, while also studying flute through lessons at the Eastman School of Music. In 2019, she was the keynote speaker at the University’s Simon Women’s Conference.

Life Trustees

The board also recognized the service and philanthropic support of three board members, awarding them status as life trustees.

A board member since 2010, Kathleen Murray ’74 has held several roles on leadership committees and championed key goals in diversity, alumni engagement, and for River Campus Libraries. She also established the Kathleen McMorran Murray ’74 Endowed Scholarship Fund and supported several other programs.

Francis Price ’74, ’75S (MBA) has been a board member since 1995, and his tenure included leadership service on several committees. In 2016, he volunteered to serve as the inaugural chair of the Public Safety Review Board and has been a longtime supporter of the David T. Kearns Center and other initiatives.

A member of the board since 2015, E. Philip Saunders has led initiatives across the University and the Medical Center and helped increase engagement with the region. His philanthropy has provided substantial support for neuromuscular disease and translational research while also honoring the nation’s veterans.

Leadership in Translating Research Recognized

The Medical Center has been awarded $24.3 million from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science of the National Institutes of Health to continue Rochester’s efforts to turn scientific discoveries into health benefits.

The award, announced last summer, brings the Medical Center’s total funding from the national center to $132 million, dating to 2006 when Rochester became one of the first 12 institutions in the nation to receive one of the awards.

The award continues support for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, which provides funding, training, and resources to help researchers rapidly translate discoveries into therapies.

Rochester’s center was also selected as the coordinating center for the national program in 2017.

UHS Building Gets a New Floor

A project to add a floor to the University Health Service building is complete, adding more space for psychiatry, mental health, and other programs on campus.

The construction, which began in 2019, adds 6,000 square feet of space for UHS services.

Supported by a $1 million New York State HECap capital grant, the floor allows UHS to expand access to psychiatry and mental health care services, as well as free up other spaces for health support groups on the second floor.

Paul Burgett Memorialized on Eastman Quad

A marker to memorialize Paul Burgett ’68E, ’76E (PhD)—musician, scholar, teacher, and University leader for over half a century—has been installed on the west end of the Eastman Quadrangle.

A gift from an anonymous donor, the marker honors the life and legacy of one of the University community’s most recognized citizens.

Dean Burgett, as he was known to generations of students and alumni, died in 2018.

Rochester Named National Research Center

The Medical Center’s research leadership in conditions such as autism, Batten disease, and Rett syndrome has been recognized with a new national designation.

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has named Rochester as an Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, whose goal is to translate scientific insights into cutting-edge care.

The center will be led by John Foxe, director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, and Jonathan Mink, the chief of child neurology at Golisano Children’s Hospital.