Update on new positive cases of COVID-19

There are 36 new student positives today: one on the Eastman Campus, six on the Medical Campus, and 29 on the River Campus. Please note that the University’s COVID-19 Dashboard is updated when a new case is reported. Find the latest COVID-19 messages and updates here.

College undergraduates honored at annual Student Life Awards

The annual Student Life Awards, also known as the “Rockys,” were held on April 14. The awards recognize College undergraduate students who, through service to others, investment of talent and time, and pursuit of excellence, have significantly and positively impacted the University or surrounding community.

Flags will be lowered for Andrew Ainslie

University flags on the Eastman Quadrangle and near the entrance of Strong Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Department will be lowered Thursday, April 28, for Andrew Ainslie, the Benjamin Forman Professor in Marketing and former dean of the Simon Business School, who died on April 12. Ainslie joined the University faculty in 2014.

You can learn more about Ainslie’s accomplishments on Simon’s In Memoriam page, where you can share a memory, a favorite story, or well wishes to Ainslie’s family, friends, and colleagues.

Vaccine medical exemptions are rare. Thousands of nursing home workers have them.

Minnesota Public Radio, April 22

Brian McGarry, an assistant professor of medicine and of public health sciences who has studied the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in nursing homes, called lags in administering boosters to residents a “policy failure,” especially when compared with previous efforts to quickly get residents vaccinated in early 2021. “The right time to do it would be before the omicron wave, and we missed the boat on that,” he says.

The facts on fats

When working toward a goal, it can be valuable to understand how fat, as a macronutrient, affects your health, in ways both good and bad. Join Well-U and Jill Chodak, registered dietitian, on Thursday, April 28, at noon EDT to discuss the different types of fats, what roles they play in your body, as well as some common misconceptions. Registration is now open.

Summer applications for tuition reimbursement

If you are attending an outside college or university for the summer semester, be sure to submit your tuition reimbursement application within 30 days of the start of the course. You can visit the tuition benefits website to download the application and learn more.

Discussion on teaching philosophy to migrant and border-town children

As part of the yearlong Sawyer Seminar’s events regarding migration, Amy Reed-Sondoval, an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas, joins Rosa Terlazzo, an associate professor of philosophy at Rochester, in conversation about her work. Reed-Sondoval will discuss her experience creating and running Philosophy for Children programs in borderlands on both sides of the US border, and her use of feminist methodology to understand the experiences of pregnant people crossing borders to access reproductive care and exercise reproductive rights. The event takes place Wednesday, April 27, from 12 to 2 p.m. EDT in the Humanities Center Conference Room D, Rush Rhees Library. It will also be streamed live.

Voyage to Procida screening, panel discussion

Attend a screening of Voyage to Procida, a film by Federico Siniscalco, an adjunct instructor of Italian, at the Little Theatre on Wednesday, April 27, at 7 p.m. A panel discussion featuring Siniscalco will follow. The event is presented by the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures.

‘Every Day in May’ fitness challenge

Join the “Every Day in May” challenge at the URMC Fitness Center and get ready for summer through exercise. Visit the fitness center website for details.

Genomics Research Center workshop series

The Genomics Research Center is hosting a workshop series titled “Introduction to Single-Cell RNAseq Analysis.” The four-session series begins Monday, May 2. Each session will be split into a 45-minute lecture followed by a hands-on computational workshop that builds on the information covered in the lecture. Attendance at the lecture is a prerequisite for the hands-on workshop that day. Find more information on the training event and register here.

Annual Genetics Day lecture, symposium

Learn more about the 33rd annual Genetics Day, taking place Monday, May 16, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Peter Walter, senior vice president and institute director at Altos Labs, Bay Area Institute of Science, and a distinguished professor emeritus of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, will deliver the 19th Annual Fred Sherman Lecture. The registration deadline for the poster session is Monday, May 2, at 5 p.m. EDT.

Join the Memorial Art Gallery on Saturday, April 30, for “An Artists’ Affair: Art Off the Walls,” a fundraising event that enables the museum to bring the experience of the arts to the region’s schoolchildren—including the innovative Expanded Learning Collaboration with the Rochester City School District—through fun and thoughtful content, both in-person and online. Learn more and purchase tickets.

• Dr. Chat Bot: Medical Center employees (daily required) | Medical Center students (daily required) and non-Medical Center students (as needed)
• COVID-19 Resource Center | Medical Center’s COVID-19 update page
• Current campus face mask policies
• Faculty and staff vaccine participation form (VPN or on-campus network connection required)
• COVID-19 vaccine requirements and FAQs
• What to do if you or your close contacts have symptoms or have been exposed