In Review

One of America’s most prominent women executives will deliver this spring’s commencement address to the Class of 2018. Margaret (Margo) Georgiadis, the former CEO of the storied toy and learning company Mattel Inc. will also receive the University’s George Eastman medal, awarded in recognition of outstanding achievement and dedicated service.

One of 32 women executives currently leading a Fortune 500 company, Georgiadis is a noted thought leader on technology, innovation, and leadership. Serving as CEO and a member of Mattel’s board from February 2017 until April 2018, she joined the company from Google, where she most recently was president of the search company’s Americas division.

Georgiadis is credited with transforming Mattel into a digital-first company whose products include educational toys that emphasize science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

Georgiadis was a guest for Meliora Weekend in 2017, when she participated in a conversation, “Inspiring the Next Generation of Leaders in a World Transformed by Globalization and Technology,” with Wendi Heinzelman, dean of the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences. The discussion focused on how to change underrepresentation of women nationally in computer science, and how both Mattel and the University are using emerging technologies to interest young people in science and engineering.

Georgiadis’s son, Andreas, will also be a part of the College ceremony. A graduating senior, he is set to receive a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the Hajim School.

More information about commencement ceremonies and other activities is available at Rochester.edu/commencement. The May ceremony will be webstreamed live.

University-Affiliated High-Tech Hub Debuts Downtown

A program dedicated to fostering the creation and growth of high-tech companies in the Rochester region has a new home, a new name, and an even stronger connection to the University.

Formerly known as High Tech Rochester, the initiative is now known as NextCorps, which officially opened a state-of-the-art facility in downtown Rochester early this year.

The new space, which occupies the sixth floor of the historic Sibley Square, is designed to serve as a cornerstone for the revitalization of downtown Rochester.

An affiliate of the University, NextCorps is the region’s only state- and federally designated business incubator. The $24 million project was supported by the State of New York, the federal Economic Development Administration, and private philanthropic donations.

A priority project of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council, the 40,000-square-foot facility includes a coworking space, private offices and suites, wet labs for biotech companies, a fully equipped prototyping lab, conference rooms, a roof deck overlooking the Rochester skyline, an auditorium, and common areas.

NextCorps has an option for an additional 28,000 square feet on the sixth floor to meet future space demands.

Remembering Congresswoman Louise Slaughter

Long-time Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, whose district included the University and parts of the Rochester region, was remembered this spring as an advocate for the community and its people in a ceremony at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. Elected to 18 terms in Congress and based in the Rochester-area community of Fairport, Slaughter died in March. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Congressman John Lewis were among the national, state, regional, and University dignitaries who joined community members, faculty, staff, and students to pay respects to Slaughter, who was regularly recognized for her work to support programs at the University and other area colleges and universities.

Simon Ranked among Top 15 MBA Programs for Women

In its first-ever ranking of the top 50 MBA programs for women, the Financial Times of London ranked the Simon Business School among the best in the world.

The publication placed Simon at No. 13 in the United States and No. 21 internationally.

The ranking is based on several data points for women graduates from 2014, including salaries of women three years after graduation, salary increases for women before and after completing an MBA, and the gender wage gap between male and female graduates.

On average, Simon women reported earnings comparable to those of male counterparts, thus effectively closing the pay gap. Women make up a total of 33 percent of Simon’s full-time MBA student body and more than half of the full-time master of science degree enrollment.

New Scholarship Fund Aims ‘to Maximize Opportunities’ for Students

A professor of finance at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and his wife have established a $5 million fund to help support students with high academic potential and demonstrated financial need.

Kenneth French ’78S (MBA), ’83S (PhD), the Roth Family Distinguished Professor of Finance at Tuck, and his wife, Vickie, established the fund, the KRFrench Family Scholars Program, to support five incoming students per year for all four years of their undergraduate study in Arts, Sciences & Engineering. Preference will be given to underrepresented minority students or first-generation students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

As an economist by trade, French says, “I tend to focus on maximizing opportunities.” Investing in students will have a positive effect for many decades, he says.

“I attribute much of whatever success I have had to the bright people available to me at Rochester,” he says. “I had almost unlimited access to the school’s strong faculty, and 35 years later they continue to give me guidance and advice.”

A fellow of the American Finance Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, French is considered one of the nation’s most influential financial scholars. A former president of the American Finance Association, he received Rochester’s Distinguished Scholar Medal in 2005 and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Simon Business School in 2010.

Digitizing Douglass

You may soon be able to print your own 3-D bust of abolitionist icon and former Rochester resident Frederick Douglass. That’s provided you have access to a 3-D printer. Gregory Heyworth, associate professor of English and an internationally regarded imaging researcher, led a class this spring on imaging science whose projects included scanning the University’s landmark marble bust of Douglass. The goal of the project was to create a file that can be accessed so the bust can be reproduced using a 3-D printer.