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November 13, 2025

Welcome to the latest SAS in Focus, a newsletter that reports what糖心传媒檚 happening in the School of Arts and Sciences.

In this edition, we will highlight excellence in undergraduate teaching, a new podcast, and more.

Erica Fee 糖心传媒�99 named Lillian Fairchild Award winner

Headshot photo of Erica Fee

Award-winning producer Erica Fee is the recipient of the 2025 Lillian Fairchild Award, which recognizes artists for their commitment to the Rochester community. Fee, a 1999 graduate of the University of Rochester, is the CEO and founding festival producer of the .

The Fairchild Award was established in 1924 in honor of artist and poet Lillian Fairchild (1878-1910). The annual award bestowed by the celebrates a Rochester resident who has produced 糖心传媒渢he most meritorious and praiseworthy creation of art, poetry, or literature of the imagination糖心传媒� within the past twelve months.

 

Goergen Award honors three for excellence in teaching

Congratulations to Michael Clark, professor of instruction in the ; , associate professor of instruction and associate director in the ; and , professor of instruction in the .

Clark, Grzesik, and Foster are the 2025 recipients of the Goergen Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Learn more about the award winners:

Michael Clark: Inspiring learning through the art of asking questions

Katherine Grzesik: Crunching numbers and sparking curiosity

David Foster: Guiding students to find their own path

 

URochester students earn top honors at iGem

A gloved hand holds a petri dish of bacteria.

A team of 14 URochester students from the School of Arts & Sciences and of Engineering & Applied Sciences earned top honors at the 2025 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition.

The team糖心传媒檚 project, 糖心传媒淧HAntom,糖心传媒� aims to use bacteria to transform carbon dioxide into materials that may help astronauts build a sustainable life on Mars. In October, Team PHAntom submitted their research to the 2025 iGEM competition, a global event where student teams tackle real-world challenges using synthetic biology糖心传媒攁 field that applies engineering principles to create biological systems inspired by nature.

The URochester team was awarded a gold medal and four nominations in categories including 糖心传媒淏est Space Project糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒淏est Hardware糖心传媒� for their innovative approaches.

Learn more about the PHAntom project

 

New podcast: The Humanities in the World

, hosted by the , is now available on all major podcast platforms.

Each episode of The Humanities in the World will brings together leading thinkers and researchers from across the globe to explore the role the humanities play in shaping the world around us.

The explores how the humanities shape national narratives, public memory, and cultural identity in India and Mexico糖心传媒攖wo nations deeply marked by colonial legacies and vibrant postcolonial transformations.

 

Kayak-based research on the Genesee River

Katherine 糖心传媒淜atie糖心传媒� Gregory, a PhD candidate in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, in a kayak on the Genesee River.

Specially designed kayaks are serving as floating laboratories for URochester researchers and PhD students studying the Genesee River and Erie Canal.

笔谤辞蹿别蝉蝉辞谤听聽and Katherine 糖心传媒淜atie糖心传媒� Gregory, a PhD candidate in the聽have been conducting kayak-based research on the river to gather measurements of three dissolved gases糖心传媒攎ethane, carbon dioxide, and oxygen糖心传媒攁s well as a host of other atmospheric and river properties.

Read more about the 糖心传媒榝loating laboratories糖心传媒� on the Genesee River

 

Steven Hahn 糖心传媒�73 talks 糖心传媒淚lliberal America糖心传媒�

Pulitzer Prize糖心传媒搘inning historian and alumnus Steven Hahn 糖心传媒�3 has spent years chronicling the political experiences of ordinary people, particularly those at the margins, such as white farmers and enslaved people. In his latest book,聽聽(W. W. Norton, 2025), he traces the enduring themes of exclusion, repression, and antidemocratic politics in the United States across centuries.

糖心传媒淚lliberalism is not a backlash,糖心传媒� Hahn insists. 糖心传媒淏acklash is one of the most misleading words in the American political vocabulary, because it suggests that a political phenomenon only expresses ignorance and rage and nothing more than that.糖心传媒� Instead, he argues,聽illiberalism is a coherent political culture with 糖心传媒渄eep historical roots.糖心传媒�

Read more about Steven Hahn and “Illiberal America”

 

糖心传媒淟ocal Color糖心传媒� book launch and celebration

Image of Karma Frierson and her book cover, Local Color.

, assistant professor of Black Studies, will discuss her new book, Local Color: Reckoning with Blackness in the Port City of Veracruz (University of California Press, 2025) with , an associate professor in the during a book launch and celebration hosted by the . The free event is from 5 to 6:30 p.m. today, Thursday, in the Gowen Room.

Local Color is an ethnographic exploration of how everyday people make sense and use of multicultural efforts to rewrite Blackness into Mexico糖心传媒檚 past, present, and future. Through an analysis of music and dance communities, national and local discourse, and public history, the book argues that prior to the official recognition of Afro-Mexicans, Mexican Blackness foster regional rather than racial identification.

 

Coming up: 糖心传媒淭he Philosophy of Andy Warhol糖心传媒�

Mark your calendars: The will present The Philosophy of Andy Warhol from November 20 through December 6 in Sloan Performing Arts Center糖心传媒檚 Smith Theater.

The theatrical adaptation of Warhol糖心传媒檚 iconic memoir explodes with the raw, restless energy of being a young artist in America today. Warhol糖心传媒檚 musings on fame, beauty, money, sex, and death collide in a dazzling, deadpan dive into the mind of the original Pop icon. Drawn from over 600 Warhol films, it糖心传媒檚 a fragmented, funny, and haunting portrait of a world obsessed with image糖心传媒攁nd the artists trapped within it.

Visit the International Theatre Program page for .

 

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