Community Engagement News

Community Engagement during COVID-19

October 18, 2021

The Department’s Community Engagement Committee seeks to expand the educational mission of the College outside the borders of our campus to the greater Rochester community.  In recent years the Committee has developed a repertoire of diverse activities that that are increasingly mature and sustainable.  No longer are outreach activities “one-offs” that faculty, students and staff participate in when their primary duties allow, and which come to us from the outside.  We now identify needs and create programs that best serve the community.  Most of our programs are collaborative in nature. We have learned that effective engagement depends on our listening and adapting to our stakeholders’ diverse life experiences and agencies.  Our efforts are funded at local and national levels, include credit-bearing courses within and outside the College, and extend to urban, suburban and rural communities. We serve folks of all ages in many circumstances, including incarcerated men.  While social distancing requirements during the last year felt at times anathema to the spirit and practice of engagement, most of our programs adapted and successfully surmounted the pandemic’s challenges. Without doubt, we look forward to a post-pandemic era! 

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Anusha Naganathan Wins Grant Supporting Outreach to Incarcerated Students

June 29, 2020

Anusha Naganathan, a Research Associate in Gloria Culver’s lab, has won an ASCB Public Engagement Grant to bring science education to students in a local prison.  The title of the grant is, “UR Science Stories: Bringing the Experience of Scientific Experimentation to Students at Groveland Correctional Facility”.  Eitan Freedenberg of the Rochester Education Justice Initiative (REJI) serves as co-Principal Investigator. REJI is a program at the University of Rochester that was founded in 2015 and provides academic programming at local correctional facilities, including Groveland Correctional Facility. The city of Rochester is directly impacted by the positive outcomes of REJI programs as 25% of REJI’s students will return to Monroe county at the end of their sentence.

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Department of Biology Creates Online Content for the Summer Upward Bound Program

June 22, 2020

The Department of Biology is excited to participate in the Upward Bound Program again this summer. This year will look a little different. Due to restrictions on in-person gatherings and keeping safety a number one priority, the David T. Kearns Center is hosting all classes online. Because of this change, faculty, students, and staff in the Department of Biology have worked hard to make creative and engaging online lessons and materials on a range of topics for the Upward Bound students.

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Rochester Science Café Enters its Eleventh Year

August 20, 2019

The Rochester Science Café is a collaboration between the Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester. Held at the Pittsford Barnes & Noble book store, the Rochester Science Café is entering its eleventh academic year.  Last year we hosted 7 lively events.

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Department of Biology Launches Credit-Bearing Community Engagement Course

August 19, 2019

Community Engagement Practicum (BIO 399) is now a credit-bearing undergraduate course funded by the College.  For the past two years BIO 399 has been funded by Department of Biology discretionary funds.  Now the course, which entails significant lab costs, is integrated into the Department’s formal curriculum budget from the College.  And, BIO 399 has been approved as a diversification course by Biology B.A. and B.S. tracks—meaning it can be used to complete undergraduate degree requirements together with courses with more standard biological content such as Animal Behavior and Biology of Aging. 

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