On Sunday, Oct. 29, at 10:30 a.m. an interfaith service titled “Blue Mass” was held to honor the services of UR Security, Medical Emergency Response Team and the Fire Marshal’s Office to the UR community.
The service was organized by the Sigma Chi Fraternity, the Catholic Newman Community and the Office of the Dean of Students and lasted for about an hour.
“It is nice to be recognized for the dedication and services that MERT provides to the UR community,” Director of MERT and junior Dan Nassau said. “We would like to thank the Newman Community, SC and the Office of the Dean of Students for their support.”
After a five-year break, the second Blue Mass included a multi-faith prayer and blessing that was free and open to the public.
“The jobs that MERT, Security and the Fire Marshal do are essential to how we learn, how we laugh and how we love on campus,” Father Brian Cool said. “They all go above and beyond the call of duty. This year we decided to include MERT and the Fire Marshal along with Security to make the event broader. There’s no turf here, they appreciate one another as much as we appreciate them.”
Senior Vice President of Administration and Finance and Chief Financial Officer Ron Paprocki was in attendance and spoke at the event. Roughly 30 to 40 students from MERT attended the mass, in addition to representatives from UR Security and the Fire Marshal’s office. Family members of the honored were in attendance.
“In my opinion, fraternities may not always have the best relationship with Security, but we feel that they play an integral part in our functioning and provide us with a safe environment,” SC president and senior Ryan Severson said. $3 million in funds given to Goergen HallOn Tuesday, Oct. 24, State Senator Joseph Robach allocated $3 million in state funding for the Robert B. Goergen Hall for Biomedical Engineering and Optics at UR.
“Rochester remains one of the top communities for higher learning, and this new biomedical engineering and optics facility will enhance our ability to attract quality professors and new students, not only from our own region, but from all over the world to locate here to teach and learn,” Robach said. “This grant will help bring new jobs to our community and further the education of our young people in the field of biotechnology.”
There will be an estimated 400 to 700 new jobs created by this undertaking and it will function as an integral component for the development of the Rochester area economy.
Construction began on Goergen Hall in the spring of 2005 and is slated to end in the spring of 2007.
The Center for Institute Ventures, which will be housed alongside the biomedical and optics labs, will ultimately bring University knowledge to the marketplace. Its purpose is to transform UR research into new technologies that can be utilized by high-growth businesses, ultimately attracting more business and venture capital investment to the Rochester area.
Funding for this grant came from the generosity of individuals and groups such as Robert Goergen, Charles Munnerlyn and the Whitaker Foundation, as well as State Senators Michael Nozzolio, James Alesi and George Maziarz.
“The research being done at this new facility will establish the University of Rochester as one of the premier research centers in the nation in the field of biomedical optics,” Nozzolio said. Halusic is a member of the class of 2010.
