Many of the most exciting breakthroughs in knowledge occur at the intersections of scholarly disciplines—both when people from disparate disciplines directly collaborate and even more so when scholars steeped in one discipline apply lessons from other disciplines to reshape their own fields or establish brand-new fields. Part of our hiring strategy will focus on faculty who strengthen the core areas of disciplinary strength in the areas of distinction and those who are committed to pushing the boundaries of their disciplines. We have demonstrated success in establishing transdisciplinary centers that examine and translate research for the greater good of our society and communities, including the Humanities Center, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and the Goergen Institute for Data Science. The University of Rochester has a long and storied history of being at the forefront of the invention—and reinvention—of fields, from positive social science to optics to the biopsychosocial model of medicine. Establishing new mechanisms for colleagues across disciplines to more easily collaborate and learn from one another will allow us to build upon and accelerate this tradition.

We will establish at least five new centers, funded in five-year, renewable increments, based upon the very best ideas of the faculty using a competitive process. Funding will be renewed for centers that show the greatest promise in terms of scholarly eminence, new faculty development, learning across disciplines, and, when appropriate, success in grant funding and associated graduate programs.