Despina Stratigakos is New Deputy Director of the UB Gender Institute

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Despina Stratigakos, PhD, of Buffalo, associate professor of visual studies and architecture at the University at Buffalo, has been named deputy director of the UB Institute for Research and Education on Women & Gender, the university-wide center that supports and promotes research and teaching related to gender and sexuality.

Institute Director Kari J. Winter, PhD, professor of American studies, said, "We are indeed lucky to have her on board," citing Stratigakos' international reputation as a historian and author of such groundbreaking books as the award-winning "A Women's Berlin: Building the Modern City," the story of a forgotten metropolis designed by and for women.

"Stratigakos lectures publicly on issues of diversity in architecture and in 2007 curated an exhibition at the University of Michigan proposing an 'Architect Barbie' in order to focus attention on gendered stereotypes within the architectural profession," said Winter.

She noted that in 2010-11, Stratigakos and architect Kelly Hayes McAlonie, interim assistant vice president of UB's Capital Planning Group, collaborated with Mattel, Inc., on the production and launch of the commercial version of the doll, which received a great deal of national attention, and enormous attention within the profession.

Stratigakos has served on the boards of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, the Society of Architectural Historians and the International Archive of Women in Architecture. She also has been a member of Buffalo's municipal taskforce for Diversity in Architecture and helped to found the Architecture and Design Academy (ADA) in the Buffalo Public Schools.

She received her PhD from Bryn Mawr College and taught at Harvard University and the University of Michigan before joining the Department of Architecture at the University at Buffalo.