MEDIA MENTIONS

November 12, 2024: The Buffalo News quoted marketing professor Charles Lindsey and urban planning professor and Gender Institute Affiliate Samina Raja in an article about New York State’s plan to encourage grocery stores to expand to underserved areas.

November 11, 2024: The UB Libraries has received a collection of historical materials from St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, one of the oldest African American Episcopal congregations in the country. The records, dating from the mid-19th century, will be added to the collection of University Archives, which will care for and ensure the conservation of the ledgers and documents that hold invaluable insights into the social, cultural, political and religious history of Buffalo’s Black community. “These archives talk about the interests of the parishioners, their political activities, their involvement in anti-slavery movements and the benevolent associations that addressed community issues,” says Lillian Williams, associate professor in the Department of Africana and American Studies, College of Arts and Sciences and Gender Institute Affiliate. “We wouldn’t know about these people and their leadership in various reform movements in the African American community without these vital records.”

November 1, 2024: Newsweek quoted Kristin Stapleton, professor in the Department of History and Gender Institute Affiliate, in an article about the pressure on President Biden to get adopted children out of China after the country ceased all foreign adoptions.

October 4, 2024: UB Now wrote about three bronze monuments now standing outside Old County Hall at 92 Franklin St. are a tribute to three of Western New York’s pioneering women and a testament to the women who made this honor a reality — including several with ties to UB. The Monument Project honoring trailblazing women of Western New York was spearheaded by the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women, which set out in 2018 to begin remedying an inequality dotting the local landscape: Of the 106 public statues, only two commemorated women. Among those from UB chosen to serve on the project steering committee were  GEnder Institute Affiliates Kelly Hayes McAlonie, director of campus planning, and Lillian Williams, associate professor in the Department of Africana and American Studies.

September 23, 2024: VOX quoted Kyla Wazana Tompkins, professor and chair of the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies and Gender Institute Executive Committee Member and Affiliate, in an article about “why America hates to love chicken nuggets.”

September 11, 2024: David Schmid, associate professor of English and Gender Institute Affiliate, was among the experts interviewed in a roundup in Time magazine of 33 documentaries and docuseries that influenced the true crime genre.

September 8, 2024: David Schmid, associate professor of English and Gender Institute Affiliate, was quoted in a Fox News story about the recent boom in movies about older women with younger love interests.

August 28, 2024: Earth.com referenced Vincent Lynch, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, and Gender Institute Affiliate, in an article about the extinction of woolly mammoths.

August 27, 2024: The Washington Post quoted computer scientist and Gender Institute Affiliate Kenneth Joseph in an article about the media hysteria created by rumors that Beyonce was performing at the Democratic National Convention.

August 14, 2024: Michael Boucai, professor in the School of Law and Gender Institute Executive Committee member, was quoted in a USA Today fact-check article about a false claim that as Minnesota governor, Tim Walz signed a bill recognizing pedophilia as a sexual orientation.

July 24, 2024: UBNow published an article on a new UB elective called Social Work in the Black Community which provides students with an understanding of the social challenges facing the Black community and strategies to help overcome these challenges. The course is taught by Noelle M. St. Vil and Christopher St. Vil, associate professors in the School of Social Work, a husband-and-wife pair who have co-authored work on Black trauma but had never co-taught a class before. “The school is moving toward racial justice as a core component of what we want to address strategically,” Noelle explains. “Those conversations are what led to the development of this course and recognizing the need for it.” Noelle is a Gender Institute affiliate and recently became its Deputy Director. 

July 11, 2024: NPR quoted Vincent Lynch, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Gender Institute Affiliate, in an article about a recent study on woolly mammoth genome sequencing and its implications for de-extinction.

July 15, 2024: Three faculty members have been named UB Distinguished Professors. UB Distinguished Professors are members of the faculty who have been full professors for a minimum of five years with a demonstrated record of excellence in artistic or scholarly contributions. This year’s honorees include History Professor and Gender Institute Affiliate Erik Seeman.

July9,2024:  TODAY.com quoted Kari Winter, professor in the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies and former Gender Institute Director, in an article about a social media personality who has received criticism for identifying herself by her husband’s occupation.

June 24, 2024: USA Today  quoted David Herzberg, professor of history and Gender Institute affiliate, in an article about the shocking response to Justin Timberlake’s DWI arrest.

May 16, 2024: UBNow posted an article about UB Archivist and Gender Institute Affiliate Hope Dunbar in their series "Out of Office" that highlights UB faculty and staff who pursue interesting hobbies, community engagement and other endeavors outside of their day jobs. Hope has spent the past seven years perfecting her art in a basement ceramics studio at Buffalo State University. The evolution of her work is on display with her capstone project, "UNYIELDING," on view through May 21 at The Crucible Art Collective, 334 Connecticut St., Buffalo. “It’s been a real journey,” Dunbar says. “Learning what works for me and what my aesthetic is and what I like and what I don’t like. It’s taken me a while to find my style.”

May 15, 2024: UBNow reported that Gender Institute Executive Committee Member Rachel Ablow, an expert in 19th-century literature and culture with research interests in the theory of the novel and the history of medicine, has co-edited with Catherine Robson, a University of California, Berkeley, professor of English, “The Victorian Age” — one of six volumes chronicling literary eras from the Middle Ages to the 21st century that comprise the entire collection — first published by W.W. Norton in 1962 and now in its 11th edition.

May 9, 2024: USA Today quoted historian and Gender Institute Affiliate Carole Emberton in a story about how a Virginia school board will reconsider — for the second time — a previous action to remove the names of Confederate leaders from two of its schools. She states, "Despite the large public outcry against Confederate monuments in 2020, there’s still a lot of people who support the practice, or at least, don’t understand why it’s a problem," she told USA TODAY. "I see it all the time in the courses I teach, and most of my students are from NY state, so it’s not just a 'Southern thing,' either."

April 30, 2024: Megan Iantosca, associate professor of educational leadership and policy and Gender Institute Affiliate, co-authored an article for Diverse Education on the White House changing the way the U.S. will collect race and ethnicity data. The article opens with, "On March 28, the White House quietly announced that the way the U.S. will collect race and ethnicity data had changed. The changes, though announced with little fanfare, are set to impact how higher education institutions collect data on, understand, and describe the racial and ethnic makeup of their student bodies."

April 23, 2024: UBNow sat down with new faculty member and Gender Institute Affiliate Alissa Ujie Diamond, assistant professor, School of Architecture and Planning — to learn more about her research, why she chose UB and what it means to work here during this exciting time of growth. When asked what makes UB stand out in the academic community, Alissa said, "So many people are doing interdisciplinary research at UB, and plenty of internal support and structures are in place for support. The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, Humanities Institute and Gender Institute are a few of the many areas that I’m eager to engage with — both in terms of faculty and community affiliates. There are also many resources right in the School of Architecture and Planning. The Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab, Community for Global Health Equity, the IDEA Center, the Regional Institute and Rudy Bruner Center for Urban Excellence are all spaces that support research that relates to the historical and contemporary work that I’m doing." 

April12,2024: Vogue mentioned Susan Cahn, professor emerita in the departments of History and Global Gender and Sexuality Studies and Gender Institute Affiliate, in a story reporting on Nike’s revealing Olympic uniforms for female members of Team USA's track and field team. The article states that Dr. Susan K. Cahn, an expert on women in sports and a professor at the University at Buffalo, believe that sexism is inherent in athletic wear. Last year, Cahn told The New York Times that female athletes are given skimpier uniforms out of fear of “masculinizing women.” With governing bodies like the International Association of Athletics Federations placing limits on testosterone in female athletes—as was the case with South African runner Caster Semenya—there is a very real precedent.

April 15, 2024: UBNow published an article about the new Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence and Gender Institute Affiliate, Seval Yildirim. Yildirim has been advocating for diversity, equity and inclusion long before it was ever a phrase. As a lawyer, she worked pro bono on civil and human rights cases around the United States. As a law professor, she pushed for more diversity among the faculty ranks. And as a university administrator, she served as chief diversity officer. Now, Yildirim brings her experience in DEI to UB, where she started as vice provost for inclusive excellence in November, charged with removing structural barriers to access and continuing to move the university’s culture of equity and inclusion forward. “In one sense, I think UB is ahead of most other universities in that it already has an infrastructure that’s in place with unit diversity officers,” Yildirim says. “It seems everybody top down, bottom up is excited about and committed to equity and inclusion.”

April 10, 2024: Science News quoted Jessica Kruger, clinical associate professor of community health and health behavior and Gender Institute Affiliate, in an article explaining why so many teens are using an unregulated form of delta-8, a form of the substance THC. Unlike delta-9, delta-8 is found only in small amounts in cannabis plants, so it’s usually chemically synthesized from other cannabinoids like CBD. “They’re putting different chemicals in [other cannabinoids] to create [delta-8] from a naturally occurring substance,” Kruger says. “It often contains harmful additives and byproducts, much of which is unknown.”

April 10, 2024: A USA Today story about the renewed online criticism of celebrity Jojo Siwa that is leading experts to explain why we “love to hate” featured a quote from David Schmid, associate professor of English and Gender Institute Affiliate. “Social media activity is an endless repeating cycle of controversy, outrage and our sacred right to say whatever we want about whoever we want with no consequences,” says Schmid, who studies Americans’ obsession with murder and crime, told USA TODAY. “Once we've chewed (a person) up and spat them out, we'll move to someone else, and so it goes on, ad nauseam, at a pace dictated by our ever-shrinking attention span.”

April 8, 2024: Sarah Baillie, Program Director of Women In Science and Engineering (WiSE) and Gender Institute Affiliate, was quoted in a UBNow story on WiSE celebrating 10 years of supporting women in STEM. Sarah states, “WiSE provides a support network and understanding that other women are your teammates and not your competition, which helps us develop successful and resilient students and STEM professionals.”

April 2, 2024: Erin Hatton, professor of sociology, College of Arts and Sciences, and Gender Institute Affiliate, was quoted in Grist in an article about whether Big Wind, an Indigenous climate activist, should be paid for their efforts. “The parallel is absolutely apt,” said Hatton, who specializes in gender and labor markets. “Because of our capitalist system, labor outside the home has a measure of respect.”  Earthwork, Hatton says, broadens that definition of home by taking care of the Earth as one would tend to a household where everyone lives. “It’s a home more broadly constructed,” she said.

March 27, 2024: NBC News quoted Carine Mardorossian, professor of global gender and sexuality studies and Gender Institute Affiliate, in a story about the support former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell received after sharing his story of sexual abuse in the "Quiet on Set" docuseries. “In our culture, we just want people to be good or evil,” said Carine, who authored “Framing the Rape Victim: Gender and Agency Reconsidered.” She also said that in the search for the “good” or “bad” person in a nuanced scenario, oftentimes, “more harm than good” is done.

March 19, 2024: Scientific American quoted Cody Mejeur, assistant professor of media study and Gender Institute Affiliate, in an article about how many LGBTQ+ video gamers are using gaming to build community, especially in areas that are considering anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

March 15, 2024: Erin Hatton, professor of sociology, College of Arts and Sciences, and Gender Institute Affiliate, was quoted in a Business Insiderstory on Uber and Lyft threatening to leave Minneapolis if the city approves an ordinance that would boost their drivers’ pay.

March 11, 2024: Leading researchers, clinicians and policymakers from around the world will meet next month in Calgary, Alberta, for a conference devoted to recovery capital, a pioneering theory in the field of addiction recovery that was co-developed by UB faculty member and Gender Institute Affiliate Robert Granfield.

March 7, 2024: Biologist Vincent Lynch was quoted in a Business Insider story about the biotechnology firm Colossal that created elephant stem cells in an attempt to bring woolly mammoths back from extinction.

March 7, 2024: Kenneth Joseph, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Gender Institute Affiliate, was quoted in a USA Today story about the anonymous social media app Sidechat, which is wildly popular with college students. 

March 6, 2024: A  New York Times story reporting that the biotechnology firm Colossal recently created elephant stem cells in an attempt to bring woolly mammoths back from extinction quoted Vincent Lynch, associate professor of biological sciences and Gender Institute Affiliate. “The ability to study this with iPSCs is very exciting,” Dr. Lynch said. The discovery “opens a world of possibilities to study cancer resistance,” he added.

March 6, 2024: A UB symposium opened Women’s History Month with a wide-ranging exploration of topics centered on social justice and the struggle to achieve it in today’s calamitous world. Even with tough things to talk about, a gentle vibe of kindness, empathy and mutual support prevailed throughout the presentations, panel discussion and keynote address. Speakers’ remarks, as well as audience responses, were often deeply personal, containing many thought-provoking observations about what it means to be privileged or not. Speakers included Gender Institute Affiliates Anyango Kamina and Seval Yildirim. Closing remarks were given by Gender Institute Director, Victoria Wolcott. 

February 14, 2024: Artist talk. UB faculty member and Gender Institute affiliate Joan Linder, whose exhibition “Joan Linder: Belly” is on display at Rivalry Projects gallery through Feb. 23.

February 13, 2024: Assistance provided by bilingual adults in a community increases the chances of employment for immigrant men who struggle with English proficiency, but does not play a similar role for women with that same language barrier, according to a new study by Yunju Nam, associate professor in the School of Social Work, Gender Institute affiliate, and the study’s corresponding author.

January 25, 2024: Connecticut Public Radio interviewed Carrie Bramen, former director of the UB Gender Institute, affiliate, and author of “American Niceness: A Cultural History,” in a story about how we define “niceness” and “likability,” from presidential politics to popular culture.

January 24, 2024: UBNow sat down with Kyla Tompkins, professor and chair of the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, Gender Institute Affiliate and Executive Committee member, and new UB hire.  When asked about her research, she said, "Feminist studies is the place where it’s possible to discuss gender, race, sexuality, class, disabilities and other topics that impact us every day and are also at the level of local and global political patterns. In this field, you get the tools to understand and analyze how the world works at different scales, and the methodology can be applied to almost every research area."

January 23, 2024: Professor and Gender Institute Affiliate David Herzberg was quoted in UBNow in a story about UB's new MA program in Drugs, Health, and Society. “Our full-spectrum program covers the scientific and medical angles but does so in continual dialogue with social and political questions, preparing students for the widest possible range of careers helping our society navigate the boom in psychoactive products, and helping individuals with the problems that can be associated with drug use,” Herzberg adds. Students of the program will develop knowledge of the science of drugs, drug use and addiction, and will become familiar with and able to apply the main modalities of addiction treatment. They will develop critical thinking skills wrestling with the biomedical, psychological, public health and political dimensions of drug commerce, drug use and drug addiction.

January 9, 2024: UBNow published an article on the five faculty members who were awarded Gender Institute Faculty Fellowships. Recipients during the fall 2023 round of funding are Nadine Shaanta Murshid, Andrea Pitts, Michelle Sperlich, Despina Stratigakos and Gwynn Thomas. The grants range from $1,000-$5,000 and will support interdisciplinary research projects in various fields. Applications for the spring 2024 funding cycle for the Gender Institute’s Faculty Research Grants opens on March 4.

January 3, 2024: Associate Professor and Gender Institute Affiliate David Schmid was quoted in USA Today in a story about the nation’s true-crime obsession with Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who rose to social media stardom after wrapping up a prison sentence for murder for conspiring with her then-boyfriend to kill her mother. "In many ways, (Blanchard) is the perfect embodiment of the fusion of these two passions (true crime and celebrity). Combine that fact with the tabloid-like 'truth is stranger than fiction' characteristic of (Blanchard's) story, and you've got a perfect storm of factors coming together to launch both a million memes and what could be a long-standing career in the public eye."

January 2, 2024: Erin Hatton, GI Affiliate and Professor of Sociology, was featured in Marketplace, which airs on NPR affiliates, in a story about how the disappearance of temp jobs is a good thing for workers and companies. Dr. Hatton, author of the book “The Temp Economy,” said that not only are permanent workers more committed, they tend to be better trained. “Oftentimes, you’ll see temporary employees thrown into jobs,” she said. “They don’t maybe even know what they’re supposed to do until they arrive. So that doesn’t make for great outcomes for productivity.” Hatton said having workers in permanent jobs also gives them more economic stability, which makes them more comfortable spending.

December 13, 2023: Gender Institute Affiliate Jasmina Tumbas's second book project, "Queer and Feminist Yugoslav Diaspora: Art of Resistance Beyond Nationhood," has just been awarded a prestigious Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. "The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant is a highly competitive grant that has recognized the groundbreaking work of scholars I have admired for years," Tumbas says. "I am humbled to be part of such an impressive community of arts writers.

December 12, 2023: The University at Buffalo has received a $2.5 million grant from The Mellon Foundation in support of a new interdisciplinary research project that seeks to better understand and address issues faced by caregivers and those with disabilities. Communities of Care will combine the expertise of UB’s Center for Disability Studies (CDS) and the Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender (Gender Institute) to develop elements both within the university and throughout the larger community. “The key here is the power of storytelling,” says Victoria Wolcott, PhD, a co-principal investigator and UB professor of history who directs the university’s Gender Institute. “The humanities are well situated to gather and collect these important stories and create the space required to create new levels of awareness by sharing those narratives with the broader public.”

December 7, 2023: UB architect and Gender Institute Affiliate Kelly Hayes McAlonie has won the 2023 Arline Custer Memorial Award for her book documenting the life and career of Louise Blanchard Bethune, America’s first professional female architect. The award recognizing “Louise Blanchard Bethune: Every Woman Her Own Architect” (SUNY Press, 2023) was presented by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference. It recognizes the best books and articles written or compiled by individuals and institutions in the MARAC region — the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The award was presented last month at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference.

November 24, 2023: Erin Hatton, GI Affiliate and Professor of Sociology, was interviewed by NPR for a story about how ski patrollers are unionizing as housing prices continue to rise at resorts in the Mountain West. Dr. Hatton is quoted as saying, " Those workers are now saying, hang on. We're workers, and we demand more than we're getting. We deserve more than we're getting."

October 18, 2023: The Spectrum, UB's student newspaper, covered the Gender Institute's joint program with the University Archives and Jeffry Iovannone, "Leslie Feinberg's Buffalo", in an article called "Jeff Iovanonne will preserve LGBTQ+ history — no matter what cult tries to stop him."

September 15, 2023: Victoria W. Wolcott, professor of History and Gender Institute Director, is quoted in a story UB Now. “The Gender Institute draws on all of UB’s talents, and we’re interested in continuing to develop and foster those connections,” says Wolcott. “We want to find innovative ways to creatively think about LGBTQ issues, bodily integrity, reproductive rights in this post‑Dobbs moment, caregiving and wage issues that reframe feminism and discrimination — not just as social and political categories, but as an economic category as well.

October 6, 2023: Jessica Kruger, clinical associate professor of community health and health behavior, GI Affiliate, and co-investigator on a CTSI seed grant that is enabling the Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic to expand its services to include dental care, is quoted in UB Now.

September 8, 2023: A new historical marker celebrating Black suffragist Charlotte Dett was unveiled recently during a ceremony in Niagara Falls, thanks to the efforts of UB faculty member and GI Executive Council Member Lillian S. Williams, who nominated Dett for the honor. “Dett is an unknown story, like that of so many African American women, and will enhance our understanding of these reform movements,” said Williams, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Africana and American Studies. Read more in UBNow. 

September 5, 2023: Matilde Sánchez-Peña, Assistant Professor of Engineering and Gender Institute Affiliate, is principal investigator of a project that recently received a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to determine why, despite more than 20 years of investment in NSF programs seeking to promote gender equity, disparities still persist: Only about 20% of engineering students and tenure-track faculty nationwide are female. When she argues for inclusivity in engineering, Sánchez-Peña says, “We are missing a lot of really important perspectives from the engineering table. It’s not just females; it’s also people of color, first-generation college students, people with disabilities. It’s not surprising that a lot of our engineering misses the insights these people could offer.”