Social Sciences

Edward Steinfeld, Kenneth MacKay, Lynda Schneekloth and Robert Shibley, all faculty members in the Department of Architecture in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, have been recognized for the quality of their work.

Shamanism, humankind's oldest spiritual and healing tradition, is in many cultures dominated by men, and Western skeptics often debunk its effectiveness. In a groundbreaking new book published this month by Random House, however, Barbara Tedlock of the University at Buffalo challenges the historical hegemony of the male shamanic tradition, restores women to their essential place in the history of spirituality and celebrates their continuing role in the worldwide resurgence of shamanism.

A $30,000 gift from Christopher Michael Martell and his wife, Sally, will support a program that will bring architects of international significance to the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning to work with graduate students and give a school-wide public lecture.

Persons with chronic temporomandibular disorders, or TMD, are five times more likely to be taking antidepressants than persons who go to the dentist for routine dental care, a researcher at the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine reports.

The project called for the design of a 24,000 square-foot day-care center for patients with Alzheimer's disease and a 120-unit housing complex for the frail elderly. Architect Kenneth MacKay coupled his knowledge of the psychological, aesthetic and emotional effects of natural light with the special requirements of facilities that serve the elderly, their hands-on staff and the clients they serve. The result is the Total Aging in Place Project (TAIPP) for the Weinberg Campus.

The Cutting Edge Lecture Series, a series of free Saturday-morning seminars in which top University at Buffalo scholars in the arts and sciences give presentations aimed at increasing public awareness of rapidly advancing fields, will open its 2005 edition on March 5 with a lecture on the Human Genome Project by an internationally known UB philosopher.

The events and ideas that led Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation are the focus of a national traveling exhibition, "Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation," on display through April 15 in the Reference Room of the Undergraduate Library in Capen Hall on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus.

A virtual-reality drama by University at Buffalo researchers -- aimed at transforming the movie-going experience -- is driving the development of increasingly "self-aware" computational agents that are able to improvise responses to the spontaneous actions of human users.

The School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo will continue its Spring 2005 Lecture Series with talks by downtown redevelopment expert Lynn Salagyn and, on March 30, by Peter Dreier, a nationally recognized figure in the field of urban and community planning who is the school's 2005 Clarkson Chair in Planning.

The University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning will host a slide lecture by Einar Jarmund, founder and principle of one of Norway's finest architectural firms, Jarmund/Vigsnaes Architects, who will present a slide lecture on Feb. 16 as part of the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning's 2004-05 lecture series.