Bono Named Director of UB Gender Institute

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Barbara Bono, associate professor in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed director of the Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender (Gender Institute) for 2003-05.

Bono succeeds Isabel Marcus, professor of law and former chair of the Department of Women's Studies, who served as institute co-director from 1997-2001 and director from 2001-03.

As director, Bono is responsible for oversight of the Gender Institute's programs and policies, and ensuring that it is fulfilling its mission.

The institute holds forums to present research on gender, promotes gender in the curricula, provides mentoring sessions for faculty and graduate students, sponsors an annual international women's film festival and participates in Western New York community organizations concerning women, education and leadership.

A UB faculty member since 1984, Bono has been active in the Gender Institute since its inception in 1997, serving on various committees and chairing the first Gender Week at UB, held last September.

A Shakespearean scholar whose writings have addressed such issues as gender in Shakespeare, the cult of Elizabeth, women and Renaissance literature, and issues in English curricula, she has a wide range of experience in gender issues and scholarship. She presented a paper on "Collegiality and the Law," concerning the issue of gender in tenure and promotion, at the 2002 National Women's Studies Association meeting.

She is a member of the Executive Board of the Folger Institute and president of the UB chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Her awards and honors include a SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1989 and a Milton Plesur Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1993 from the UB Student Association.

Prior to joining the UB faculty, Bono was an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, a Mellon Fellow at Harvard University, and a junior fellow in the Cornell Society for the Humanities.

She is a graduate of Fordham University and holds a doctorate in English literature from Brown University. Bono is a resident of Buffalo.