Adventures of the Mind -- UB Weekend Seminars This Summer to Look at Frank Lloyd Wright, UB and Its History

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) will offer a series of discrete weekend seminars this summer featuring lectures and informal discussions on the Western New York works of Frank Lloyd Wright, the history of UB and highlights of the academic history of the CAS.

The series, "CAS Encounters -- Adventures in Ideas" will begin June 25 on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings in the spacious Screening Room (Room 112) in the UB Center for the Arts on the North (Amherst) Campus, unless otherwise indicated. Friday sessions will run from 6-9 p.m.; Saturday sessions, which will begin at 9 a.m., will vary in length, depending on the program.

While lectures form the basis of the seminars, lively conversation is expected and -- depending on the topic -- seminars may include site tours, theatrical presentations and concerts. Registration cost and faculty varies with each seminar, but registration includes a buffet reception on Friday evening and coffee and pastries on Saturday mornings.

Interested parties can register for "CAS Encounters -- Adventures in Ideas" at 645-2711 or at . Parking will be free for participants. Teachers attending any two CAS Encounters seminars will be eligible for credit for one continuing education unit.

The seminars will be held as part of "UB This Summer," an initiative intended to make the campus more approachable for the general public and to give people who might not normally come on campus the opportunity to visit UB. It gathers under one "umbrella" many activities that have been on campus for years, as well some new programs organized specifically for "UB This Summer."

"The Legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright in Western New York" will take place June 25-26. Registration is $40.

It will explore Wright's Western New York legacy through and examination of the estates he designed for Darwin and Isabel Martin. Exclusive behind-the-scenes tours of the ongoing restoration of the Martin House on Jewett Parkway in Buffalo and the Graycliff Estate in Derby are scheduled. Onsite presentations will look at the buildings themselves, Wright's career and his personal relationship with the Martins.

Also included in this seminar is an investigation of two new constructions -- the visitors' center designed for the Martin House Complex by noted architect Toshiko Mori and the replica of a gas station designed by Wright that is nearing completion on the grounds of the Buffalo Transportation/Pierce-Arrow Museum.

Seminar topics and speakers will be "Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House: Architecture as Portraiture," by noted Wright scholar John F. Quinan, Ph.D., professor of art history at UB and curator of the Darwin D. Martin House, and "Graycliff: A Screen in Nature," by architect Patrick J. Mahoney of Lauer-Manguso and Associates and vice president of the Graycliff Conservancy.

"Buffalo and its University: Chronology, Community and Controversy" will take place in two parts -- July 9-10 and July 16-17. The registration fee of $40 will cover both sessions.

Part I, July 9-10, will look at the early and deeply interrelated history of the City of Buffalo, incorporated in 1822, and the University at Buffalo, founded in 1846 as a private medical college.

Presentations will include "Buffalo Develops and So Does its University," by Kerry S. Grant, vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the Graduate School at UB;" The North Campus: A Study in University Physical Planning & Development," by William R. Greiner, president emeritus and professor of law and jurisprudence at UB; the film "Corridor" (1995) by Pierre McAloon, former UB media study student; and "UB: Facts and Fantasy," by Shonnie Finnegan, university archivist emerita.

Part II, July 16-17, will look at how changes in the fields of arts, sciences and humanities have been articulated at UB.

Arts consultant Rene Levine, former co-director of UB's former Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, will present a talk, "Can This Be Buffalo?: A Chronicle of New Music and the UB Creative Associates," both of which have a long and important history at UB.

"UB English, Then, Now and Next," a discussion of the influential and prestigious UB English Department and its celebrated faculty, will be presented by Robert Daly, Ph.D., SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of English.

"An Abbreviated History of Physics at UB: from Carbon to Quantum Computing" will be offered by Bruce McCombe, Ph.D., SUNY Distinguished Professor in the UB Department of Physics and director of the UB Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials.

Finally, the social sciences at UB will be covered by Wolfgang Wolck, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor emeritus in the Department of Linguistics, who will discuss the history of language sciences at UB, a field that embraces linguistics, Romance languages, cognitive sciences, critical languages and variety of Asian language programs.

Additional assistance for this program series was provided by the Office of the Provost, the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, the UB Music Library, the Center for the Arts and WBFO FM 88.7, UB's National Public Radio affiliate.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. UB's more than 27,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs.