This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

Briefs

Published: February 23, 2012

  • Music department offers free concerts

    The free Brown Bag Concert continues at 12:05 p.m. March 6 on the stage of Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall (including the seated audience). Bring your lunch and enjoy complimentary Tim Horton's coffee! A pair of complimentary tickets is made available to each attendee for a more formal concert within the following month.

    The following ensemble performances and student recitals in March are also free of charge:

    March 1: Students of Jean Kopperud will present “Class Recital: On the Edge” at 3 p.m. in Baird Recital Hall.

    March 4: C.W. Dunbar, percussion, gives his MM degree recital at 3 p.m. in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall.

    March 7: The UB Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Bassin, conductor, performs at 7:30 p.m. in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall.

    March 20: Computer music is featured in a concert at 7:30 p.m. at the Center for the Arts Black Box Theatre.

    March 22: Molly Shambo, flute, gives her MusB recital at 7:30 p.m. in Baird Recital Hall.

    March 27: Jamie Swieringa, flute, gives a junior recital at 7:30 p.m. in Baird Recital Hall.

    March 31: Jacqueline Potts, cello, gives her MusB recital at 7:30 p.m., also in Baird Recital Hall.

  • MBAs take GM's newest cars for spin

    Alternative fuels—battery, diesel, electric and fuel cell—will be in the spotlight when MBAs test-drive GM's newest cars from 9 a.m. to noon on Feb. 24 at UB's Center for Tomorrow.

    The School of Management and representatives from GM are partnering in a semester-long project that enables MBAs enrolled in the school’s marketing management course to apply their skills to a real-world business scenario—developing a marketing strategy for the U.S. commercial launch of GM’s new hydrogen fuel cell car, which is scheduled for mass production in 2015.

    The test drives will include a range of vehicles, including alternative-fuel versions of the Buick Regal, Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Equinox, Volt, Sonic and Cruze.

    “This is a great opportunity for our students to see what is offered on existing models and how GM is changing,” says Arun Jain, Samuel P. Capen Professor of Marketing Research.

    In addition to the test drives and presentations by GM executives, the MBAs will visit advertising agencies and other successful local companies to learn more about branding, marketing and communication strategies for launching new products.

    “It’s much more meaningful for students to learn marketing concepts using real-world examples, especially when those examples are interesting and provocative,” Jain says. “Past projects have demonstrated that the companies we partner with come away with a few ideas, as well.”

    The UB School of Management is recognized for its emphasis on real-world learning, community and economic impact, and the global perspective of its faculty, students and alumni. The school has been ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek, the Financial Times, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report and The Wall Street Journal for the quality of its programs and the return on investment it provides its graduates.

    For more information about the UB School of Management, visit its website.

  • Architect's work featured at International Garden Festival

    “Buoyant,” a garden installation designed by Laura Garófalo, assistant professor of architecture in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, has been selected by an international jury to be featured at the 13th International Garden Festival of Les Jardin de Métis (also known as Redford Gardens), in Quebec, Canada, June 23 to Sept. 30.

    Her design features hydrogen-filled balloons that support a trellis that ebbs and flows with the wind, fluctuations in temperature and the slow leakage of the balloons. Vines emanate from “maintenance bundles” at the base of the suspended trellis and highlight how nature depends on the stewardship of the community that nurtures it.

    The International Garden Festival, one of the most important events of its kind in North America, is presented by the Foundation of the Jardins de Métis. It offers a unique forum for innovation and experimentation and serves as a showcase and launching pad for participating designers from a host of disciplines.

    A previous Garófalo project, “A Garden of Shared Resources,” produced in 2007 for the juried Ephemeral Gardens competition presented by the society for the 400th anniversary of Quebec, was recently featured in the new book “Vegetecture,” edited by Maurizio Corrado. UB alumni Ashley Latona and Rafal Godelewski collaborated with her on this project. “Vegetecture,” one of the latest tendencies in modern architecture, focuses on the idea of the city-forest.

    In addition, Garófalo and her collaborator David Hill, assistant professor of architecture at North Carolina State University, have received a Special Prize for their entry in the 46th Central Glass International Architectural Design Competition. Another of their collaborative projects, the water and air channeling device, “Flow Wall Pavilion,” was exhibited this fall at the Erie Canal Harbor Central Wharf in connection with the UB Humanities Institute’s year-long “Fluid Culture” series of lecture, arts and media events focused on water resources.

    Garófalo’s work also will be featured in the Oct. 15-19 “Engendering Gardens” program now in development by the UB Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender.