News
Briefs
-
Program to honor Bruce Jackson
The life’s work and accomplishments of UB scholar Bruce Jackson will be honored during a special tribute titled “A Celebration of the Arts to Honor Bruce Jackson: Working in Time,” to be held from 1-5 p.m. Sept. 21 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.
A reception in the Center for the Arts atrium will follow from 5-6 p.m.
The event, hosted by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, is free and open to faculty, students, staff and the community.
Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of English and James Agee Professor of American Culture, is an acclaimed folklorist, ethnographer, documentary filmmaker and photographer. He has written or edited 32 books, one of which is “In This Timeless Time: Living and Dying on Death Row in America,” in collaboration with his wife, Diane Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of English.
Christian will moderate the tribute, which will feature images from Jackson’s forthcoming book, “Inside the Wire: Photographs from Texas and Arkansas Prisons,” accompanied by a soundtrack recorded in 1964 and 1966 for “Wake UP Dead Man,” Jackson’s Grammy-nominated CD.
The celebration also will feature the world premiere of “A Garland for Bruce” by David Felder, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Birge-Cary Chair in Composition, Department of Music, with a cello performance by Jonathan Golove, associate professor of music performance.
Jackson’s long-time friend, renowned documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, will deliver a brief introduction to the screening of his film “Crazy Horse” (2011).
This will be followed by an open discussion with Felder, Jackson and Wiseman.
-
Thornton to open Scholars @ Hallwalls
The Humanities Institute will kick off its 2012-13 Scholars at Hallwalls series on Sept. 21 with a presentation by Tamara Thornton, professor of history, titled “Nathanial Bowditch and the Science of Business in Nineteenth Century America.”
The talk, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 4 p.m. in Hallwalls Center for Contemporary Arts, 341 Delaware Ave.
Complementary wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Bowditch was an early American mathematician, astronomer and scientific navigator still recognized for his work on ocean navigation. He also was a corporate CEO in the emerging financial industry, and “his life illuminates the formative—and often controversial—influence of both scientific theories and scientific practices on American capitalism,” Thornton says.
Her research publication and teaching focus on the cultural history of the United States between the Revolution and the Civil War. She is the author of “Cultivating Gentlemen: The Meaning of Country Life among the Boston Elite, 1785-1860” (Yale University Press, 1989) and “Handwriting in America: A Cultural History” (Yale University Press, 1996).
The Scholars @ Hallwalls series turns Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center into an intellectual salon, with thought-provoking lectures given by the Humanities Institute’s Faculty Fellows. The Fellows present their cutting-edge humanities research in terms accessible to those in other disciplines and outside academia.
All lectures are free and open to the public.
-
Physicist wins prestigious Serbian award
Dejan Stojkovic, associate professor of physics, has received the Marko Jaric Award, recognized as one of the most prestigious scientific prizes granted to researchers of Serbian origin.
The award is presented annually in memory of Marko Jaric, a renowned Serbian physicist who worked and lived in the United States. Following his death in 1997, his family and institutions—including the University of Belgrade, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Serbian Unity Congress—helped establish the prize.
Stojkovic, a theoretical physicist, received the award earlier this year from the Serbian minister of science at a ceremony at the Rectorat of the University of Belgrade.
As part of the event, Stojkovic explained his research to an audience that included renowned scientists, educators, politicians and journalists. He also delivered several scientific and popular talks at major universities in the region during his visit to Serbia.
Stojkovic joined UB in 2007 after serving as a visiting faculty member at Case Western Reserve University. He earned his PhD there in 2001 and also holds an MS and BS in physics from the University of Belgrade.
His research interests include cosmology, general relativity, particle physics, field theory, extra dimensions, brane-world models and phenomenology beyond the Standard Model. In selecting him to receive the Marko Jaric Award, the committee cited Stojkovic’s work on higher dimensional black holes.
-
Memorial lecture set
Maureen G. Phipps, interim chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Alpert Medical School of Brown University, will deliver the Dr. Julie Baker Lecture at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 28 in 144 Farber Hall, South Campus.
Phipps will discuss “Adolescent Pregnancy: Policy, Data and Research.”
The lecture is presented by the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Health Professions. It is in memory of Julie Baker, who was an outstanding student in medicine and epidemiology at UB.
A reception will precede the lecture at noon.
-
Affordable insurance for firms with UB ties
UB is partnering with the SUNY Research Foundation to offer a key benefit to startup companies with UB ties: affordable insurance.
Through the SUNY-INC Insure Insurance Program (SUNY-INC Insure), a new SUNY-wide program, certain UB-linked businesses will be able to buy discounted liability and workers compensation insurance from the insurer Amsure.
Qualifying companies include those located in the UB Technology Incubator in Amherst or the UB Biosciences Incubator in downtown Buffalo; spinoffs formed to commercialize UB technology; and startups participating in a UB commercialization program, such as the UB Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology’s funding program.
Companies are eligible for the program for the first three years after formation.
“Small companies often have a limited budget for a large number of expenses, from patent costs to costs associated with research and development,” says Robert Genco, the vice provost who heads UB’s Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR). “The ability to purchase affordable insurance through SUNY-INC Insure will help new companies get off the ground.”
SUNY-INC Insure will make it more attractive for new businesses to partner with SUNY campuses, adds Jeffrey Dunbar, director of STOR.
Dunbar worked with the SUNY Research Foundation to develop the program and explained that insurance is critical for startups hoping to grow and expand. He pointed out, for instance, that it’s difficult for companies to establish a board of directors without adequate directors and officers insurance.
SUNY-INC Insure includes options for purchasing general liability, product liability, directors and officers’ liability, and statutory workers compensation insurance.
Reader Comments