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DeVeaux to deliver gender lecture today
Alexis DeVeaux, associate professor in the Department of Women's Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, will deliver the 2006 Distinguished Faculty Lecture of the Institute for Research & Education on Women and Gender at 5 p.m. today in the Screening Room in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.
DeVeaux will speak on "Geographies of Difference: 'Race, Language and Imagination."
The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.
The Gender Institute's annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture offers work by outstanding UB scholars at the University at Buffalo that encourages new thinking about research on gender.
UB to open North Campus health office
UB this fall will open a satellite office for Health Services in 123 Richmond Quad, Ellicott Complex, to serve the health needs of students on the North Campus.
The full scope of medical and health-care services will continue to be available to all UB students at the university's main health facility in Michael Hall on the South Campus.
The North Campus Health Services satellite will fill space currently occupied by the Ellicott area office of University Residence Halls and Apartments. Construction is slated to begin in late May. The Ellicott area office will be relocated to two sites—241 Richmond and 262 Red Jacket—to better serve the residents of Ellicott South and Ellicott East.
The satellite office will offer limited, same-day, urgent evaluation and treatment by medical professionals from Health Services' staff of doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and nurses. The anticipated hours of operation will be 9 a.m. to 3 pm Monday through Friday during the academic year.
"Making health care accessible to students has been a goal of the Student Wellness Team (Health, Counseling, and Wellness Education Services) for quite some time, and we're making good progress," said Frank P. Carnevale, director of health services. "Counseling appointments are available on the North and South campuses, and Wellness Education Services has moved to the first floor of the Student Union. Now medical urgent care will be available on North Campus, just a few steps from our Counseling Services office. We think these efforts build a climate of health and wellness at UB," Carnevale said.
RIA to hold alcohol screening day
For the sixth year, UB's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) will participate in National Alcohol Screening Day, designed to help each of us know "how much is too much."
The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 6 in the Clinical Research Center on the first floor of RIA, 1021 Main St., Buffalo.
National Alcohol Screening Day is designed to raise awareness of alcohol and health, help individuals evaluate their alcohol use and provide referrals to local treatment and support resources for those who need further evaluation.
As part of the program, participants will complete a brief written screening tool assessing their alcohol use and have the opportunity to talk privately with a health professional to discuss the next steps. The program is free and confidential.
For more information, call 887-2387 or visit www. NationalAlcoholScreeningDay.org.
Motivating students topic of broadcast
"Motivating Students from Day One to Graduation," a live satellite broadcast presented by the Center for Teaching and Learning Resources (CTLR), will be held from 2:30-3 p.m. April 6 in B15 Abbott Hall, South Campus.
The session will be conducted by Don Fraser, professor of sport management at Durham College, Ontario, and one of North America's leading authorities on student success and motivation.
The program is free of charge and open to all UB faculty members, but registration is required. To register, visit the CTLR Web site at http://www.buffalo.edu/ctlr, or contact Lisa Francescone at lcf@buffalo.edu.
Craft center sets spring workshops
The Creative Craft Center, located in 102 Harriman Hall, South Campus, will offer spring workshops, beginning the week of March 27.
Workshops are scheduled in knitting and crocheting, beginning rug hooking, beginning watercolor, embroidery around the world, beginning and advanced stained glass, jewelry casting, beginning polymer clay, basic photography, black and white darkroom, springtime photography, architectural photography, flash photography and multimedia for children (ages 7-10).
Workshops will run from 7-10 p.m. one night a week for six weeks. Fees are $40 for UB students and $70 for others. Multimedia for children ($65) will be held on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. The fee covers six weeks of classes.
For more information, a schedule and a map, call 829-3536 from 1-5 p.m. Monday-Friday or 7-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Early sign-up is advised.
PSS to meet today
The Professional Staff Senate will hold a general membership meeting at 3 p.m. today in the Center for Tomorrow, North Campus.
The guest speaker will be Marsha Henderson, vice president for external affairs.
The meeting is open to all members of the professional staff.
For more information, call the PSS office at 645-2003.
Death-row clemency to be discussed
Lawyers involved in four highly publicized death-row cases, including the clemency plea of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, will participate in a panel discussion on "Executive Clemency in Capital Cases," organized by the Capital Advocacy Project in the UB Law School.
To be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday in 106 O'Brian Hall, North Campus, the discussion is free and open to the public. To resister, send an email to ublaw.cap@gmail.com.
Panelists will include:
Defense attorney Jonathan Harris, who represented death-row inmate Stanley "Tookie" Williams in California. Williams, the former Crips gang leader, was denied clemency and executed in 2005, despite pleas from supporters who said he presented a compelling portrait of redemption and rehabilitation.
Defense attorney Sarah Nagy, who in 2005 won clemency for Arthur Baird, a mentally ill death-row inmate in Indiana. Baird was granted clemency just 36 hours before his scheduled execution.
Cornell University Associate Law Professor John Blume, who recently argued a case before the Supreme Court involving South Carolina death-row inmate Bobby Lee Holmes. In his criminal trial, Holmes was prevented from presenting evidence that a third-party committed the crime for which he was convicted, although forensic evidence implicated Holmes.
Connecticut attorney Harry Weller, who prosecuted confessed serial killer Michael Ross. Ross was executed in 2005 after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected last-minute appeals from his relatives.
Teresa Miller, UB professor of law, will moderate the discussion.
The panel discussion is intended to raise awareness about various defects in the capital punishment system, according to third-year UB law student Jenny Mills, founder and co-president of the Capital Advocacy Project.
"Clemency rarely is ever granted, even in cases where there is a clear argument for clemency," says Mills, who last summer worked with death row inmates in Kentucky and created clemency materials for one inmate nearing his execution date.
"Because of the way the justice system is structured, inmates traditionally are barred from raising various claims during their appeals and post-conviction proceedings," she adds. "The clemency process is thus the only time they can raise certain issues, but it would appear that most clemency petitions are dismissed out of hand."
DynaVox supports clinic
Giving so that others can communicate, DynaVox Technologies has donated equipment and systems valued at nearly $116,000 to the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences.
The hardware and software will support UB's Center for Excellence in Augmented Communication (CEAC) in the areas of clinical practice, teaching and professional training, says Jeffery Higginbotham, center director and associate professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences.
"Without this gift from DynaVox, we would not be able to serve nearly as many clients as we do, nor offer as complete an educational opportunity," Higginbotham said. "Now we can provide hands-on, high-quality training for our graduate students, who will become the profession's leading practitioners."
The center trains speech-language pathologists, and each year serves many Western New Yorkers with a variety of complex communication needs due to laryngectomy, Asperger's syndrome, autism, traumatic brain injury, stroke, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
In addition to training students and serving individual clients, CEAC conducts research, hosts support groups, provides workshops for professionals and consults with area agencies.
"It's very exciting for us to share our technology with UB," said Joe Swenson, president and CEO of DynaVox Technologies. "Professor Higginbotham is a leading researcher and clinician in the field and his work not only benefits those in need, but it also advances the profession and provides companies like ours with feedback that leads to ever greater innovations."
Based in Pittsburgh, DynaVox Technologies is a privately held company that develops software and hardware technology to improve the quality of life for the nearly 4 million children and adults in the U.S. with severe speech disabilities.
Earth Day abstracts sought
Undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and other interested researchers are invited to submit abstracts for exhibits or poster presentations on any topic in environmental science, engineering or policy for the Earth Day Colloquium, to be held from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. April 21 in the Student Union, North Campus.
The theme of this year's colloquium, sponsored by the Great Lakes Program and the Environment and Society Institute, is Great Lakes issues, management, scientific problems and future directions.
Among the highlights of the colloquium will be the student poster competition and two panel discussions, "The Great Lakes Today" and "The Great Lakes Tomorrow," featuring prominent speakers in the Great Lakes community from academia, government agencies and citizen groups.
The deadline for submission of abstracts is April 7. For more details, call the Great Lakes Program at 645-2088 or go to http://www.eng.buffalo. edu/glp/.
Guitarist Satriani to perform in CFA
Master guitarist Joe Satriani, with special guest Eric Johnson, will perform at 8 p.m. April 10 in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.
Satriani has had a dream career that has ranged from building a reputation as the teacher that the greatest guitarists sought out for lessons (including Steve Vai, Charlie Hunter and Metallica's Kirk Hammett, among many others) to exploding all over the map with more than 10 million sales of 11 solo albums (two platinum, four gold), 13 Grammy nominations, 3 platinum DVDs, the historic G3 guitar summits and tours/sessions with everyone from Mick Jagger to Deep Purple to Spinal Tap.
This tour is in support of his latest release, "Super Colossal."
"People who picked up on my records early on knew that I couldn't be easily pigeonholed," Satriani says. "I was never a metal player or a fusion player or a straight-ahead rock player, though these are all elements of my personality. I think I just go further into each of those places now, especially on 'Super Colossal.' To me, there's more variety here than on any other album I've done."
Very few musical artists achieve a true signature style—one that makes comparisons to other musicians impossible. But Texas guitarist Eric Johnson arguably comes as close to this echelon as any musician from the past quarter-century. Johnson blends the rock style of Jimi Hendrix and the blues power of Albert King. Yet his wide array of additional influences—from the Beatles and Jeff Beck, to jazz and Chet Atkins—make for a guitar sound as unique as his fingerprints.
Tickets for Joe Satriani with special guest Eric Johnson are $45 and $35, and $30 for students, and are available at the CFA box office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at all Ticketmaster locations, including ticketmaster.com. For more information, call 645-ARTS.