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Spent fuel removed from reactor
The spent nuclear reactor fuel has been removed from UB's research reactor on the South Campus, university officials have announced.
The spent fuel has been deposited in a nuclear materials storage site in Idaho that is maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The removal of the spent fuel from the Buffalo Materials Research Center (BMRC) is an early step in the overall decommissioning process for the facility. The reactor facility ceased operation in June 1994 and university personnel had maintained the fuel in storage on-site since then.
The BMRC facility now will undergo the remaining steps in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission-required decommissioning process. Final decommissioning and release of the site is not expected to be completed for several years.
PSS to meet today
A general membership meeting of the Professional Staff Senate will be held at 3 p.m. today in the Center for Tomorrow, North Campus.
Sean Sullivan, associate vice president for planning and budget in the Office of the Provost, will speak about student enrollment and acceptance to the university.
All members of the professional staff are invited to attend. For more information, call the PSS office at 645-2003.
Disability training sessions offered
Disability Services will present on Tuesday a variety of training sessions on the rights and responsibilities of faculty and staff in dealing with students with disabilities.
The training sessions, to be held from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Center for Tomorrow, North Campus, will be presented by industry expert L. Scott Lissner, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) coordinator for The Ohio State University.
The sessions will address such topics as regulations pertaining to planned removal of architectural barriers, the need for students to have equal access to all aspects of student life and regulatory requirements for ensuring equality of academic opportunity.
All UB faculty and staff are encouraged to attend. Light refreshments will be served. To attend, please RSVP by tomorrow to stu-disability@buffalo.edu.
Dawkins to speak at UB
World-renowned evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, will deliver the keynote address at the Council for Secular Humanism's 25th Anniversary World Congress, being held Oct. 27-30 at UB and the Buffalo Niagara Marriott.
Dawkins, author of "The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution" and "The Selfish Gene," speak at 8 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.
Admission is $15 for the general public and $10 for students with ID. Tickets are available at the door.
The theme of the congress is "Toward a New Enlightenment." Presentations will focus on the need for a general cultural embrace of "enlightenment ideals," such as reason, science, secularism and freedom of inquiry.
For more information, call 636-7571, ext. 218, or visit the conference Web site at http ://www.centerforinquiry.net/events/csh-2005.html.
The Council for Secular Humanism is a non-profit educational organization promoting rational inquiry, secular values and positive human development through the advancement of secular humanism. The council publishes the bimonthly journal Free Inquiry.
Raffle planned
Operational Support Services (OSS) in CIT will hold a SEFA Prize Raffle from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 2 in the Capen Hall Lobby. Proceeds will benefit survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The raffle will feature a wide variety of items donated by area businesses and vendors.
Tickets can be purchased at a cost of $3 for 25 in the Capen Lobby during auction hours. There also will be a split club, with tickets priced at $2 for 3.
Winners will be contacted by Nov 4.
For further information, go to the OSS SEFA Web page at http://www.oss.buffalo.edu/SEFA.
Women's Club plans events
The UB Women's Club will present an International Feast at Portofino's at 6 p.m. Nov. 6 at Orazio's restaurant, 9415 Main St., Clarence.
The proceeds will benefit the Grace Capen Academic Awards and the club's International Committee.
The cost is $25 per person and reservations must be made by Oct. 29. The club also will sponsor a wine tasting at 7 p.m. Nov. 18 in the Center for Tomorrow. The cost of the event, which will feature California wines and food, is $45 per person. Proceeds also will benefit the Capen awards. Reservations must be made by Nov 10.
To make reservations for the international feast or the wine tasting, or for more information about the club and its activities, call Joan Ryan at 626-9332.
Japanese scholar to speak
Noted Japanese feminist scholar Shimizu Kiyoko will present two lectures at UB next week—one about an East Asian television heartthrob who has bridged the cultural and political gap between Korea and Japan, and the second about women's role in the latest incarnation of Japan's century-old textbook controversy.
Shimizu's visit is sponsored by the Asian Studies Program and the Department of Women's Studies, College of Arts and Sciences.
A professor of feminist studies at Ohtemon Gakuin University in Osaka, Shimizu is a scholar of Hanna Arendt and an activist on the issue of the impact of war and military bases on women's human rights.
Thomas Burkman, director of the Asian Studies Program, said Shimizu "is still remembered by many at UB for a stirring talk she presented here in 2001 during a visit hosted by Kah Kyung Cho, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Philosophy."
Shimizu will address the positive influence of popular culture on the traditionally strained relationship between Japan and Korea in a lecture titled "Understanding between Korea and Japan through Popular Culture." It will be held at 5 p.m. Monday in 280 Park Hall, North Campus.
Her focus will be the Korean serial television romantic drama "Winter Sonata," which is enormously popular not only in Korea, but in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other parts of Asia. Its male star, Bae Yong Joon, has been embraced by women from teenagers to seniors and Shimizu asks why so many Japanese women, who previously displayed little interest in Korea, have become so engrossed in the drama and have rushed to Korea to study the culture.
Shimizu will be the guest of the "Asia at Noon" lecture series and will speak on "Women and the Japanese Textbook Controversy" from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday in 280 Park.
The controversy, which involves a dispute over how historical events are presented in authorized Japanese school textbooks, has been alive in Japan since the country established its modern education system in 1890. At the core of the controversy is the question of whether the authorization of a particular textbook by the Japanese government represents its official account of the country's historical past.
In its most recent incarnation, it involves the junior-high "New History Textbook," which many claim downplays Japan's military aggression in the Sino-Japanese War, in its 1910 annexation of Korea and in World War II.