University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: September 6, 2007

By PATRICIA DONOVAN
Contributing Editor

The Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender will celebrate "Gender Week 2007: Engendering Possibilities" and the 10th anniversary of the institute's founding with the presentation of a number of multidisciplinary events and speakers, Sept. 24-28.

Most notable among the speakers are Sarah Schulman, an acclaimed novelist, historian, playwright and longtime social activist, and anthropologist Sue V. Rosser, one of the most vocal proponents of women in science, mathematics, medicine and technology in the past 20 years and the first dean of an academic college at the Georgia Institute of Technology in that school's 110-year history.

Schulman will present Gender Week's keynote address, "United in Anger: A History of Act Up," at 4 p.m. Sept. 24 in 120 Clemens Hall, North Campus.

Like all Gender Week events, it will be free and open to the public.

Schulman, a professor of English at City University of New York, will address the history of the AIDS coalition and how it unleashed its power to influence political and health policy. She also will conduct a "tour" of the Act Up oral history project and show a trailer for a related feature documentary in progress.

While at UB, she also will work with students from three classes in the Department of Theatre and Dance, and will present a reading from her new novel, "The Child," at 3 p.m. Sept. 23 in Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, 341 Delaware Ave., Buffalo.

The novel, her 11th, is based on the true story of Sam Manzie, a lonely, troubled gay teenager with no natural outlet for his feelings during a critical time in his life. In the novel, as in life, the boy—"Stew"—seeking adult companionship, is exposed and disgraced when his online lovers are arrested in an Internet pedophilia sting. In the face of rejection by his dysfunctional family and community, he is accused of killing his young nephew, whom he is suspected of molesting, and is convicted of the murder.

The book, which took 16 years to be accepted by a publisher, considers many complex issues, including the marginalizing and punishing influences of a homophobic culture and religion on the boy, who is a child himself, and the impact of the murder and conviction on those involved, including the child's family, the attorney representing the boy, his family and the community.

While structured like a classic novel of legal suspense, it has been called a haunting meditation on isolation and the prejudices of culture and family.

Rosser, author of "The Science Glass Ceiling: Academic Women Scientists and Their Struggle to Succeed," will present the 2007-08 Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecture in connection with Gender Week. She will speak from 2-4 p.m. Sept. 26 in 330 Student Union, North Campus.

Sigma Xi is the international, multidisciplinary scientific research society that has an international membership of 60,000 scientists and engineers.

In 1999, Rosser, a nationally distinguished scholar with a strong foundation in the sciences and science education, was named dean of Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, the position she holds today.

She previously held posts at the University of the South, the University of Florida and the National Science Foundation, all related to scientific research on issues related to women and gender, and has written many books and journal articles on women in science, math, medicine and technology. She also has developed models for the on-campus promotion and facilitation of science, math and technology education for women in American colleges and universities.

Rosser's talk is sponsored by the Gender Institute; the dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; the vice provost for faculty affairs; the Office of Postdoctoral Scholars; the dean of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; the UB/Buffalo Public Schools Science Partnership; and the dean of the School of Public Health and Health Professions.

For the full listing of Gender Week events, click here.