Mary Anne Rokitka, clinical associate professor of physiology and assistant dean for biomedical undergraduate education in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has been named an associate editor for Advances in Physiology Education. The peer-reviewed journal, a publication of the American Physiological Society, is dedicated to the improvement of teaching and learning physiology, and to the advancement of physiology as a teaching profession.

"Backyard Angels," a documentary on Italian life in Western New York by Christine Zinni, a lecturer in the Department of Media Study and doctoral student in American studies, was selected for screening as part of the Festival dei Popoli film festival held last month in Florence, Italy. The film, funded in part by a grant through the Niagara and New York State councils on the arts, focuses on the life of a 93-year-old Italian immigrant woman living on the "southside" of Batavia—a.k.a. Batavia's Little Italy.

Vincent O'Neill, chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, is directing the Irish Classical Theatre Company's production of "Philadelphia, Here I Come," running through Feb. 10 at the theater at 625 Main St., Buffalo. O'Neill is artistic director and co-founder of ICTC.

The Environment and Society Institute has funded two new projects under its Environmental Sciences Interdisciplinary Research Program (ESIRP) for the 2001-02 academic year. They are "New Tools for High-Speed Analysis of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Environmental Samples," Frank V. Bright, professor of chemistry, principal investigator, and "Developing Coral Growth Measurement Techniques as a Methodology for Assessing Coral Reef Health," Howard R. Lasker, professor of biological sciences, principal investigator.

"With Strings," a compilation of 69 poems in various forms and styles by Charles Bernstein, David Gray Professor of Poetry and Letters, and director of the Poetics Program in the Department of English, has been published by the University of Chicago Press. "With Strings" is a companion piece to "My Way," Bernstein's 1999 montage of essays, conversations and poems.

Lesley Weitz, a senior mechanical engineering major enrolled in the co-operative education program of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has been named a "Co-Op Student of the Year" by the New York State Co-operative and Experiential Education Association (NYSCEEA). One of just two co-op students of the year named in the state, Weitz worked at the General Motors Power Train manufacturing plant in Tonawanda, where she held positions as test engineer, process engineer and manufacturing supervisor.