University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Cultures and Texts

Supporting Foci of Excellence

• Humanities Center
• The Institute for Jewish Thought

The humanities represent a critical dimension of a liberal arts education and proudly, UB has an established record of excellence in this area. The University at Buffalo has a distinguished faculty as well as unique programs and collections, which include the Poetics Program, the Electronic Poetry Center, and the Poetry and Rare Books Collection. Impressively, the Poetry and Rare Books Collection houses the largest James Joyce writing collection in the world.

The proposed humanities center would enhance the vitality and visibility of humanities research and education at UB. The center would also serve to enrich art, music, and cultural assets in the region. The plan to attract visiting scholars in the humanities, create an interdisciplinary humanities seminar, and to develop and distribute a coordinated humanities calendar of events would enrich the intellectual and social fabric of the university and the region.

Committee Leadership

Coordinating Committee:

• Bruce McCombe (Coordinating Dean)
  Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
• Mary Gresham
  Dean, Graduate School of Education
• Makau Mutua
  Dean, Law School

Faculty Advisory Committee:

• James J. Bono (Chair)
  Associate Professor and Chair, Department of History
  (also, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences)
• Rachel E. Ablow
  Associate Professor, Department of English
• Peter Biehl
  Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
• Janina Brutt-Griffler
  Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education, Department of Polish Studies;
  Director, Polish Studies
• Richard Cohen
  Professor, Department of Philosophy,
  and Director, Institute of Jewish Thought and Heritage
• Robert J. Daly
  SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of English
• John R. Dugan
  Associate Professor, Department of Classics
• Jean-Pierre Koenig
  Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics
• Amy C. Graves Munroe
  Assistant Professor, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures