NSF to fund "women-friendly" environments

UB will be a National Science Foundation site for the development of women-friendly environments for teaching and learning information technologies as the result of a $100,000 NSF grant awarded to three members of the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Grant recipients are Deborah Walters, professor of computer science and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Mary Flanagan, assistant professor of digital arts in the Department of Media Study, and Vanessa Paz Dennen, visiting assistant professor of digital arts in the Department of Media Study.

Walters co-directs the arts and technology center of the College of Arts and Sciences. She has headed a two-year UB project to design and pilot a course in information technology that will enhance teaching and learning while drastically reducing instructional costs.

Flanagan is a multimedia producer, teacher and maker of personal digital work and is producing an online educational game for girls ages 9-11, also funded by the NSF. She also has co-edited a collection of fiction and critical essays, "Reload: Rethinking Women + Cyberculture," forthcoming from MIT Press.

Dennen designs and teaches courses on Web design, online community and human-computer interface in the Department of Media Study. Her research and studies place strong emphases on computer-supported collaborative learning tools and instructional design for distance education.

Grad student to be published in journal

A research paper by Juan Dominguez, an advanced doctoral student in the Department of Psychology, will be published in the December issue of the Journal of Behavioral Neuroscience.

Jack Meacham, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor and chair of the Department of Psychology, calls this "an unusual and quite a monumental accomplishment, since the journal is known to accept only articles of superior content."

A native of the Dominican Republic, Dominguez earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from UB in 1995 before entering the graduate program in behavioral neuroscience.

His paper, "Regulation by the Medial Amygdala of Copulation and Medial Preoptic Dopamine Release," is the first publication of which Dominguez is the principle author. He previously has co-authored journal articles with Elaine Hull, professor of psychology.

Holiday Print Sale to be held tomorrow

The Holiday Print Sale Benefit will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow in the Atrium of the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

Prints by student alumni and participants in UB’s experimental Print Imaging Center (ePIC) Community Printshop will be on display for purchase. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the Printmaking Program and ePIC.

The event is sponsored by the Department of Art and the Printmaking Program.

Cash or checks will be accepted.

Theatre and Dance to present "The Visit" and "Assassins"

The UB Department of Theatre and Dance will present Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s "The Visit" in the Drama Theatre and Stephen Sondheim’s "Assassins" in the Black Box Theatre. Both productions will be performed through Sunday in the Center for the Arts on the UB North Campus.

"The Visit" is the story of a wealthy woman who returns to her debt-ridden hometown and offers to help out the people there with more money than they have ever imagined. But there is a condition: she wants the life of a villager who years ago had caused her to be expelled from the town in disgrace.

"The Visit," directed by Kazimierz Braun, will feature an all-student cast. Performance times are 8 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.

"Assassins" with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, is based on the book by John Weidman. Times and places collide on stage as assassins tackle the dark side of American politics, American culture and the American Dream.

"Assassins" will be directed by Gerald Finnegan, with choreography by Lynne Kurdziel-Formato and musical direction by Michael Hake. Performance times are 8 p.m. today and tomorrow, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 6 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets for "The Visit" are $12 general admission and $5 for students. Tickets for "Assassins" are $5. Tickets may be purchased at the Center Box Office (noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday) and all TicketMaster locations. For more information, call 645-ARTS.

Study of alcohol-abuse recovery to focus on AA, spirituality

The impact of participation in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and spirituality on recovery from alcohol abuse is the focus of a new study at the Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).

RIA Director Gerard J. Connors has received a $308,000 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to research the topic, a subject of increasing interest to clinicians and researchers over the past decade.

"Relatively little empirical attention has been placed on spirituality," said Connors. "In this study, we plan to assess the relationship between AA participation and spirituality, which we define as a sense of life purpose, serenity and religiosity."

Connors explained that participants for the research protocol will be identified at the New York State Margaret A. Stutzman Addiction Treatment Center in Buffalo. Patients who volunteer for the study will be assessed three times: as they enter the residential treatment program, at the time of discharge and at six months following treatment.

"We also will look at the role of spirituality as the force of change behind AA participation," explained Kimberly S. Walitzer, deputy director of RIA, who will serve as co-investigator with Connors on the project. "We want to look at how the development of a spiritual life influences people in their efforts to stop abusing alcohol."

Steven Schwartz, director of the Stutzman center, noted: "This research will be extremely relevant to our treatment in that we make assumptions that AA involvement improves our client outcomes. We look forward to working with RIA on this project."

Event to look at Wen Ho Lee case

A symposium examining "The Wen Ho Lee Case: National Security or Racial Profiling" will be held from 7-9:30 p.m. tomorrow in 120 Clemens Hall on the North Campus.

Lee, the former Los Alamos scientist who pleaded guilty to one count of mishandling classified information, is being investigated for alleged breach of security at the national laboratory in New Mexico.

Prior to the symposium, a legal briefing on the case will be given by Sin Yen Ling, a lawyer with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Ling will discuss "Racial Stereotyping and the Wen Ho Lee Case" from noon to 1 p.m. tomorrow in 280 Park Hall, North Campus, as part of the Asia at Noon series.

The evening’s presentation will begin with a screening of a related symposium—"Wen Ho Lee: An Examination of Race and National Security"—held recently in the China Institute in New York City. The screening will feature excerpts of talks given by Paul Moore, director of analysis, Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies; George Koo, director of the Committee of 100, a national organization of Chinese Americans; Robert Vrooman, operations manager for the Spectrum Lab at Montana State University and former chief of counterintelligence at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Brian Sun, an attorney with the firm O’Neill, Lysaght & Sun, who is representing Lee and his family.

Ling and Roger Des Forges, UB associate professor of history, will lead an open discussion following the presentation. Refreshments will be provided by the Chinese Club of Western New York. The event is co-sponsored by the Asian American Law Student Association, the Asian American Student Union, the Asian Studies Program, the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, the Chinese Club of Western New York, the Chinese Student Association and the Department of History.

Workshop to focus on family business strategies

Renowned family-business consultant Drew Mendoza, president of the Family Business Consulting Group in Chicago, will give a two-day presentation later this month on strategies for succession planning and building a stronger family business.

Organized by the Family Business Center in the School of Management, the event will be held from 2-6 p.m. Nov. 29 and from 7:30-11 a.m. Nov. 30 in the Buffalo Marriott, 1340 Millersport Highway, Amherst.

Mendoza will offer solutions for problems typically encountered by family-business owners when transferring ownership of a business to a family member. He also will discuss strategies for selecting and preparing a family member for ownership of a business.

"This highly interactive program by one of the nation’s most respected experts on succession planning will help family businesses ensure that their business remains in the family," says Marianne Sullivan, director of the Family Business Center.

Mendoza is founding director of the Loyola University Family Business Center, recognized as a leading think tank on issues unique to business-owning families. He specializes in working with adult-sibling and cousin teams of family-business owners, and has presented throughout the United States and appeared on CNN, PBS and CNBC.

Cost of the event is $99 per person and $39 for each additional person in a group. For more information or to register, call 645-3000. Mendoza’s presentation is sponsored by M&T Bank, Trust Department; Hodgson Russ Andrews Woods & Goodyear LLP, and Business First.

"Green buildings" to be topic of lecture

"Green Buildings and Beyond," a lecture on environmentally responsible "green-building design," will take place at 7 p.m. today in 147 Diefendorf Hall on the South Campus.

The lecture will be given by William Reed, a practicing architect for 20 years and one of the nation’s leading experts on green-building design. His firm, Natural Logic Inc. of Chevy Chase, Md., is dedicated exclusively to green building issues.

The lecture, which will be free of charge and open to the public, is sponsored by the American Institute of Architecture Students, Dymaxion Student Organization, the Environment and Society Institute, the department of Architecture, the Environmental Network, the Environmental Task Force, the UB Green Office and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

For further information, contact the UB Green Office at 829-3535.

Group to serenade

The Royal Serenaders Male Chorus will perform at 6 p.m. Sunday in Slee Concert Hall on the North Campus.

Organized by the four Mathis brothers in 1946, the chorus is led by founder Roy A. Mathis, choir director of Pilgrim-St. Luke United Church of Christ.

The Royal Serenaders will be joined in the concert by the Amherst Bel Canto Choir, under the director of Sue Fay Allen.

The Serenaders’ repertoire includes spirituals, gospels, anthems and tunes from Broadway musicals.

For ticket information, contact Derrick Byrd at 897-3029 or Roy Mathis at 834-6705.

Wooten to perform

Victor Wooten, the outrageous bass player for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, will perform at 8 p.m. Dec. 8 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

Wooten received his third "Bass Player of the Year" award from Bass Player Magazine in 1998—the only bassist to have received the award three times—and was named one of the "Top 10 Bass Innovators of the ‘90s" by the same publication.

Wooten won his second Grammy in 1998, and Down Beat magazine voted him "Talent Most Deserving Wider Recognition." He uses his down time from the Flecktones to tour as a solo artist.

His most recent solo release, "Yin-Yang," has met with critical acclaim, including a Grammy nomination for best contemporary jazz performance.

Tickets for Victor Wooten are $16 for the general public and $13 for UB students. They are available in the Center for the Arts box office from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and at all TicketMaster locations.

For more information, call 645-ARTS.

Controversial Holocaust author to present lecture in "University and the World" series

	Novick

Peter Novick, historian and professor emeritus of the University of Chicago, will present a lecture titled "How We Talk About the Holocaust" at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the Screening Room in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

Novick’s lecture, part of the College of Arts and Sciences’ "University and the World" year-long lecture series, will look at the way events such as the Holocaust are regarded today compared with how they were perceived at the time during which they took place.

Novick, in his controversial book "The Holocaust in American Life," argues the importance of understanding such events in their historical context and examines whether people’s preoccupation with the Holocaust is the "good thing" it often is believed to be. Also author of "The Resistance vs. Vichy: The Purge of Collaborators in Liberated France," Novick contends events such as the Holocaust should be studied not to relate lessons, but in order to appreciate their complexities and contradictions.

Novick’s lecture is sponsored by the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.

The "University and the World" series encompasses a broad perspective of violence and humanity through a wide-range of disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, history, comparative literature and law.

All lectures are free and open to the public.

The series, which runs through May, is sponsored by the dean of the UB College of Arts and Sciences, and in part by the Edmund H. Butler Chair and the Thomas B. Lockwood Chair in American History, both at UB.

Studiowerks Dance Ensemble to perform

The Department of Theatre and Dance will present Studiowerks Dance Ensemble Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 in the Black Box Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

Performance times are 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Comprised of UB students, Studiowerks Dance Ensemble is directed by William E. Thomas.

The performance will showcase 17 of the department’s multi-talented dancers in a variety of dance styles. The mixed repertory program will include music ranging from uptempo Caribbean to beautiful ballads by Dionne Ferris. The choreography will explore such themes as the joy of moving through space and the longing for love.

Tickets for Studiowerks Dance Ensemble are $5 and can be purchased in the Center for the Arts box office from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and at all TicketMaster locations.

For more information, call 645-ARTS.