News and Notes

On the New and Noteworthy page you will find a listing of news, stories, and updates about the Baldy Center's activities, initiatives and accomplishments.

On this page you will find links to news, stories, updates about The Baldy Center's activities, initiatives, legacy conferences, and other accomplishments of UB faculty, staff, and students.

Spotlight

A full slate of ideas at The Baldy Center
9/16/25
LAW LINKS features The Baldy Center — the School of Law’s laboratory for the interdisciplinary study of law — a place where University at Buffalo scholars can rub elbows with some of the most innovative thinkers in law and society. They bring expertise across the social science disciplines to bear on difficult issues like immigration, prison policies, social movements and inequality. Read the feature story in LAW LINKS
2024-2025 Grant Recipients
5/8/25
The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025-2026 grants for conferences and research projects. We support academic work that advances our understanding of law, legal institutions, and social policy. The 2025-2026 grants will enable six conferences, eight faculty research projects, and three graduate student research projects. See the grant recipient listing here.
Giammatteo and Eisler win AALS Section Awards
1/14/25
Congratulations to Jacob Eisler (2024 Baldy Center Mid-Career Fellow) and John Harland Giammatteo (School of Law) who each won AALS Section Awards by School for excellence in legal education. Florida State University College of Law recognized Eisler, author of “The Law of Freedom: The Supreme Court and Democracy” (Cambridge University Press, 2023)in the Section in Election Law. The University at Buffalo School of Law recognized Giammatteo in two areas, the Section on Federal Courts, and, the Section on Civil Procedure.
Irus Braverman (Law) joins The Baldy Center Advisory Council
8/30/24
We welcome Irus Braverman (Law) to The Baldy Center Advisory Council, 2023. This seven member council is appointed by the UB Provost and is comprised of an interdisciplinary balance of School of Law and College of Arts and Science faculty. Council members work with The Center director to develop vision, mission, and operational guidelines. Learn more about the Advisory Council.
The Baldy Center Directors
7/8/24
Please join us in congratulating Samantha Barbas on her new faculty position at the University of Iowa School of Law. As Samantha moves on, we welcome Matthew Dimick, Professor in the School of Law, as The Baldy Center’s new director.

Co-Sponsored Speaker, April 1, 2025
9/16/25
April 1, 2025: Join us for the presentation, "Global Governance and Educational Change: A Look Towards the Future", by Karen Mundy (University of Toronto). This talk will focus on understanding how larger global challenges and the practices of international actors shape educational change.
Co-Sponsored Workshop
9/16/25
January 30, 2025: Join us for a workshop on the book, Higher Expectations: Surviving and Transforming Academia, based on a new book by Roberta Hawkins and Leslie Kern. The afternoon event starts at noon and features a book talk, Q&A, roundtable discussion, and brainstorming sessions with participants, faculty, staff and students.

Multimedia

The Baldy Center Blog

2025-26 Blog Posts
12/4/25
The Baldy Center Blog features interdisciplinary perspectives on research, current events, and our distinguished speaker’s presentations and research projects from UB scholars and others whose work intersects with law, legal institutions, and social policy. On this page you will find blog posts for AY 2025-2026.
2024-25 Blog Posts
5/13/25
The Baldy Center Blog features interdisciplinary perspectives on research and current events from UB scholars and others whose work intersects with law, legal institutions, and social policy. On this page you will find blog posts for season AY 2024-2025.
2023-24 Blog Posts
11/6/23
The Baldy Center Blog features interdisciplinary perspectives on research and current events from UB scholars whose work intersects with law, legal institutions, and social policy.
2022-23 Blog Posts
10/4/22
The Baldy Center Blog features interdisciplinary perspectives on research and current events from UB scholars and others whose work intersects with law, legal institutions, and social policy.
2021-22 Blog Posts
8/31/21
The Baldy Center Blog features interdisciplinary perspectives on research and current events from UB scholars whose work intersects with law, legal institutions, and social policy. New blogs are generally released twice a month during each semester.
2020-21 Blog Posts
8/31/20
The Baldy Center Blog features interdisciplinary perspectives on research and current events from interdisciplinary UB scholars whose work intersects with law, legal institutions, and social policy. New blogs are generally released twice a month during each semester.

The Baldy Center Podcast

Fall 2025 Podcast
12/4/25
2024-2025 Podcast Episodes
9/12/25
The Baldy Center Podcast highlights UB faculty research and perspectives on current issues and events. We focus on UB's interdisciplinary scholars of law, legal institutions, and social policy.
2023-2024 Podcast Episodes
11/14/24
The 2023-2024 edition of The Baldy Center Podcast features episodes with interdisciplinary scholars of law, legal institutions, and social policy. Guests include: Theophilus Edwin Coleman; Melissa Crouch; Helen “Nellie” Drew; Greta LaFleur; Rebecca R. French and Mark A. Nathan; Paul Linden-Retek; Athena Mutua; Kate Nelischer; and Mihreteab Taye.
2022-2023 Podcast Episodes
11/14/24
The 2022-2023 edition of The Baldy Center Podcast features episodes with interdisciplinary scholars of law, legal institutions, and social policy. Guests include: Shaun Marq Anderson, Samantha Barbas, Claire Cameron, Jorge M. Farinacci-Fernós, and Judith Olin.
2021-2022 Podcast Episodes
7/28/20
The 2021-2022 edition of The Baldy Center Podcast features episodes with interdisciplinary scholars of law, legal institutions, and social policy. Guests include: Samantha Barbas; Anya Bernstein; Helen Drew; Jordan Fox Besek; Matthew Dimick, Daniel Brantes Ferreira; Devonya Havis; David Herzberg; Rachael K. Hinkle; John Schlegel, Victoria Wolcott; and Seth Parker Woods.
2020-2021 Podcast Episodes
7/28/20
The Fall 2020 episodes of The Baldy Center Podcast offer insight from Mark Bartholomew (UB Law), Irus Braverman (UB Law), Amanda Hughett (former Baldy Center Fellow), David Herzberg (UB History), Jennifer Gaynor (Baldy Center) and others. The Spring 2021 episodes include faculty discussing research about: Nurse-Initiated Protocols in Emergency Departments; Tacit Racism; Urban Renewal and School Reform; Harm Reduction; Law, Class and Racial Capitalism on ClassCrits, the opiod crisis; and, the Alison Des Forges International Symposium, among other topics.

The Baldy Center Magazine

Spring 2021 Magazine
8/8/23
Welcome to the Spring 2021 edition of The Baldy Center Magazine. The past academic year has been a challenging time for all of us, as we’ve adapted to virtual research, online engagement, and socially distanced lives.
Spring 2022 Magazine
8/8/23
The Baldy Center magazine highlights recent University at Buffalo research focusing on law and social policy themes. Global research has flourished this semester with the return of faculty and students to campus, and pandemic-delayed research programs reactivated with immense productivity here in The Baldy Center.
Fall 2021 Magazine
8/8/23
Welcome to the Fall 2021 edition of The Baldy Center Magazine. As we begin the third academic year impacted by the pandemic, we in The Baldy Center are witnessing extraordinary resilience from the scholars linked to our center, who continue to advance their research focusing on critical problems in law and society.
Podcast
7/28/20
The Baldy Center Podcast highlights UB faculty research and perspectives on current issues and events. We focus on UB's interdisciplinary scholars of law, legal institutions, and social policy. This page contains the listing for each podcast episode, published since Fall 2020.

Legacy Conferences

Leading the Way: Moving New York State Towards a Public Health & Safety Approach to Drug Policy,
5/31/24
In 2013, to mark the 40th Anniversary of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, The Baldy Center and the Drug Policy Alliance hosted a two-day conference, Leading the Way: Moving New York State Towards a Public Health & Safety Approach to Drug Policy.
Thinking beyond the Nation-state: Empires, Diasporas, Indigeneity
5/11/22
In Fall 2009, The Baldy Center sponsored the day-long conference, Thinking Beyond the Nation-State: A Symposium on Empires, Diasporas, and Indigeneity. The event was organized by faculty in the UB American Studies Program, with Theresa Runstedtler, PhD, as convenor. Now, over a decade later, the event meets the criteria of a legacy conference in presenting topics that continue to be relevant today.
Beyond Jurisdiction: Wetlands Policy for the Next Generation
5/11/22
The conference, Beyond Jurisdiction: Wetlands Policy for the Next Generation, provided an opening platform for scholars and advocates from all perspectives to think about how the narrow focus of recent years has stagnated the thought and action necessary to take the next steps.
Where Now? Moving Beyond Traditional Legal Geographies
5/11/22
In the conference, Where Now? Moving Beyond Traditional Legal Geographies, participating scholars sought to expand the present intellectual boundaries of the critical legal geography project through a collaborative investigation of new themes and questions. Now, a decade later, the 2012 event is considered a legacy conference.
40 Years After the Attica Uprising: Looking Back, Moving Forward
11/11/21
The conference, 40 Years After the Attica Uprising: Looking Back, Moving Forward, held September 12 and 13, 2011, was sponsored by the University at Buffalo School of Law and The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. Teresa A. Miller organized the conference which featured presentations by experts representing various groups of stakeholders. Now, a decade later, the 2011 event is considered a legacy conference.
Implementing Truth and Reconciliation: Comparative Lessons for Korea
11/11/21
The UB School of Law hosted the international conference, Implementing Truth and Reconciliation: Comparative Lessons for Korea, on October 24, 2011. The conference brought together experts from around the globe to reflect on national experiences of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. Co-sponsored by The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, the Asian Studies Program, and the Buffalo Human Rights Center, the conference offered lessons on the TRC process in South Korea. Now, a decade later, the 2011 event is considered a legacy conference.
Hydrofracking: Exploring the Legal Issues in the Context of Politics, Science & Economy, 2011
11/11/21
The conference, Hydrofracking: Exploring the Legal Issues in the Context of Politics, Science and the Economy, was held March 28-29, 2011, sponsored by the University at Buffalo School of Law and The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. Horizontal gas drilling involving hydraulic fracturing, also known as hydrofracking or fracking, and its potential effects are important environmental and energy concerns for the nation. This conference provided an opportunity for a scholarly exchange of ideas as well as a forum for community discussion. Now, a decade later, the 2011 event is considered a legacy conference.

Fall 2025 Speakers-at-a-Glance

MONTHLY PAIR SPEAKER SERIES
SEPT 8, OCT 1, NOV 3, DEC 1, 2025
Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR)

SEPTEMBER 5, 2025 DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER
Hiroshi Motomura (UCLA Law)
Friday, 509 O’Brian Hall
Noon Reception; 12:30 to 2p.m. Presentation
Zoom registration

SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 INTERDISCIPLINARY SPEAKER SERIES
Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR)

SEPTEMBER 19, 2025 DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER
Michalyn Steele (BYU Law)
Friday, 509 O’Brian Hall
Noon Reception; 12:30 to 2p.m. Presentation
Zoom registration

SEPTEMBER 26, 2025 DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER
Dario Azzellini (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany)
Friday, 509 O’Brian Hall
Noon Reception; 12:30 to 2p.m. Presentation
Zoom registration

OCTOBER 3, 2025 DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER
Carl Wilén (Lund University)
Friday, 509 O’Brian Hall
Noon Reception; 12:30 to 2p.m. Presentation
Zoom registration

OCTOBER 6, 2025 INTERDISCIPLINARY SPEAKER SERIES
Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR)

OCTOBER 10, 2025 DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER
Amna Akbar (University of Minnesota Law)
Friday, 509 O’Brian Hall
Noon Reception; 12:30 to 2p.m. Presentation
Zoom registration

NOVEMBER 3, 2025 INTERDISCIPLINARY SPEAKER SERIES
Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR)

NOVEMBER 14, 2025 CONFERENCE PANEL
Everyday is Sunday: Exploring Public Sector Policy Investment Choices in Pro Sports Facilities
Faculty Organizer: Helen “Nellie” Drew
Friday, 509 O’Brian Hall
Noon Reception; 12:30 to 2:30p.m. Presentation
Zoom registration

DECEMBER 1, 2025 INTERDISCIPLINARY SPEAKER SERIES
Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR)

Spring 2026 Speakers-at-a-Glance

FEBRUARY 2, 2026 INTERDISCIPLINARY SPEAKER SERIES
Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR)

FEBRUARY 27, 2026 DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER
Veronica Rodriguez-Blanco (University of Surrey)
Friday, 509 O’Brian Hall
Noon Reception; 12:30 to 2p.m. Presentation

MARCH 2, 2026 INTERDISCIPLINARY SPEAKER SERIES
Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR)

MARCH 26 OR APRIL 17, 2026 DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER
Judith Resnik (Yale)
Friday, 509 O’Brian Hall
Noon Reception; 12:30 to 2p.m. Presentation

APRIL 6, 2026 INTERDISCIPLINARY SPEAKER SERIES
Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR)

MAY 1, 2026 DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER
Josh Cherniss (Georgetown)
Friday, 509 O’Brian Hall
Noon Reception; 12:30 to 2p.m. Presentation

MAY 4, 2026 INTERDISCIPLINARY SPEAKER SERIES
Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR)

The Baldy Center Supports Faculty Research