Leadership & Administration
Carrie Tirado Bramen, PhD
Director of the Gender Institute
Professor of English
bramen@buffalo.edu; 716-645-5200
Research Interests: nineteenth-century American literature, U.S. Latino/a literature, cultural history, critical race theory, transatlantic & intellectual history. Faculty page.
Jo Freudenheim, PhD
Deputy Director of the Gender Institute
SUNY Distinguished Professor; Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs for the School of Public Health and Health Professions
jfreuden@buffalo.edu; 716-645-5200
Research Topics: cancer epidemiology, using epidemiologic tools to understand carcinogenesis at the population, individual, tissue and molecular levels in order to better prevent and control the disease. Faculty page.
Megan Vaughan
Assistant to the Director of the Gender Institute
mv48@buffalo.edu, 716-645-5200
Surabhi Pant
Gender Institute Graduate Assistant
PhD Candidate, Sociology
spant2@buffalo.edu
716-645-5200
Research Interests: gender and development, environmental sociology, political economy, classical and contemporary theory, and ethnographic methods.
FORMER DIRECTORS
Directors and Deputy Directors (2011- )
Director 2011-2017
Kari Winter
Professor
Departments of American Studies and Global Gender Sexuality Studies
Kari Winter PhD, was the Director of UB's Gender Institute for six years. Winter has expressed her commitment to the Public Humanities: she holds an open discourse between academic scholars, nontraditional scholars, artists, activists, community organizations.
At the Institute, Winter organized or co-organized a dozen local, national, and international conferences and more than two hundred scholarly workshops, film screenings, festivals, and other events, including two Powwows in Vermont at the turn of this century. She has created and raised funds for many undergraduate, graduate student, and faculty scholarships, fellowships, and awards.
Deputy Director 2012-2021
Glenna Bett
Associate Professor
Vice Chair for Research
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, JSMBS
Dr. Glenna Bett was the Deputy Director of the Gender Institute at UB for nine years. Dr. Bett launched a campus-wide research initiative on Sex, Gender, and Health.
Dr. Bett's initiative futhered UB's position as a leader in evidence- based research on the impact of sex and gender on health. She believes that existing biomedical research has been undertaken on men and that the prevalence of diseases can be different between men and women, that the symptoms and progression of diseases may be different, and thus they may respond differently to treatments.
Additionally, Bett represented the institute alongside Staff Assistant, Becky Burke, within the Women in Stem Cooperative (WiSC). WiSC is committed to empowering women in STEM by offering engaging content, authentic conversation and a supportive community to women students, faculty and professionals in STEM from UB and Western NY. The Institute is one of the co-sponsor of WiSC, which hold seminars and lectures for faculty and students, sharing their research and stories in STEM fields.
Bett also founded and became CEO of her own company, Cytocybernetics, which specializes in cellular electrophysiology. Bett was President of the Advisory Board to the Buffalo Niagara Division of the American Heart Association (2011-2013).
Deputy Director 2011-2012
Despina Stratigakos
UB's Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence, Professor of Architecture at School of Archtecture and Planning
Despina Stratigakos PhD was the Deputy Director of the Gender Institute at UB for a year. She as an author and professor, focused her research on Women in architecture, that were historically seemingly erased or under-recognized from the profession.
Co-Directors (1997-2011)
Dr. Dziak was Co-Director of the UB Gender Institute, focusing on expanding the role of gender in the different science disciplines. She believed that gender had become an increasingly important topic in the sciences because organizations as the National Institutes of Health are pushing for more studies on women's health.
Her own research interests lie in Bone and Connective Tissues/Tissue Engineering ans physiological bone metabolism. She has since continued being part of the institute's executive comittee.
Bachi-Sen served as the Institute's Co-Director and promoted an entrepreneurial spirit. Her work while working with Co-Director Rosemary Dzaik, continued to grow IREWG by organizing a biannual graduate student symposium on gender, as well as obtaining sponsors for the annual International Women's Film Festival.
Research Interests: Economic and urban geography; Innovation and industry studies; Foreign direct investment Biotech and bioenergy. Bagchi-Sen has uses spatial methodologies in her research as an urban-economic geographer.
Spanish
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures College of Arts and Sciences
2006-2009
Vargas, like many of the members of the Gender Insitiute, began as part of a junior faculty member on the first executive committee when the institute was formed. She says "it was a tremendous learning experience". She later took on the role of Co-Director, focusing her efforts on gender in the romance languages and giving women a larger voice and presence in English.
Her own research interests include: Contemporary Spanish-American theatre; Mexican film; Feminism.
Department of English
Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
2003-2006
During her time as Co-Director, Barabara Bono worked with the UB Office of Special Events for the [2004-05] Distinguished Speakers Series to bring in [UB Reads author] Barbara Ehrenreich, working with the Association of Women Full Professors, who partners in welcoming new women faculty every year.
Her work is continued today as the Gender Institute continues to collaborate with many offices within UB to provide outside researchers the oppurtunity to lecture and provide new ideas in academia related to women and gennder. Her research interests: Early Modern British literature; the dramatic literature of Shakespeare and his contemporaries; feminist and cultural materialist theory.
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology
2001-2002
Suzanne Laychock was Co-Director of the UB Gender Institute for 2001 -2002. Her work pushed the Gender Insititute beyond lucheons, and university centered workshops. Her focus was large scale collaborations such as 2001 Pan Am Women's Leadership Conference. IREWG became a strong driving force behind ambitious projects and gathering resource for all seeking to secure academic research scholarships.
Dr. Laychock researches endocrine pharmacology with an emphasis on signal transduction mechanisms involved in insulin secretion and models of diabetes mellitus.
Microbiology and Immunology, UB Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
2000-2001
Bernice Noble was a professor of microbiology and immunology
at the University at Buffalo. During her time at UB, Noble dedicated much of her time to advancing women’s careers.
Institute for Research & Education on Women and Gender
(Colloquially know as The Gender Institute)
Co-Founders
(l) Peggy Acara, (r) Isabel Marcus
Margaret (Peggy) Acara
(1997-2001)
Pharmacology & Toxicology
Dr. Margaret (Peggy) Acara was a professor of pharmacology and toxicology, in the University at Buffalo's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, she co-founded the Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender (1997) and went onto direct the institute's research arm.
During her time at the institute Dr. Acara, pushed for five research focuses, to provide information/data resources for; gender and violence, women's health, the impact of changing welfare laws, education on women and gender in the schools and feminist topics in the humanities.
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Isabel S. Marcus
(1997- 2003)
School of Law
Isabel Marcus was a beloved professor of law at the University at Buffalo, her focus on social progress and her expertise resonated with her works to co-found the Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender (1997).
Marcus, as a director at the institute worked to provide assistance in the form of scholarships to further emphasizing feminist scholarship with an interdisciplinary focus.
Dr. Marcus in her lifetime, continued to advocate for women’s rights and international human rights in the US and abroad. Dr. Marcus established the Isabel S. Marcus International Research Fellowship supporting outstanding UB graduate students researching womens issues outside of the United States.
Full list of Directors and former Directors here.