Arts and Culture

The past few decades seem to have marked a sea of change in public regard for female athletes. Does this signal a broader social definition of what it is to be female and feminine in American society? Emphatically no, says Susan Cahn, a distinguished and widely published scholar of sports history at the University at Buffalo.

Nearly 2,700 years after it was buried in the Mesopotamian earth, the crumbled, plundered, and now spectacular palace of the ancient Assyrian King Ashur-nasir-pal II will within the next year open its virtual doors to visitors from around the world. The visit will be made possible by archaeologists, engineers and computer scientists at the University at Buffalo who have been digging with digital tools to produce the next era of instructional devices.

A University at Buffalo sociologist has written a new book, "Life in the Air: Surviving the New Culture of Air Travel," which explores the myriad issues troubling airports and passengers today, from overcrowding and abusive passengers, to delays, cancellations and how travelers spend inordinately long periods of time while waiting to make their next connection.

A University at Buffalo administrator has recaptured the vibrancy and innovation of the Pan-Am Exposition in his book, "The Rainbow City: Celebrating Light, Color and Architecture at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo 1901."

"E-POETRY, 2001: An International Digital Poetry Festival," the first convocation of digital poets and artists gathered to focus on the emerging medium, will be held April 19-21 at the University at Buffalo.

The University at Buffalo today announced the appointment of Sandra Haller Olsen, Ph.D., to be director of the University Art Galleries and director of UB's new graduate program in museum studies in the Department of Art History, College of Arts and Sciences.

The Department of Art in the UB College of Arts and Sciences will present its Senior Thesis Show 2001, a series of exhibitions of works by senior art majors, during the month of April in several locations in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

Middle school students at the Tuscarora Indian School in the Niagara-Wheatfield School District have been working since late September to produce "Skarooran Journey: A Tuscaroran Adventure," an educational journey that explores aspects of the history, language and culture of these ancient eastern woodlands people through a student-designed, multimedia, CD-ROM program.

African Americans in Western New York and beyond are coming together to pay homage to unheralded black women of the past 100 years, the unsung heroines whose legacy of self-determination speaks to a tradition of effecting change. "Uncrowned Queens" -- a Web site dedicated to recognizing those unsung heroines -- spotlights the accomplishments of African-American women who live or have lived in the Buffalo area.

Cort Lippe appears in his formal photographs to be the serious-minded composer he is -- a leading figure in the international electro-acoustic music community. He is an assistant professor and director of the Lejaren Hiller Computer Music Studios in the Department of Music at the University at Buffalo, an international nerve center for composition and research in the field of interactive computer music. That, however, is just part of his story.