Social Sciences

The University at Buffalo Library Archives recently acquired the papers of Eva M. Noles, R.N., already a historic figure in 1939 when she became the first black nurse to be trained in Buffalo.

Demand for unskilled labor to clean up after Hurricane Katrina will help drive economic recovery in New Orleans, according to an economist at the University at Buffalo School of Management.

The rebuilding of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina gives the city an unprecedented chance to create new city neighborhoods that are economically and racially diverse, says University at Buffalo urban geographer Meghan Cope, Ph.D., associate professor of geography in the College of Arts and Sciences.

"The most critical problems related to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina are related less to the lack of technological solutions than to the absence of a sound national policy for dealing with such events," says Shahin Vassigh, associate professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo.

The effect of military culture on women's lives -- from the experiences of servicewomen in Iraq, to human rights violations against women, to the plight of homeless female veterans -- will be examined at a conference to be held Sept. 15 and 16 in the Center for the Arts Screening Room on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus.

The University at Buffalo will present the American Museum of Natural History's Margaret Mead Traveling Film and Video Festival, the longest-running showcase for independent cultural documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spectrum of work from indigenous community media to experimental nonfiction, Sept. 22 to Nov. 10.

The hundreds of thousands of refugees from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina join 25 million people worldwide displaced by environmental catastrophes, events and processes, according to Lynda Schneekloth, professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo.

While the victims of Hurricane Katrina have begun to grieve by expressing their anger at the shortcomings of relief efforts intended to help them, they can not yet mourn the losses they have incurred because they themselves are still struggling to survive, says Thomas T. Frantz, a University at Buffalo professor who is an expert on bereavement counseling and grief education.

The media, especially TV media, are clearly uncomfortable discussing issues of race or racism in its coverage of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, according to Elayne Rapping, a media critic and pop-culture expert at the University at Buffalo.

A federal policy of urban neglect is partly to blame for the extensive damage done to New Orleans by Katrina and the disastrous conditions left in its wake, according to Mark Gottdiener, Ph.D., an expert on urban culture and policy.