UB's Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender's first annual Gender Week kicks off Monday, with a lineup of over 40 gender-related events taking place on both campuses throughout the next five days.
Associate Professor of English and Gender Week Chairperson, Barbara Bono said that the activities, which are geared toward understanding gender roles and relationships in a college environment, are an important facet of life at UB.
"I'm a feminist," said Bono. "And I, in fact, believe that the study of gender, and historical necessity of gender, is one of the most diverse, powerful and unifying, intellectual topics that we can pursue as a campus, together."
Bono said that organizers tried to make the week's activities as broad-based as possible, focusing on both entertainment and academic aspects, in hopes of drawing in large numbers of both males and females from the university and Buffalo community.
"I think that it's extremely important that all of the citizens on campus -- faculty, staff and students -- be aware of this and make a contribution as early and as often as possible," said Bono.
Included in the week's activities are lectures given by females from traditionally male-dominated fields, such as engineering and the sciences, said Bono.
Professor Mary Bisson, the first woman to become a tenured professor in UB's department of Biological Sciences, and the department's first female chairperson will give a lecture titled "Women & Science: What to Tell the Girls?" from 2 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Wednesday at the Lockwood Library.
The lecture will be centered on "how gender affects (female scientist's) discipline" which is "part of their pedagogy," said Bono
The English Department will hold a "Teach-in" in 120 Clemens from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and noon to 2 p.m. on Friday. Three regular courses, which are open to the public, will be taught each day with gender as their theme.
From 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, the English Department will hold a poetry symposium, titled "Le Sexe Qui Parle," which will feature the work of 18 UB poets. The symposium will take place in 120 Clemens.
"Those are very academic events although we're trying to give them a very popular spin," said Bono.
Other Gender Week events include performances by the "alternative cheerleaders" as they present "Resistant Radicatz : Hotter Than Hot" at noon Thursday in the Student Union, and a performance by Alla Ivanchikova & In the Mirror, a UB rock group, at noon Tuesday in the Student Union.
With so many events during the course of the week, Bono said that it was tough for Associate Director Patricia Shelly, who made the calendar of events, to squeeze all of the events onto a single sheet of paper.
For more information or a complete schedule of events, visit www.womenandgender.buffalo.edu.
by Erin Shultz, Campus News Editor
