Bob Saves America, an original screenplay by Jeffrey Hirschberg, associate professor of television and film arts, has been selected as a semifinalist in the prestigious Screencraft Family Screenplay Competition. Currently the project is in the top 21 scripts of about 500 entries.  

Professor Hirschberg will find out if the script advances to the finals in March. Meanwhile, he is thrilled to be recognized by this competitive Hollywood competition, which is being judged by literary managers and entertainment industry executives.

Thomas J. Reigstad, professor emeritus of English, has published The Illustrated Mark Twain and the Buffalo Express: 10 Stories and Over a Century of Sketches (Globe Pequot/North Country Books, 2024). Released February 20, the book features 10 stories by Mark Twain from the Buffalo Express of 1869 and 1870, accompanied by nearly 40 illustrations drawn by six artists.

The book includes a drawing by Twain himself; six original illustrations by his staff artist, John Harrison Mills; and 17 by Truman W. "True" Williams, Twain's most prominent illustrator. Also included are 11 humorous illustrations by Tom Toles for a 1978 Buffalo Courier-Express series, reprinted for the first time, as well as two cartoons drawn by Bill Watterson, creator of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. The volume also contains two caricatures of Twain and two new original illustrations by Buffalo News cartoonist Adam Zyglis. The book was featured in a Buffalo News column by Erik Brady on February 13.

Dr. Reigstad was also a guest speaker on February 20 for the IMAGINE Greater Buffalo virtual lecture and discussion series, a program hosted by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, and created by the Center for the Study of Art, Architecture, History, and Nature. The segment was titled "Thomas J. Reigstad, Author of The Illustrated Mark Twain and the Buffalo Express and of Scribblin' for a Livin' — Mark Twain's Pivotal Period in Buffalo."

Andrew Kahn, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of theater and Anne Frank Project founding director, and Jonise Hall, AFP assistant director, presented at the Buffalo Public Schools' annual Urban Forum: Black Excellence Encore at the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts on February 8. The story-based presentation was a culmination of a collaboration between the Anne Frank Project and the Buffalo Public Schools' Our Story Program. The focus of the presentation was based on weekly sessions with student teams from Burgard and Research Lab high schools.

Aprille Nace, librarian and archivist in the Garman Art Conservation Department, partnered with the International Institute of Buffalo to curate an exhibition of artwork created by recent refugee arrivals to Western New York, which was on view February 6-9 in the Buffalo Arts Studio. A closing reception was held Saturday, February 10.

Titled Home, the thought-provoking exhibit of hand-painted ceramic tiles was designed to invoke a sense of "home" for the refugees who created them. The public was invited to participate in the exhibition by constructing their own ideas of what home means to them. The goal of the exhibit was twofold: to empower newly arrived Americans to illustrate various ideas about home and to encourage the public to make connections with universal themes.

Ms. Nace is a resident artist at the Buffalo Arts Studio. She earned her M.F.A. in ceramics in 2018 from the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She also holds an M.L.S. in library and information science and an M.A. in American studies.

The exhibition was funded by the Statewide Community Regrant program, a program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Services Inc. The Buffalo Arts Studio is located in the Tri-Main Center, 2495 Main St., Suite 500, Buffalo, NY 14214.

Thomas J. Reigstad, professor emeritus of English, published his article "Sloan Wilson: Buffalo's Own Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" in the winter 2024 issue of Western New York Heritage magazine, Western New York's illustrated history quarterly 26 (4): 6-15. The article tells how Wilson composed his bestselling 1955 novel, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, while serving as head of public relations at the University of Buffalo, at the time a private university. Dr. Reigstad contacted Wilson's children for insights, researched the Buffalo State Courier-Express Collection in E. H. Butler Library's Archives and Special Collections as well as UB's University Archives; visited the sites of Wilson's former home in Snyder and the former Main Street tavern Bitterman's Grill (settings where he did most of his drafting and revising); and examined the novel's original manuscripts in the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library's Rare Book Room to describe for the first time Wilson's writing process and his longstanding affection for Buffalo.

Ron Stewart, department chair and professor of sociology, will serve as a local expert on a panel discussion hosted by the UB Department of Surgery exploring the impact of structural racism on families and neighborhoods on Thursday, February 22, at 5:30 p.m. in the M&T Auditorium at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

The discussion will follow the keynote "Structural Racism and Persistent Inequality," presented by Deadric T. Williams, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

This is the fourth annual talk in the "Beyond the Knife" endowed lectureship series, which the UB Department of Surgery established following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 to foster difficult conversations surrounding racism and health care in the United States. The series aims to take "sustained action toward a more diverse and equitable world."

The event is free and open to the public in person or on Zoom. Please register online or email Mike Lamb, M.D., Ph.D., director of surgical education in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The Zoom link will be provided before the talk. 

Panelists are

• LaVonne Ansari, Ph.D., CEO and director, Community Health Center of Buffalo Inc.
• Rita Hubbard-Robinson, J.D., CEO, NeuWater Associates LLC
• Chandra Redfern, CEO, Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers
• Ron Stewart, Ph.D., professor and chair, Sociology Department, SUNY Buffalo State

Angela Thering, Ph.D., lecturer in the Social and Psychological Foundations of Education and Adult Education Department, completed a master of science in instructional design at SUNY Brockport University.

Maria C. Garrity, senior systems programmer in Information Technology, successfully completed the virtual Bengal Career Champion training provided by Career and Professional Education (CAPE) on January 16 and 18, 2024. Andrew T. Garrity, associate database administrator in Information Technology, completed the Bengal Career Champion training in person on September 20 and 27, 2023.

In alignment with Pillar 3 of Buffalo State University's 2022-2026 Strategic Plan, which focuses on a shared vision for student success, the division of Student Affairs has developed a support goal to increase the number of campus partners educated in career development frameworks by 2026 in order to help refer and assist students. The objective is to better equip individuals to refer and assist students effectively. As a Bengal Career Champion, participants gain familiarity with career resources, enabling them to guide students in staying on track and focused on their careers. The training also provides tips for engaging in more productive career conversations. 

Participants feel more prepared and confident in guiding students toward future career success. They not only find the training beneficial for themselves but also recommend it to their colleagues. The program has proved to be instrumental in empowering campus partners to refer students to CAPE and support their career development journey.

Ji Young Lee, assistant professor of fashion and textile technology, has published two journal articles: "Because It Is Green or Unique? Exploring Consumer Responses to Unique Types of Sustainable Packaging," published in the Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles 47 (6): 1113-1136; and "Frugal or Sustainable? The Interplay of Consumers' Personality Traits and Self-Regulated Minds in Recycling Behavior," published in Sustainability 15 (24): 16821.

Deborah Silverman, Joseph Marren, and Brian Meyer coauthored the new 6th edition of MediaWriting, a textbook for introductory courses in media writing that is used by colleges and universities across the country. They are replacing their former Communication colleagues W. Richard Whitaker, Ronald D. Smith, and Janet E. Ramsey as coauthors on the book, which will be published by Routledge later this year.