Graduate Student Association

To Find a Form to Accommodate the Mess is a publication of the Visual Studies graduate department at SUNY Buffalo showcasing the artwork of the graduating class of 2014, along with scholarly and creative writing on the themes of anxiety, critique of the spectacle, and revealing ideologies. We are looking for essays of approximately 1500 words on one of the themes, or you are invited to write about the work of one or more artists in the program, using approximately 700 words/artist. Please visit this link to view the artwork: http://visualstudies2014.wordpress.com/

Papers should be sent to visualstudies2014@gmail.com by midnight, March 21st for review.

Anxiety

In an era marked by precarity, mass surveillance, and ecological disasters, anxiety pervades our everyday experience. Whether it is collective or personal anxiety, concerns regarding survival and sustainability, attempts to cope through meditation, medication or organization, we are looking for engagement with any aspect of this affect.

Critique of the Spectacle

What is the current state of the spectacle 50 years after the term was coined? Has the critique of spectacle been recuperated, or is there still potential for resistance in this approach? Some of the topics in this area may include, but are not limited to: the consumption of identity and celebrity, abstraction and alienation in everyday life, the spectacle of opposition, recuperation, and the impact of the market on images.

Revealing Ideologies

Ideologies determine what is allowed to be seen, and what is left unmarked. We are looking for writing that investigates how ideologies reveal, camouflage, structure and define meanings, delving behind what appears to be. Work in this area may include, but is not limited to: alternative histories and analyses of power relations.

Are you a male over the age of 18 who shaves with a razor at least 3 times a week? Then you may be eligible to participate in our product evaluation study and earn $100 for your opinions!

We will provide you with shave gel and razor for a period of 3 weeks. You get to shave at home and then come to the Communication Science Center Lab (Fargo 101, North Campus) three times for no more than 30 minutes to give us feedback on the products (some of your responses will be recorded on video). If you complete the whole study you will receive a $100 Wegman’s gift card!

For more information and to see if you are eligible email us at the lab today – csclabub@gmail.com with subject line “Shaving Study”.

Personal care item drive to benefit Compass House. Kick-off event Monday 3/3 at 5pm, Clemens 120 with guest speakers, pizza and drinks. Personal care items collected through March 31 in Clemens 732 and at Wellness Education Services, 114 Student Union.

Please see the attached memo and proposed budget regarding what will be discussed at the GSA Budget Town Hall Meeting on February 20th at 7:30pm in Knox 110.  All graduate students are welcome and encouraged to attend, but please take the time to review these documents first so that you will have some familiarity with the figures that will be discussed.  Any questions should be directed to the GSA Treasurer, Darrin J. Griffin, at gsa-treasurer@buffalo.edu.

Photo Contest: Self-Care Selfies:  (Complete Information at: wellness.buffalo.edu/photo)

Self-care is important for students – they list stress as the #1 factor impacting their academic performance (as reported in 2013 UB NCHA Survey results). Self-care refers to actions and attitudes which contribute to the maintenance of well-being and personal health.

Enter this contest to share your effective self-care strategies with other students, who may use them to improve their own lives.

Who can enter?

The contest is open to University at Buffalo undergraduate and graduate students. Student employees and trainees of the Student Wellness Team are not eligible for this contest.

Who decides the winners?

Submissions will be anonymously judged by a panel of UB faculty and staff. The top 10 entries will then be posted on the student wellness team website where the campus community can read and vote on their favorite photo.

Prizes

1st Place: $250
2nd Place: $100
3rd Place: $50

Important Dates

Submission Deadline: March 28, 2014
People’s Choice Online Voting: April 10-15, 2014
Winners’ Announcement: April 18, 2014

The GSA is now accepting petitions from graduate students who are interested in running for the President, Vice President and Treasurer positions on the Executive Board for the 2014-2015 academic year.  Anyone who is interested in running should contact the GSA office right away to be provided with the necessary paperwork.  Petition packets must be returned to the GSA office by Monday, March 3rd in order to be considered.  Please see the 2014 Election Page for more details.

I am looking for graduate students to complete the attached survey for my consumer experiment assignment for course ENG 101.

I need 20 respondents.  Thank you for your time!

http://freeonlinesurveys.com/s.asp?sid=q40atj2er1x35m2412703

Sincerely,

Alan Wong

Spring 2014 SBI Programming Grant applications are now available!

“The primary function of the Programming Grant is to fund programs that further the quality of student life, and enrich the educational, cultural and social experiences at the University at Buffalo. In light of these goals, organizations that receive awards are to use them to expand existing programs or to help launch new projects.”

Grants of up to $1,000.00 can be awarded to any recognized university affiliated student organization.

The application is attached, and hard copies can be picked up from the GSA Office (310 Student Union) or the SBI Office (341 Student Union).  The deadline for submission is Friday, February 14, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. Please note that this is a rigid deadline, after which grant applications will not be accepted. All grant applications must include the signature of the GSA Treasurer, so please plan accordingly. SBI Programming Grant Notifications will be distributed to the grant applicants by Wednesday, February 26, 2014.

Dear all,

We have extended our call for papers deadline for our annual Journal on Romance Studies until February 1, 2014.

This volume of Graduate Romance Studies Journal proposes to analyze the multifarious aspects of bridges: their practical uses in the world; how literature and linguistics approach its various forms and functions; “the bridge” as a structure as well as the cultural, political, physical, and/or linguistic ramifications produced by said constructs; as a connection of multiple entities. Could a possible disconnect occur as a result of this connector? What can be said of the “gap” – the “third space” – that the bridge bypasses, and what possibility does it offer us to redefine and reshape our own perspectives? We invite proposals that address these and other questions related to bridges. Possible topics include:

*  Transatlantic Crossing/Sharing

*  Borders and Frontiers

*  Marginalization, Displacement, Migration

*  Globalization and Transnationalism

*  Gender, its limits and transformations

*  Subterranean and Clandestine Bridges

*  Imaginary Bridges

*  Bridges as Transitions/Transpositions

*  Languages in contact

*  Bridging through bilingualism

Please submit proposals (250-300 word abstracts) in MS Word or PDF files to UBRomance@gmail.com by February 1, 2014.

Please send proposals of 250-300 words to UBRomance@gmail.com by February 1, 2014. Papers must be written in English and must not exceed 6,000 words (including notes and bibliography). Once proposals have been accepted, papers should be submitted by March 15, 2014.

Attached you will find our Call for Papers.

Best regards,

Cynthia Jones and Lena Taub, RLL GSA