Best Web Page for Knee

Michael Knee of University Libraries has recently received two awards for his Computer Science Resources Web page: https://www.albany.edu/~knee/csci.html.

It was awarded the itmWEB Five Star Selection Award, which recognizes useful, high quality information technology-related Web sites. In addition, Knee�s Computer Science page received the Argus Clearinghouse Seal of Approval, and a rating of four out of five check marks. The Argus Clearinghouse provides a central access point for value-added topical guides which identify, describe, and evaluate Internet-based information resources.

Knee�s resources page is an organized starting point that contains links to significant Web-based resources for computer science.


President of Hughes Society

Leonard Slade Jr. of the departments of Africana studies and English, has recently been elected National President of the Langston Hughes Society for three years. The election was held at the National Convention in Tallahassee, Fla. Slade has also recently been named a Ragdale Artist Colony fellow in Lake Forest, Ill. He will spend two weeks there working on his 10th book of poetry in August.


Briére at University of Maine in June

Eloise Briére of the program in French Studies of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures has been invited to be a Libra Visiting Professor at the University of Maine in June. Briére will participate in the Multicultural Women�s Studies Institute, working with faculty on strategies for the inclusion of Franco-American women in the curriculum.


Worden at Conference in D.C.

Alissa Worden of the School of Criminal Justice was an invited speaker at the OJP/NIJ conference on "Community Justice: Transforming the System to Serve Communities" in Washington D.C. in March. She was part of a panel entitled "Defining Community."


Suzanne Sroka, Obituary

Suzanne Sroka, who taught French at the University for several decades, died in Guilderland on March 10.

Born in Saint-Malo, France in 1905, Sroka arrived in the U.S. in 1928 as an exchange student. She taught the French language and French literature and civilization for 23 years at the Albany Academy for Girls and for 24 years at the University (1965-1989.)

Suzanne Sroka was Chevalier de l�Ordre des Palmes Academiques (the highest honor given an academic by the French government.) "Her memory will long be cherished by those who were privileged to be her students or colleagues," said Jean-François Briére, associate professor and director of the French Studies program in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.


Townsend Rich, Obituary

Townsend Rich, 88, former head of the Department of English, died on April 20 at Essex Meadows, Connecticut. Rich taught for 25 years at the University, and started the doctoral program in the Department of English. He also taught at the Thatcher School in Ojai, California, and at Michigan State University.

Upon retirement he settled in New Haven, Connecticut, and volunteered as a docent at the British Arts Center. Born in Buffalo, Rich was educated at the Nichols School, Phillips Academy, Andover, and Yale University, where he received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in English literature.


AMNH Features Galembo Exhibit on Nigerian Leaders

Photographs by Phyllis Galembo of the Department of Art are currently on display at The American Museum of Natural History. The collection, titled "Kings, Chiefs, Women of Power, Nigeria," highlights 30 large-format Cibachrome prints of important women and men of the Benin and Yoruba kingdoms and the Western Igbo in southern Nigeria.

The exhibition comprises portraits of Nigeria�s traditional leaders � kings, palace and town chiefs, and okao (women of power) � and images of their ritual clothing. Many of the individuals photographed are from Benin city, one of the oldest monarchies in Africa. The exhibition provides a sense of the historical role played by the kings, chiefs, and okao in Nigeria, while also documenting the impact of the modern world on ancient cultures. The exhibit will run through June 28.

Galembo has exhibited, lectured, and traveled in Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Nigeria, and the U.S. She spent six months at the University of Benin on a Senior Fulbright Research Award in 1994. Her book, Divine Inspiration from Benin to Bahia (University of New Mexico Press, 1993) contains essays from various artists and scholars including noted authority, Robert Farris Thompson.

Her latest book, Vodou: Visions and Voices of Haiti (Ten Speed Press), includes pictures of Haitian life and the religious rituals, as well as writing by Vodou scholars and artists. Haiti�s sacred arts are captured here in their real temple settings. Ritual objects are rendered in paint, fabric, glass, plastic, and wood, with dolls, bottles, mass-market posters, and color lithographs of the saints. Galembo also teaches photography at the University. Above is her photo of a Nigerian okao.