President to Talk on Aging in Conversations Series

Buffalo State President Katherine Conway-Turner is presenting the lecture "Aging Within a Family Context: The Mother and Daughter Dynamic" on Friday, October 16, at 3:00 p.m. in the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Auditorium. The talk is free and open to the public.

Conway-Turner’s talk is the second in the 2015-16 "Conversations in and out of the Disciplines," a series of Friday afternoon lectures held three times a semester, sponsored by the English Department, and intended to encourage ongoing dialogue. SUNY Distinguished Professor of English Ann C. Colley founded the series in 2008 as a way to celebrate the remarkable research taking place across a wide swath of academic disciplines.

"I am pleased that Dr. Conway-Turner agreed to participate in the series. I think many of us forget that those on campus who hold administrative positions come from specific academic disciplines that continue to interest them," said Colley who now runs the series with English professors Barish Ali and David Ben-Merre. "It’s not as if a person becomes an administrator and that part of his or her life disappears. It’s at the root of all of us."

Conway-Turner's background in social psychology led to an ongoing interest in aging, diversity in family relationships, psychology of women, human sexuality, ethnic family development, and intergenerational relationships, Colley noted. The president has edited two collections of essays and has published numerous papers on women, feminism, and families. The topic of daughters and aging mothers emerged from that research.

"It’s a timely topic as an increasing number of working adults, including faculty and staff on our campus, are now caring for elderly parents," Colley said. "It’s a reality that impacts all of our lives."

The 2015-16 conversations series began October 2, when Michael Niman, professor of communication, presented "Acephalus Movements: Studying Utopia, Understanding Terror."

On November 6, Kelly Frothingham, department chair and professor of geography, will present "Stream Restoration: Local WNY Activity in the Context of National Trends" at 3:00 p.m. in Ketchum Hall 320, and on December 4, Chuck Mancuso, professor of music, will present "The Last Great Days of the Buffalo Jazz Club Scene" at 3:00 p.m. in Ketchum Hall 320.

"The pleasures of meeting and talking with other active minds in the college cannot be measured," Colley said. "We help each other. Those who attend leave with a better sense of belonging to an active scholarly community; they are reminded that they are part of an institution that has at its heart a faculty engaged in interesting, varied, and groundbreaking research — research that also impacts the classroom as well as the larger community."