Contact: Lisa James Goldsberry (518) 437-4989

ALBANY, N.Y.(March 25, 2003) -- The University at Albany�s ninth annual Initiatives For Women Winter Forum will feature the performance How I Became Canoehead: One Woman's Search for Identity in the Technological World by UAlbany alumna Lori Anderson, a multimedia artist and poet whose work examines issues related to work and gender identity in the technological world.

The Forum will be held on Thursday, March 27, beginning with a reception at 5:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center Futterer Lounge, located on the University at Albany Uptown Campus. Seating is limited, reservations are required. To reserve a seat, please call (518) 442-5373 or email [email protected].

How I Became Canoehead is the biography of a boat girl, tracing the conception, gestation and maturation of a primitive cyborg, a term first coined in the 1960's to describe a living organism in which has merged with a mechanical device. With a canoe as a prop, Anderson performs poems against a video backdrop. The 50-minute show features �Short Cut� and �Carrying Capacity� - award-winning videos at the Vancouver Videopoem Festival 2002. This one-woman show also debuts videopoems Anderson produced at The Creative Electronic Environment at The Banff Centre for the Arts.

Anderson is the author of the poetry collections, Cultivating Excess and Walking the Dead. She has an M.F.A. in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an M.F.A. in poetry from the Iowa Writer�s Workshop and a D.A. in Writing, Teaching and Criticism from the University at Albany.

Following the performance a panel discussion will feature women working with technology, including Bettyjo Bouchey, product director for VeriCast, VersaTrans Solutions, and president of the Tech Valley ATW chapter; Sharon Dawes, director of UAlbany�s Center for Technology in Government; Melissa Frenyea, director of Software Development for VersaTrans Solutions; Tomie Hahn, assistant professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Christine Haile, CIO at UAlbany; and Teresa Harrison, professor and chair of the Communication Department at UAlbany. The panel moderator will be Belle Gironda, assistant director in UAlbany�s Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning.

The forum will serve as the kick-off for the AriadNet Project, an initiative that seeks to build connections and provide mentoring opportunities among University faculty and students and women from the private sector who are working with or interested in technology. The event is co-sponsored by the University at Albany's Initiatives For Women and the Alliance for Technology and Women (ATW) New York Tech Valley Chapter.

ATW is a dynamic new, non-profit organization founded on principles of integrity and professionalism and focused on professional development for those in technology. For more information about ATW, visit www.atwinternational.org

For more information, see , www.albany.edu/ifw/winterforum, www.albany.edu/cetl/ariadnet, and www.atwinternational.org.

Established in 1844 and designated a center of the State University of New York in 1962, the University at Albany's broad mission of excellence in undergraduate and graduate education, research and public service engages 17,000 diverse students in eight degree-granting schools and colleges.

For more information about this nationally ranked University, visit https://www.albany.edu.

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