Who:

• Provost Susan Herbst, officer in charge, University at Albany
• Dean Joan Wick-Pelletier, College of Arts and Sciences, University at Albany
• Program director Gerald Zahavi, professor, Department of History, University at Albany
• Peabody-award winning documentary filmmaker Judith Helfand, educator, New York University, director, writer and producer of Everything's Cool
• Graduate student Aine Leader, Department of History, University at Albany

When:
Monday, March 12, 2007, 4:30 p.m.

Where:
Standish Room, Science Library, University at Albany uptown campus, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY.

Background:
The new documentary studies program will offer students an opportunity to explore diverse approaches to documentary work in video/film, radio, hypermedia/ multimedia, photography and nonfiction writing and print journalism. Students will work on radio productions, films, photographic exhibits, Web sites, and narrative research and writing projects, as well as explore major and minor issues in history, art, music, science, environmental studies, technology, media, politics, foreign policy, and health.

Peabody-award winning documentary filmmaker Judith Helfand will help the University launch the new program with an inaugural lecture and film screening on Tuesday, March 13. Helfand will show and discuss excerpts of her work, including Everything's Cool, which tackles the issue of global warming in her signature comedic, entertaining style at 7 p.m. in Recital Hall of the Performing Arts Center.

The College of Arts & Sciences is the largest academic unit at the University. It provides the general education foundation of the undergraduate curriculum and is the intellectual base for study in a wide variety of disciplines at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The College's programs promote critical thinking and reasoning, aesthetic sensibility, and intellectual development, while providing career preparation to help students meet the challenges of the future and achieve their goals.