The HumaniTech Semester: Humanity and Culture in an Age of Technology � is a diverse blend of programs, exhibitions, performances, seminars, film and media presentations. Running throughout the spring 2003 semester, this rich array of events will showcase faculty research and educational programs in areas where the humanities, sciences and technology merge.

One of the highlights of the semester will be The Technology Plays, funded in part by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation�s "Imagining America" grants program. Produced in collaboration with Capital Repertory Theatre, the project has commissioned plays from Pulitzer-prize winning author and UAlbany professor William Kennedy and international playwright and screenwriter Richard Dresser ("The Education of Max Bickford"). Short and interactive, these unique dramatic pieces will explore the complex relationship between humans and machines.

Other special events throughout the semester will include: faculty seminars that promote exchange among scholars, community members, and students from across the many University disciplines; a DNA self-portrait exhibit by Gary Schneider that merges ideas and photography; and a performance by National Public Radio�s "The Kitchen Sisters."

The HumaniTech semester is an outgrowth of the HumaniTech Initiative, co- directed by UAlbany faculty Mary Valentis and Charles Shepherdson. Drawing on the University�s strengths in the social sciences and high-tech areas, the initiative�s mission is to preserve and transform the humanities in a time of substantial cultural change and to promote exchange and collaboration between the University and its many partners in the surrounding community.