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Actress Kari Wuhrer Headlines UAlbany's 23rd Annual Sexuality Week Series
Model, TV and movie actress and singer talks about coming to terms with her body

Contact: Catherine Herman (518) 437-4980

Kari Wuhrer

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 2, 2006) -- For the 23rd consecutive year, the University at Albany is bringing together college students, faculty and staff to discuss critical issues, choices and concerns related to gender, HIV/AIDS, relationships, identity, and reproductive health as part of The Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program's Sexuality Week 2006. This year's keynote speaker is actress, model, and singer Kari Wuhrer discussing her personal struggle with self image in "Images of Beauty: Illusion vs. Reality", February 14, at the Campus Center Ballroom on the Uptown Campus.

Wuhrer began acting at age 13 and was signed to the Ford Modeling Talent Division early in her career, where she appeared in dozens of commercials. She landed a job on MTV as a V.J. and co-host of the game show Remote Control which led to her career breaking part as Maggie Beckett on the Fox sci-fi series Sliders from 1997-2000. Wuhrer's feature films include Eight Legged Freaks, Anaconda, The Crossing Guard, Hellraiser 7: Deader, and The Prey. Her television credits include roles on Beverly Hills 90210 and C.S.I., and in February, 2005, she joined the cast of General Hospital as Reese Marshall. She also released a CD entitled Shiny.

When she arrived on the Hollywood circuit, Wuhrer succumbed to the pressure and stigmas surrounding the industry and had breast implants. In 2002, she reversed the procedure in order to have her talents and person be perceived as they truly are.

"I got sucked into that whole perfect body thing," said Wuhrer. "It's a suit of armor you can hide behind. … It wasn't allowing me to be fully honest as a person, as a woman, and certainly not in my work."

A reception and autograph signing will follow Wuhrer's candid discussion of her experiences. The event is being sponsored with funding support by University Auxiliary Services.

Sexuality Week 2006 is coordinated by the Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program of the University Counseling Center and funded by UAlbany's student association. All programs will be presented by or supervised by individuals with expertise in the selected area with the goal of encouraging learning, dialogue and critical thinking to move Middle Earth forward in its mission of prevention education.

In addition to the films and workshops offered throughout Sexuality Week, Project SHAPE: Sexual Health And Peer Education, will be hosting sex exhibits on related topics in the campus center lobby from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. February 3-16.

Friday, Feb. 3

• Film Screening and Conversation with Mya B. and Janell Hobson
  12 p.m., Terrace Lounge, Campus Center
  Chicago native Mya B. will screen her documentary "Silence In Search of Black Female Sexuality in America". Janell Hobson is assistant professor of women's studies at the University at Albany and author of "Venus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture".

Monday, Feb. 6

• "Loveline": Sex Talk at UAlbany, 8 p.m., Dutch Quad Penthouse
  Have your most intimate questions about sexuality answered by a panel of experts and students.

Tuesday, Feb. 7

• "Loveline": Sex Talk at UAlbany, 8 p.m., Colonial Quad Penthouse
  Have your most intimate questions about sexuality answered by a panel of experts and students.

Wednesday, Feb. 8

• Sexual Jeopardy, 8 p.m., Alumni Quad Movie Room
  Modeled after the popular TV game show! Test your IQ on categories such as safer sex, AIDS, STIs, etc.

Thursday, Feb. 9

• "Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad", sponsored by Hillel, time/location TBA
  
  
• Reproductive Health Issues Exhibit, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Campus Center Lobby
  
  
• Sexually Transmitted Infections at SUNY: What You Need to Know if You Are Having Sex… Or Ever Plan To, 1:15 – 2:30 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• "Hope is Not a Method—Or is It?", 2:45 – 4 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• Coming Out Stories, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• Sexual Jeopardy, 8 p.m., Indian Quad Penthouse
  Modeled after the popular TV game show! Test your IQ on categories such as safer sex, AIDS, STIs, etc.

Friday, Feb. 10

• "Of Men and Gods", 12 p.m., Humanities B39
  Screening of the film and discussion of the prevalent, yet taboo, homosexuality and gay culture flourishing within the context of Haiti's Vodou religion.

Monday, Feb. 13

• Contraception Exhibit, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Campus Center Lobby
  
  
• Access Denied: The Future of Roe v. Wade and Reproductive Choice, 1:15 – 2:30 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• "Can We Talk?": A Workshop for Women Only, 2:45 – 4 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• Rape Aggression Defense (RAD), 4:15 – 5:30 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• Confidential HIV/AIDS Testing, 6:30 – 7:45 p.m., Campus Center 375

Tuesday, Feb. 14

• STD Prevention Exhibit, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Campus Center Lobby
  
  
• European Approaches to Sex Education, 1:15 – 2:30 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• Culture and Sex—What Do We Really Know?, 2:45 – 4 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• LGBT/Women's Concerns Fishbowl, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• "Images of Beauty: Illusion vs. Reality" Keynote speaker Kari Wuhrer, 8 p.m., Campus Center Ballroom

Wednesday, Feb. 15

• HIV/AIDS Prevention Exhibit, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Campus Center Lobby
  
  
• Emergency Contraception: What You Need to Know, 1:15 – 2:30 p.m. Campus Center 375
  
  
• Mr. Telephone Man, There's Something Wrong with the Line: A Workshop for Men Only, 2:45 – 4 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• (W)Holy Relationships: What We've Learned at Chapel House about What Works and What Fails, 4:15 – 5:30 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• Helping Careers: Working with the LGBT Population, 6 – 7:30 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  

Thursday, Feb. 16

• Breast & Testicular Cancer Prevention Exhibit, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Campus Center Lobby
  
  
• "Breaking the Silence": Sexual Assault on the College Campus, 1:15 – 2:30 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• Daddy and Papa: A Look at Gay Fathers in America, 2:45 – 4:45 p.m., Campus Center 375
  
  
• Communicating with Your Partner, 5 – 6:15 p.m., Campus Center 375

"The Vagina Monologues" – by Eve Ensler

March 2 and 3, 8 p.m., Page Hall, All tickets are $10

March 5, 2 p.m., Page Hall, All tickets are $10

UAlbany joins over 800 colleges and universities around the world for their V-Day College Initiative with three performances of "The Vagina Monologues." Conducted and funded by the Albany Vagina Women, a group of UAlbany students and alumni working together to end violence against women, the programs have raised over $12,000 in recent years for local rape crisis and domestic violence shelters.

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High-resolution photo available for downloading:
https://www.albany.edu/main/photos/kari_wuhrer.jpg