Tuesday, April 22, 2014: The Barbara Karkabi Living Archives: Women in Theater (11:30am - 1pm) Rockwell Pavilion, MD Anderson Library

A Panel Discussion with Diane Barber,
Amanda Baumle (UH), Jenifer Bratter (Rice),
Karen Niemeier, Assata Richards 
Moderator: Elizabeth Gregory

Diane Barber is an Independent Curator with more than 20 years of experience in the Visual Arts. Projects include major exhibitions with an international roster of artists presented in arts organizations, galleries, universities, schools, and other public spaces and institutions. Prior to working independently, Barber served as Co-Director/Visual Arts Curator of DiverseWorks ArtSpace (Houston, TX). During her 14-year tenure, Barber curated more than 65 exhibitions for DiverseWorks giving particular emphasis to commissioning new works and site-specific installations and to developing programs with charged cultural and political undertones. Prior, Barber served as Exhibitions/Publications Coordinator for FotoFest International, the largest photography biennial in the United States.

Professional affiliations include the Warhol Initiative, NPN’s Visual Arts Network, the NAMAC 2009 Leadership Institute, the Advisory Board of FotoFest, the Board of Directors of the Friends of Women’s Studies at the University of Houston, and ArtTable. She is past board president of the National Association of Artist Organizations and former Chairman of the Houston Coalition for the Visual Arts. Barber is also a founding member of the Independent Arts Collaborative, a Houston-based organization working to develop a multi-tenant arts complex in Houston’s urban core.

Jenifer L. Bratter is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Rice University. She is also the founding director of the Program for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Culture (PSERC) of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research (formerly known as Race Scholars). Her research explores the implications of race and racial mixing (i.e. interracial families, multiracial identity) in the areas of family, identity, and social inequality. Current projects focus on indicators of social well-being such as poverty, residential segregation, and health and the new ways that race is linked to these phenomena. She had been awarded the 2009 Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation for Career Enhancement to study patterns of residential segregation for mixed-race families. Dr. Bratter has recently published works appearing in Demography, Journal of Marriage and Family, Social Forces, Family Relations, Population Research and Policy Review, and several upcoming book chapters. Dr. Bratter received her Ph.D. from University of Texas at Austin.

Amanda K. Baumle is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Houston. She received her J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. Her research and teaching are focused in the areas of demography and the sociology of law, with a focus on issues involving gender and sexuality. She is the author of Sex Discrimination and Law Firm Culture on the Internet: Lawyers at the 'Information Age Water Cooler' (Palgrave Macmillan 2009), which examines attorneys' use of legal discourse in an Internet community as a vehicle for challenging gender discrimination. She is also the coauthor of Same-Sex Partners: The Demography of Sexual Orientation (SUNY 2009), which draws on 2000 U.S. Census data to examine the manner in which sexual orientation affects a variety of demographic processes. Dr. Baumle is the editor for the first handbook on the demography of sexuality, the International Handbook of the Demography of Sexuality (Springer Press 2013), which examines the manner in which traditional demographic outcomes are affected by sexual behavior, identity, desires. Dr. Baumle’s current work includes a book manuscript (coauthored with D’Lane R. Compton) which examines the legal consciousness of same-sex parents, including the manner in which the law affects the decision to become a parent, the method of becoming a parent, and everyday parenting decisions for same-sex parents (forthcoming 2014, NYU Press).

Born in State College, Pennsylvania, Karen Niemeier is a longtime Houstonian and resident of Houston’s historic Eastwood neighborhood. Niemeier is active in her community and served on the Eastwood Civic Association board of directors from 2004-2008, where she was vice-president for one year and president for two years. In 2012, Niemeier was appointed by Mayor Annise Parker to the Harrisburg Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ #23) board of directors, where she serves as secretary. She is also a mayoral-appointee to the Houston MediaSource board of directors, where she serves on the organization’s executive committee as treasurer/secretary. Niemeier has also served on the board of Houston’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (METRO) Public Art District Selection Committee, and the Greater East End Management District’s Strategic Visioning Steering Committee.

Niemeier is Contracts Director at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, where she is responsible for negotiating research agreements and facilitating sponsored research on behalf of the institution’s scientists and faculty. Prior to joining UT, Niemeier spent 10 years directing operations for an international litigation management company, where she managed contract negotiations, client relations, marketing strategy, and government relations for the firm in the United States and Puerto Rico.Niemeier is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Advertising.

Assata Richards is a native of Houston, Texas and some of childhood in a small community in East Texas, County Line. After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Houston, she earned a Master’s and Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in Sociology with concentration on political and community participation, research methods and mass incarceration. After serving as a faculty member at University of Pittsburgh, she has returned to her community in Houston, Texas, where she is living and working with Project Row Houses (PRH), a non-profit arts organization established by African-American artists & community activists in Houston's historic Third Ward. PRH is founded on the principle that art-and the community it creates-can be the foundation for revitalizing depressed inner-city neighborhoods for the mutual good of existing and future residents’. As a scholar and community organizer, she is fulfilling her lifelong commitment to social change and justice. Assata is the founding director of the Sankofa Research Institute whose mission is to create knowledge and build community. Also, Assata serves as the vice chair of the Houston Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and is an adjunct professor at the University of Houston. Finally, she was a candidate in the 2013 municipal elections for Houston City Council.