Geraghty is the winner of the 2004 Students Award for Promotion of Respect for Diversity and Individual Differences. This award, developed by the President's Council on Equity and Campus Diversity, recognizes those who make special efforts to increase respect for diversity. She will receive the award at a recognition luncheon this month.

Her most recent effort in exploring diversity will be showcased at the 2004 New York Eleven Student Exhibition. The exhibition is a yearly lobbying effort for licensure of interior designers and is held at Albany's legislative office building. Buffalo State College was chosen to participate in the exhibition amongst 10 other Foundation for Interior Design Education Research accredited schools. Their goal is to design visual demonstrations to exemplify diversity.

For more information on FIDER:

www.fider.org

“The purpose is so that legislatures can see that there is a lot more to interior design than picking curtains,” said Geraghty.

Each student was given the task of researching a particular culture, religion or tradition, and creating three drawings that demonstrate the culture they've chosen. The work of all 15 BSC design students will be displayed as a cultural collage. The collage will define such cultures as the Japanese Sukia, Italian Renaissance, Australian Aboriginal, French Gothic and traditional African.

Design student Yvonne Beliveau felt that participating in the exhibit was a great help to her because it taught team work, time management and provided feedback about her work.

She also noticed that she experienced plenty of diversity within her own classroom.

“It was interesting that we all had a different culture, but all being given the same project, it's amazing to sit back and see 15 people that you see everyday, how different each project came out,” she said.

This art work will not only be used in the Albany exhibition, but also to serve another purpose.

• These designs will be used in a future project that BSC is involved in with the West Side Community Collaborative called The Civic Engagement Project, which promotes learning in service of community.
• Their goal is to create a cultural center in Buffalo's West Side.
• They've come up with the idea of putting small kiosks of different cultures throughout empty plots of land all over the West Side, creating a walking tour that could coincide with the garden tour of Richmond Avenue.

For more information on the CEP:

www.buffalostate.edu/insider/
index.asp?article=1356&vol=4

For more information on the WSCC:

www.daemen.edu/offices/ grants/newsletters/03-24-03.html

Email: pizans94@buffalostate.edu