After living most of my life on the academic calendar, there’s a particular pleasure that comes with the start of the fall semester. Although I’m still waiting for the autumnal crispness, but I am experiencing the anticipation for the fall semester, the nervousness of the first day of teaching, and the  excitement of things to come.

Beginning my second year as director of the Technē Institute, I am particularly excited about this fall. Partnering with colleagues across the University, we’ve been able to invite an exciting range of artists and performers this fall, some of whom will be presenting in the Visual Studies Speakers Series and other events around campus. The full list of Technē events for fall is available at http://techne.buffalo.edu/programs/ and the full listing for the Visual Studies Speakers Series is here.

I’m also pleased to welcome the inaugural class of graduate students in Theatre & Performance. After working on this program for the past 5 years, it’s incredibly gratifying to start working with such a talented and energetic group of students.

In my own work, I’m looking forward to coordinating a seminar on digital methodologies, and other presentations, at ASTR in Dallas (November 1-4), giving an invited talk at Cornell later that month, and travel to the University of Zagreb to work with Dramaturgy students in December. Taxonomies: Performance x Media with Jennifer Parker-Starbuck and David Saltz is on its way (hooray for completed manuscripts!) and I’m finishing up my last issue as Performance Review Editor for Theatre Journal (December 2013). Every ending is a new beginning, so it’s on the next writing project looking at the intersection of digital history, performance documentation, and historiography.

Here’s to the start of a great fall semester…