3 UB Professors Named SUNY Distinguished Professors

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Three faculty members at the University at Buffalo have been named Distinguished Professors, the highest rank in the State University of New York system, by the SUNY Board of Trustees.

Diane R. Christian, Ph.D., professor of English, has been named a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor. Peter H. Hare, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, and Charles V. Paganelli, Ph.D., professor of physiology, each have been named a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor.

Diane R. Christian, an internationally recognized scholar and filmmaker known for her commitment to connecting literary and philosophical works to current social and political concerns, has been a member of the UB faculty since 1970.

Her prize-winning documentary films, for which she has received consistent private, corporate, state and federal funding, are known for their circumspect, yet deliberately activist, ethical orientation. They deal with subjects ranging from the condemned inmates on Death Row, to ex-nuns, to the poet Robert Creeley.

The author or co-author of three books, Christian has published numerous articles and presented more than 50 film screenings, film lectures, scholarly talks, seminars and conferences in locations ranging from Helsinki, Finland, to the University of Southern California.

Since 1970, she has taught a course on the Bible as literature, which over the past 25 years has become the most popular class in the UB English department.

Christian is director of UB's Ph.D. Program in Folklore, Mythology and Film Studies; an adjunct professor of comparative literature, and associate director of the Center for Studies in American Culture. She has presented numerous lectures and seminars at prestigious institutions that include the Chautauqua Institution and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, as well as at colleges and schools.

She received her bachelor's degree from Nazareth College of Rochester and her master's and doctoral degrees from The Johns Hopkins University. She is a Buffalo resident.

Since joining the UB faculty in 1962, Peter H. Hare has served in a number of leadership positions, including 13 years as chair of the Department of Philosophy, from 1971-75 and 1985-94.

Hare's service to the field of philosophy has contributed to the development of the work of colleagues around the world and has put the UB Department of Philosophy on the international map. Through his guidance and leadership, the UB philosophy department has become unique among American universities, strong in traditional European branches of study while benefiting from the scholarship of outstanding Latin-American and Asian philosophers as well.

Considered one of the primary movers among those devoted to the study of American philosophy, Hare has received numerous professional honors and awards, including the Herbert W. Schneider Award of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, presented in 1996 "for distinguished contributions to the understanding and development of American philosophy."

Internationally known for his work, he has developed an important relationship with the philosophy department at Moscow State University, the most prestigious Russian philosophy program, and in 1989 was a visiting professor there. He received the National Endowment for the Humanities award for the 1990 Conference on the American Philosophy Tradition as Interpreted and Used in Other Countries.

Dedicated to the education and well-being of graduate students, Hare has supervised more than 56 doctoral dissertations.

He is the author or editor of seven books, including his 1968 book, co-authored with Edward Madden, "Evil and the Concept of God." In addition, Hare has published more than 50 articles and served on a number of editorial boards and professional societies.

Hare received his bachelor's degree from Yale University and his master's and doctoral degrees from Columbia University. He is a Buffalo resident.

Charles V. Paganelli, a member of the UB faculty since 1958, is highly respected as a leader in departmental and university service. Since 1991, he has served as interim chair of physiology, a position he also held from 1980-82 and in 1986. He was associate chair of the department from 1976-80 and 1982-91.

Paganelli was a member of UB's Faculty Senate for more than a decade, including a one-year term on the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. He also was a member of the steering committee for the self-study that led to UB's 1982 Middle States accreditation.

From 1984-86, he served as chair of the President's Review Board on Appointments, Promotions and Tenure, the body that makes recommendations to the president on all tenure, promotion and permanent-appointment cases.

As a member of several committees for the university's five health professions schools, Paganelli has helped to shape the role of those schools in the university's mission.

An active researcher, he has brought more than $5.7 million in awards to the university. His research in areas including environmental influences on cardiopulmonary and cellular functions has taken him to locations that include the Marshall Islands, Midway Islands, Alaska and Hawaii.

Highly regarded throughout the world, he has presented lectures in Denmark, France, Switzerland, Italy, Israel, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, as well as throughout the United States. His lecture topics have included nephrology, gastroenterology and use of micro-computers in physiology teaching.

Paganelli has published more than 70 articles in professional journals and is co-editor of the book "Physiology Function in Special Environments."

His professional memberships include the American Physiological Society and the Undersea Medical Society. In 1995, he received the dean's award of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the Student National Medical Association Award.

Paganelli holds an A.B. from Hamilton College and master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard University.

He is a resident of Williamsville.