The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching honors "superb" teaching at the undergraduate, graduate or professional level. Recipients are Christina L. Bloebaum, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; Joseph A. Gardella, Jr., professor of chemistry and biomaterials; Francis M. Gasparini, professor of physics and astronomy; Gerald B. Koudelka, associate professor of biological sciences; James R. Meindl, professor of organization and human resources, and Joseph R. Natiella, professor of oral pathology.

They were cited for "mastery of teaching, dedication to students, adherence to the highest academic standards and continued professional growth and scholarship."

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship recognizes "skill in librarianship; service to the campus, the university and to the field; scholarship and professional growth, and major professional achievements." Recipients are Jean S. Decker, head of the serials cataloging section for the UB Libraries Lockwood Memorial Library, and Donald K. Hartman, coordinator for on-line services and associate librarian in the Lockwood Memorial Library Reference and Collection Development Department.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service honors accomplishments and sustained performance excellence, "both within and beyond the position." Recipients are Peter G. Avery, instructional support technician in the Department of Geology; Dennis R. Black, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students; Henry J. Durand, executive director of the Center for Academic Development Services, and Joseph P. Lane, associate director of the Center for Assistive Technology.

Christina Bloebaum was one of only 30 scientists and engineers in the nation this year to be named a Presidential Faculty Fellow. A UB faculty member since 1991, she conducts research in multidisciplinary design synthesis, concurrent engineering and artificial-intelligence applications in optimal design. In these areas, she is working to develop new, more efficient and less costly techniques for design synthesis in complex, multidisciplinary environments, such as in aircraft and automotive design.

Bloebaum is a University Teaching Fellow and a recipient of the Riefler Award, which recognizes outstanding junior faculty at the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Her research has been funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Engineering Foundation and a seed funding program at UB. She earned doctoral, master's and bachelor's degrees at the University of Florida.

Joseph A. Gardella, a UB faculty member since 1982, conducts surface-science research. A former co-director of UB's Industry/University Center for Biosurfaces, Gardella and his co-investigators have developed new surface chemistry for modified Teflon surfaces that could eventually be part of a tissue-regeneration or wound-healing system.

A senior member of the Undergraduate College, Gardella is also chair of the UB Environmental Task Force. He is a recipient of a National Science Foundation Award for Special Creativity. Gardella graduated from Oakland University and earned a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.

Francis Gasparini is a fellow of the American Physical Society, an honor reserved for no more than .5 percent of the 41,000-member society. He has conducted important research in quantum fluids and explored critical behavior and finite-size scaling at the superfluid transition of liquid helium. A UB faculty member since 1973, Gasparini previously conducted research at AT&T Bell Laboratories and was a visiting associate professor in the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics at Cornell University.

A graduate of Villanova University, Gasparini received his doctorate in physics from the University of Minnesota.

Afaculty member since 1988, Gerald Koudelka is project director of the Howard Hughes Undergraduate Biological Sciences Educational Initiative, a $1.5 million grant UB received in 1994 from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to improve undergraduate education in the life sciences. Koudelka conducts research on the molecular genetics of DNA protein interactions, and his work is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

He is an elected member of the steering committee for the UB Center for Advanced Molecular Biology and Immunology. A graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, Koudelka received his doctorate from UB.

James Meindl, a UB faculty member since 1981, also serves as an adjunct professor of psychology at the university. His research interests focus on the social-psychological processes involved in organizing and managing, including decision-making, leadership and motivation, power and influence, and interpersonal and group relations.

He also heads the UB School of Management's Center for International Leadership, which provides leadership training and development for international executives.

Meindl earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology from the University of Rochester and master's and doctoral degrees in social psychology from the University of Waterloo. He was a post-doctoral fellow in organizational behavior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

A UB faculty member since 1968, Joseph Natiella's research interests include tissue repair and regeneration, tissue reaction to synthetic implants and jaw bone augmentation. The recipient of teaching awards from several different dental student groups, he also serves as a clinical associate professor of otolaryngology.

Natiella has presented numerous lectures, papers and continuing education programs, and published many abstracts and articles in scholarly journals.

One of the most influential and skilled members of the UB Libraries staff, Donald Hartman has designed computer systems, designed and developed training programs for colleagues and library users, developed an "extraordinary level of expertise" with successive new information technologies, and spearheaded the introduction of computer databases and CD-ROM technology in Lockwood Library.

Hartman also has been called "a most influential member of the team that created and provides all services in the Business and Government Documents Reference Center in Lockwood Library" and has become a highly effective and productive subject specialist for economics.

Hartman joined the UB library staff in 1984 and, in addition to many journal articles and in-house library publications, has written several books, including "Themes and Settings in Fiction," which has achieved the status of a major cited resource in the study of fiction, and "Historical Figures in FICT on," which also broke scholarly and bibliographic ground in providing effective subject access for fiction.

Hartman is currently at work on a guide to nineteenth-century biographical fiction.

Jean Decker, who joined the UB Libraries staff in 1972, has headed the Serials Cataloguing Section of the libraries since 1975 and in that capacity has developed cataloging systems and procedures that have earned her national recognition.

A distinguished and widely-recognized serialist, she is the author of several publications in her field. Her writings have been praised nationally as "scholarly treatments of subjects that are often timeless...clearly indicative of an in-depth knowledge of serials cataloging, a highly specialized and technical area..."

Among her other accomplishments, colleagues and supervisors cite Decker's achievement of bibliographic control over the serials held in the UB Libraries-a "formidable task" to which Decker devoted herself "with unstinting zest and diligence " over a 20-year period, says UB archivist Shonnie Finnegan.

Peter Avery curates geological collec tions for the Department of Geology. He assists faculty with materials for academic programs and laboratories, serves as assistant curator for the Ice Core Laboratory and coordinates telecommunication and computing functions for the department.

As dean of students and associate vice president for student affairs, Dennis Black is responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating service and development programs for 25,000 students. He oversees numerous student-service units, including the Student Health Center, Office of Student Life, Career Planning and Placement, Judicial Affairs and Greek Affairs.

He also serves as an adjunct assistant professor in the College Student Services/Development Program in the Department of Educational Organization, Administration and Policy in the Graduate School of Education.

Black joined the UB professional staff in 1978 as executive director of Sub Board I, Inc., a student service corporation.

He earned a bachelor's degree in political science and history and a law degree, both from UB.

Henry Durand heads the Center for Academic Development Services, which includes the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and the Special Services Program. EOP provides equal access to UB for educationally and financially disadvantaged students who possess potential for academic success. The Special Services Program provides educational assistance to low-income and/or first-generation college students, as well as the physically handicapped who need academic support to successfully pursue a baccalaureate degree.

He serves as chair of the statewide Council of EOP Directors.

A UB staff member since 1990, Durand also is a senior research associate with the Center for Urban Studies and an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate School of Education.

Durand received a bachelor's degree from Denison University, a master's degree from Xavier University and a doctorate from the University of Cincinnati.

In addition to his position with the Center for Assistive Technology, Joseph Lane serves as director of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Evaluation and Transfer at UB. The RERC has research, business and consumer teams that evaluate prototype assistive devices and then work to bring promising devices to the marketplace.

In 1991, Lane received the Governor's Productivity Award-which cites state employees whose innovative achievements increase productivity and improve management of programs and services-for a grant development program he designed based on collaborative projects that leverage available resources in the state. The program is reported to have advanced the activity of the state's private and public-sector agencies in the field of services to the disabled.

He received a bachelor's degree in psychology and criminal justice from Buffalo State College and an M.B.P.A. degree in marketing and information systems from the University of California at Irvine.