News
Fourteen receive Chancellor’s Award
-
Print -
Comments
-
Elizabeth Adelman
-
Paschalis Alexandridis
-
Erin Bailey
-
Michael Basinski
-
John Cerne
-
Ceci Cirincione
-
Ernesto DeNardin
-
Paul Knight
-
Peter Rittner
-
Julie Smith
-
Charles Stinger
-
Debra Anne Street
-
Letitia Thomas
-
Dawn Townsend
Seven faculty members, four professional staff and three classified staff members are recipients of 2011 SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence.
The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service recognizes “the consistently superior service contributions of teaching faculty” sustained over a period of time. This year’s recipient is Charles L. Stinger, professor in the Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences, and the college’s senior associate dean.
The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities recognizes those who have demonstrated “a record of sustained scholarship in the sciences, humanities and professional studies, or consistent creative productivity in the fine and performing arts.”
Recipients are Paschalis Alexandridis, UB Distinguished Professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Paul R. Knight III, professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes faculty who have demonstrated “superb skill in teaching.” Recipients are John Cerne, associate professor, Department of Physics, CAS; Ernesto DeNardin, professor in the Department of Oral Biology, School of Dental Medicine; and Debra Anne Street, professor in the Department of Sociology, CAS.
The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship honors “skill in librarianship; service to the campus, the university and to the field; scholarship and professional growth; and major professional achievements.” This year’s recipient is Elizabeth G. Adelman, an associate librarian with the UB Law Library.
There are four recipients of the Chancellor’s Award for Professional Service, which honors recipients for their excellence both within and beyond the position. They are Erin Bailey, director of grant management in the School of Social Work; Michael Basinski, curator of the university’s Poetry Collection; Peter Rittner, associate dean for educational technology, CAS; and Letitia Thomas, assistant vice provost and director of Cora P. Maloney College.
The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service—first awarded in 2009—is presented to classified staff members who have consistently demonstrated superlative performance within and beyond their positions. Recipients are Carolanne “Ceci” Cirincione, presidential events assistant, Office of the President; Julie Smith, administrative assistant, Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement; and Dawn Townsend, graduate secretary, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
Elizabeth G. Adelman joined UB’s Charles B. Sears Law Library nearly five years ago as head of collection management and a visiting associate librarian. She has served as the library’s acting and interim director at various times. She was named associate director of the Law Library and head of collection management in August 2009.
Adelman came to UB from the Georgia State University College of Law Library. She received her law degree from Albany Law School and a master’s in library science and a bachelor’s degree in history, both from UB.
Adelman currently serves on UB’s Libraries Collections Committee and the University Libraries Communications Team. In addition, she has co-authored two legal research books and is working with a co-author on the second edition of “New York Legal Research.” She also has written numerous articles and electronic legal research tutorials, called “CALI Lessons.”
Paschalis Alexandridis is a double Chancellor’s Award winner, having been the recipient of the award for excellence in teaching in 2006. He began his career at UB as an assistant professor in 1997 and was named a UB Distinguished Professor in 2009. He has served on the Faculty Senate and the University Faculty Senate Graduate and Research Committee.
Alexandridis’ research aims to create and manipulate molecular organization at the nano-scale and organization at the micron-scale of nano-objects. His expertise has a wide range of applications in pharmaceuticals, coatings, inks and thermoplastic elastomers.
He holds six patents and has published two books, as well as dozens of articles in peer publications. Last fall, he was named the recipient of the Jacob F. Schoellkopf Award, given annually by the Western New York section of the American Chemical Society in recognition of outstanding work and service in the fields of chemistry or chemical engineering.
Erin Bailey has been employed at UB since 1998. She currently serves as the manager and senior departmental administrator of the Buffalo Center for Social Research in the School of Social Work, where she is responsible for the day-to-day management of the center and administration of all research grants and contracts, both pre- and post-award.
Recognizing a need for training for research administrators, Bailey initiated universitywide continuing education related to research administration, compliance and training for research administrators and project faculty. This training has developed into a certificate program that draws research administrators from not only UB but also surrounding institutions.
A member of the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA), Bailey currently serves as chair of the NCURA Departmental Administrators Neighborhood, treasurer elect for NCURA Region II and a member of the Region II program and steering committees.
A graduate of UB’s Department of English, Michael Basinski began his career at UB as a lecturer in the mid-1970s in the old “experimental college” system, teaching for Tolstoy College. He has worked in the Poetry Collection since 1986, and handles a wide range of duties as curator.
He has written articles on poets like John Logan, and such poetry outsiders as Charles Bukowski and Gerald Locklin. He also has written on poetry’s alternative literary and zine cultures, and on little literary magazines. He performs his work as a solo poet and in ensemble with BuffFluxus.
Among his numerous books of poetry are “Poems Popeye Papyrus” (Slack Buddha Press), “Of Venus 93” (Little Scratch Pad) and “All My Eggs Are Broken” (BlazeVox). His poems, reviews, sound works and visual poetry have appeared in numerous magazines, including Dandelion, BoxKite, the Village Voice and Poetry. His visual poetry—what he calls his “opems”—are on view in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery as part of the current “Surveyor” exhibition, as well as at the Text Festival in Bury, England.
Physicist John Cerne’s research focuses on such materials as diluted magnetic semiconductors, magnetic oxides and high temperature superconductors. He and his team have developed new, experimental and analytical techniques that promise to offer new insight into such materials.
Cerne’s innovative teaching methods include developing new lecture demonstrations that engage students, graphic interactive simulations that help students learn basic concepts in physics and the Magneto-Polarimetry Advanced Lab course. He regularly employs Mazur’s Peer Instruction in his courses to actively engage students.
Cerne’s conceptual learning approach for the topic of waves features new interactive, web-based simulations to explain basic concepts. The effort began with Java programs he wrote to explain the polarization of light. He has continued that project with a local high school teacher to develop an interactive website that can be used by the public to learn about waves and polarized light.
Carolanne “Ceci” Cirincione joined UB in 1989 as a keyboard specialist I in the Department of Neurosurgery providing staff support for the department’s neurosurgeons and residents, and helping to prepare grant applications and assist with research for journal publications. She moved to the Office of the President in 1999, and now works as a presidential events assistant, providing support for a variety of major events, including commencement and the Distinguished Speakers Series.
She is a member of the Association of Collegiate Conference and Events Directors International.
Ernesto DeNardin joined the UB faculty in 1992 after receiving master’s and doctoral degrees from Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s Graduate Division and serving as a postdoctoral fellow in the UB Department of Oral Biology.
Director of the School of Dental Medicine’s master’s program in oral sciences, he currently teaches first- and second-year medical and dental students.
DeNardin’s research has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health for 21 years. His areas of interest are immunology, inflammation and the role of genetic polymorphisms in host response. He is working with a co-author on a textbook titled “Contemporary Clinical Immunology,” and is associate editor of the journal Immunological Investigations.
Paul R. Knight’s research focuses on the effects of inhalation anesthetics on lung function, with specific emphasis on the relationship between anesthetics and viral infection, and the inflammatory process in lung tissue following the inhalation of vomit due to surgery or accidental causes.
A prolific scholar, Knight has published 115 papers in premier peer-review journals in the field, and was editor of the seventh edition of Wylie and Churchill-Davidson’s “A Practice of Anesthesia,” the premier textbook in anesthesiology.
He joined the UB faculty in 1992 as a professor of anesthesiology and microbiology and chair of the Department of Anesthesiology. He served as chair until 1998, when he stepped down to devote more time to research and clinical activities. He continues to maintain administrative duties in the department, serving as senior vice chair for research and director of the Medical Scientist Training Program—the MD/PhD program.
Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Peter Rittner immigrated to Miami with his family when he was 6. At age 17, he entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating four years later and becoming the first member of his family to earn a college degree. As a senior, he won MIT’s highest student honor for achievement in citizenship and devotion to the school.
Rittner has served as assistant dean for educational technology for the College of Arts and Sciences since 2001. He administers CASet, the unit responsible for delivering educational technology services to the college’s full- and part-time faculty and staff.
He also directs the newly formed prototype SuperNode, comprised of the information technology organizations supporting CAS, the School of Architecture and Planning, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In addition, he leads the universitywide Workstation Standards Committee, which sets student hardware and software standards.
Rittner joined the UB professional staff in 1993 as assistant for strategic planning to Hinrich Martens, associate vice president for computing and information technology. During that time, he was a principal author of “Vision ’99,” the university’s first five-year strategic plan for educational and information technology.
Julie Smith has been a member of the UB classified staff for 26 years, beginning in what was then known as the Student Development Program Office and is now called Student Life. She now works in Student Life’s Center for Student Leadership and Community Engagement as administrative assistant to Associate Director Amy Wilson.
Smith advises two student organizations: the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society and UB Against Cancer. She’s also a part of the UB CORE (Community OutReach for Employees) volunteerism program and volunteers in her community regularly.
Charles Stinger has been a key administrator in the College of Arts and Sciences since its founding in 1998, serving as senior associate dean from 1998-2001, and again since 2003. Stinger, who led the college as interim dean from March 2001 to July 2002, will be leaving the dean’s office next month and formally retiring from the university in January 2012—wrapping up a 38-year career at UB.
His recent work in the dean’s office has focused on faculty affairs: Over the years, he has been involved with the promotion of more than 300 faculty members.
A specialist in early modern European culture and society, Stinger was a recipient of the Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize in Italian History from the American Historical Association for the Renaissance in Rome.
Debra Anne Street’s research interests include health and income security, long-term care, and families and aging. She is an honorary member of the Golden Key Society, an award for which she was nominated by students in recognition of excellence in undergraduate teaching.
Her recent published research has focused on the health care workforce, long-term residential care and the impact of planning, public programs and tax policies on health and income security over the course of a person’s life. She co-chairs the Health, Health Policy and Health Services Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and serves on the executive council of the Section on Aging and the Life Course of the American Sociological Association.
A UB professional staff member since 1993, Letitia Thomas served as student services coordinator for the Collegiate Science & Technology Entry Program and as academic advisor for the Daniel Acker Scholars Program before becoming director of Cora P. Maloney College, a unique unit at UB that provides residential and academic support and programs to students underrepresented in higher education.
Her community involvement includes serving as vice president of the board of directors for Bethel Head Start, a comprehensive, community-based child development program for 3-to-5-year-old children and their families. She has been recognized for her work with INROADS, a career development organization for diverse students, receiving the Educator of the Year award in both 1995 and 2002 from the upstate New York affiliate.
She holds master’s degrees in educational administration and sociology, and a doctorate in sociology, all from UB.
Dawn Townsend began working at UB in 2002 as the graduate admissions secretary in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. She became graduate secretary in 2006, assuming as duties appointment processing and helping students with their obligations outside the classroom, including ensuring they register for the right courses and complete the appropriate paperwork related to their degree.
Reader Comments