VOLUME 32, NUMBER 15 THURSDAY, December 7, 2000
ReporterBriefly

send this article to a friend

Last issue

This issue of the Reporter will be the last of the semester.

Regular publication will resume Jan. 18.

Hofher named football coach

 
  Hofher
Jim Hofher, who has 22 years of collegiate coaching experience-including eight as a head coach-has been named head football coach at UB.

Hofher, 43, most recently quarterbacks coach at Syracuse University, spent eight seasons as the head coach at Cornell and is the winningest coach in the Big Red's Ivy League history.

He also has served as an assistant coach at Wake Forest, Miami (Ohio), Tennessee and North Carolina, as well as Syracuse.

"When this process began, we outlined that we were looking for someone with major college experience, who preferably had been a head coach before, had ties to the region for recruiting purposes and was familiar with the Mid-American Conference. In Jim Hofher, we are getting all of that and more," said Bob Arkeilpane, director of athletics.

A native of Xavier, Conn., Hofher earned a bachelor's degree in consumer economics and public policy in 1979 from the College of Human Ecology at Cornell. He was the starting quarterback and led the Big Red in passing yardage from 1976-78. An All-ECAC player, he also earned academic scholarships from Cornell, Psi Upsilon and the Sphinxhead Honorary Society.

Hofher takes over the head-coaching reins from Craig Cirbus, who had served in that role since 1995.

Elayne Wels is first recipient of PSUA excellence award

The Office of Public Service and Urban Affairs will present the first annual Award for Excellence in Civic Responsibility in the City of Buffalo to Elayne G. Wels for her contributions to the Western New York Independent Living Project Inc.

A devoted community volunteer, Wels will be honored at 5 p.m. today in the Butler Executive Development Center for her exceptional leadership skills, as well as her commitment to helping persons with disabilities live more independently.

The award is given in memory of Mildred Francis Lockwood Lacey, a public benefactor who made significant contributions to area institutions and organizations on behalf of community health and welfare.

Manes, Pogossian to perform concert

Pianist Stephen Manes, professor and chair of the Department of Music, and violinist Movses Pogossian, also a member of the music-department faculty, will join together to perform a “Festive Concert” at the monthly meeting of the Emeritus Center, to be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 12 in the South Lounge, 102 Goodyear Hall, South Campus.

The program is open to all members of the UB community.

For more information, contact the Emeritus Center at 829-2271.

PSS to honor retirees

The Professional Staff Senate will host its first UB Retiree Recognition Reception from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Dec. 15 in the Center for Tomorrow, North Campus.

The reception, open to all professional staff members, will honor those who retired from UB between January 1999 and December 2000.

Reservations must be made by tomorrow via email at or by calling 645-2003.

Film series to begin spring run on Jan. 16

Buffalo Film Seminars, the popular series of screenings and discussion of important films from here and abroad, will begin its Spring 2001 season in the Market Arcade Film and Arts Center, but screenings will shift to Tuesday nights at 7 p.m.

The series will open Jan. 16 with King Vidor’s masterful 1925 film classic “The Big Parade,” starring John Gilbert, which will be accompanied on the electronic organ by legendary film organist Philip Carli.

It will be followed by Mervin Leroy’s musical comedy “Gold Diggers of 1933” on Jan. 23, and by “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) on Jan. 30.

The entire series is open to the public for $6.50 (general public) and $4.50 (students and seniors) a ticket. Reduced price series tickets will be available through Jan. 23 in the Market Arcade Theater.

The films are free for those enrolled in the three-credit-hour UB undergraduate course “Contemporary Cinema.” Those wishing to earn college credit in relation to the series should register for the course.

de Russy, Jacobs reappointed

The New York State Senate has confirmed Gov. George E. Pataki’s re-appointment of Candace de Russy and Pamela Jacobs as a members of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

De Russy chairs the board’s Academic Standards Committee and serves on the Executive, Health Sciences and Hospitals committees, the Committee on Charter Schools and the Subcommittee on General Education.

First appointed by Pataki in 1995 to a term that expires this year, de Russy now will fill a seven-year term expiring in 2007.

Jacobs also was appointed to the Board of Trustees by Pataki in 1995. Her re-appointment is for a seven-year term.

She chairs the board’s Student Life Committee and serves on the Investment and University Affairs committees, as well as the Committee on Charter Schools. In 1995, she served on the Rethinking SUNY Operating Revenues/Tuition Committee and also has served on the Chancellor’s Search Committee.

Math welcomed to spine

Noting that the “basic makeup” of the North Campus now is “complete,” President William R. Greiner, other university administrators, faculty and staff on Nov. 30 officially welcomed the Department of Mathematics to the North Campus at the dedication of the new Mathematics Building.

“The campus is made whole by your presence here,” Greiner told math department faculty members and students among a crowd of nearly 150 gathered in a hallway of the adjacent Natural Sciences Complex. Faculty and staff “exhibited a great deal of courage, tenacity and patience” in waiting out a move that took place 38 years after the private University of Buffalo was merged into the SUNY system, he said.

“The Math Department should’ve been here a long time ago.”

Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi agreed, calling mathematics “one of the core disciplines of the liberal arts.”

“We are really happy to have the people that do math up here with the rest of the College (of Arts and Sciences),” she said.

The department had been located in Diefendorf Hall on the South Campus until this past summer, when the new $7.3 million Mathematics Building was completed. The building features an undergraduate tutoring lab and a colloquium room equipped with such technological enhancements as computers, ethernet connects, video equipment, a visualizer and a high-resolution projector.

It also includes four seminar rooms, two computer rooms and space for more than 60 faculty and graduate student offices, each outfitted with the infrastructure required for modern research and instruction in mathematics.

Karen Kopecky, a senior majoring in mathematics and economics, pointed out that the new building provides a “comfortable place for students to study and relax,” and has made faculty members “more accessible,” since they now have offices on the main campus where most undergraduates have their classes.

“I’m happy that more undergraduate math majors will enjoy being part of such a community,” she said.

Samuel D. Schack, professor of mathematics and department chair, asserted that mathematics is the oldest of the academic disciplines, one that is the “vital foundation” for many other fields of study.

“It is entirely appropriate that the department stands at one of the thresholds of this campus,” he said, referring to the building’s location at the west end of the academic spine.

Kerry Grant, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, noted that many individuals played a part in bringing the math department to the North Campus. He singled out in particular Sean Sullivan, vice provost for academic planning and information, and Michael Dupre, associate vice president for university facilities.

“Bullmobile” finishes third

 
  Members of the UB "Chem-E-Car" team show off their entry.
UB students took third place in the annual Chem-E-Car Competition held last month at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ national convention in Los Angeles.

UB’s entry, the “Bullmobile,” competed against 11 other teams from around the nation.

The competition stipulated that a car, powered solely by a chemical reaction and designed within certain criteria, was to travel a given distance while carrying a given load. The distance and load were randomly determined within preset ranges just prior to the start of the competition. Teams also were judged on a poster presentation and the safety merits of each entry.

The UB team had gained the right to participate in the nationals by winning the AIChE’s regional match hosted by the university last spring.

Members of the “Bullmobile” team are Larry Lenz, Mark Przybylski, Scott Boyle, Gary Gomlak, Johannes Remainder, Michael Wolbert, Janine Horn and Luong Luu.

Genkin Philharmonic to play

 
   
The Genkin Philharmonic, an eight-piece, electro-acoustic chamber ensemble directed by two faculty members in the Department of Music and featuring some of the finest students in the department, will perform at 8 p.m. today in Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in the Tri-Main Building, 2495 Main St., Buffalo.

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $3.

The group—directed by Jon Nelson, assistant professor of music, and Jonathan Golove, a lecturer in the department—presents a unique take on the avant-rock compositions of Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Captain Beefheart and King Crimson, the classical modern pieces of Serge Prokofiev and Charles Ives, and works by such living American composers as Vinnie Golia, Frank London and Nick Didkovsky.

The Genkin features Nelson on trumpet, vocals and arrangements; Golove on electric cello; Ken Pasciak on electric guitar; Mark Karwan on bass; Colin Renick on alto sax; Steve Baczkowski on tenor and baritone saxes; Satoshi Takagi on marimba, vibes and percussion, and Andrew Wendzikowski on drums.

In its first year, Genkin was featured in performances in Slee Hall, the Calumet Arts Cafe and the Hallwalls Black-n-Blue Theatre. Highlights of the current season include a tour of the Midwest and a feature concert at the International Trumpet Guild Annual Conference.

The group’s first compact disc is in production, and members have begun preparations for a second.

Women’s Club to host annual holiday party

The International Committee of the UB Women’s Club will host a holiday party for international students from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 12 in Room 210 of the Student Union on the North Campus.

The event—a brunch and social hour—is free, and free parking and shuttle-bus service are available at the Center for Tomorrow and Alumni Arena parking lots.

Students are encouraged to bring friends, spouses and children to the party.

For more information, call Billie Jean Gates at 741-3924 or Usha Mohan at 689-4025.

Fleming Award winners named

Three students have received the J. Scott Fleming Merit Awards for leadership and volunteer efforts that promote student involvement and the student experience.

Five other students received honorable mention in the ceremony held Nov. 17.

Award winners Takiyah Nur Amin, Melissa Burgio and Anna Klimaszewska each received a certificate and a $500 check.

The award, named for a former executive director of the Office of Alumni Relations, is presented by the University Student Alumni Board, student affiliate of the alumni association.

Amin, a senior majoring in dance, has been a delegate to the New York State Student Assembly, Miss Black Student Union and a facilitator with Black Women United.

She has served as a diversity advocate on the Committee for the Promotion of Tolerance and Diversity and a volunteer for the African and Latino bazaars.

Burgio, a junior studying environmental design and psychology, is a teaching assistant in the Department of Anatomical Sciences and for UB 101, and participated in the Leadership Experience and Achievement Program. She is chapter historian for Phi Eta Sigma and secretary for the South Lake Village Council.

Klimaszewska is a senior majoring in international studies and Spanish, with a minor in Polish. President of the Polish Student Association, she is a member of the Outgoing Exchange Team and Model United Nations.

She has participated in the Latin American Student Association, People of Color Dance Competition, PODER and Latinos Unidos.

Receiving honorable mention recognition were Stephen Federico, Laurie Margolus, Sanna Padela, Dina Shafey and Robyn Washousky.

Front Page | Top Stories | Briefly | Q&A | Kudos | Electronic Highways
Sports | The Mail | Events | Current Issue | Comments?
Archives | Search | UB Home | UB News Services | UB Today