Faculty & Staff Excellence

The Fall 2019 Celebration of Faculty and Staff Academic Excellence was held on Thursday, October 31 at 3:30 p.m. in Slee Hall. The ceremony included --

• Welcome by President Satish K. Tripathi
• Remarks by Interim Provost A. Scott Weber
• Recognition of 2019 Faculty/Staff Honorees
• Vibraphone Performance: "Reimagination" (2019), composed and performed by Dr. John Bacon, Department of Music

Registration for the fall 2019 event is closed.

In recognition of exceptional faculty merit, the State University of New York Board of Trustees designates leading State University faculty members as Distinguished Professors. This rank is accorded to faculty who have distinguished their campus and State University communities through outstanding academic contributions, including scholarly publications, national and international research presentations, research findings, and the training of students. The State University of New York Board of Trustees grant Distinguished Teaching Professorships to faculty members whose pedagogical accomplishments are extraordinary. The State University of New York Board of Trustees award Distinguished Service Professorships to those whose outstanding academic careers have included a particular focus on serving the university and its larger constituencies.

• Michel Bruneau, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
• Anthony Campagnari, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
• Gary Giovino, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior
• Errol Meidinger, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Law
• John Richard, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

In 2002, the State University of New York announced the creation of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, designed to recognize outstanding academic and creative achievements across a broad spectrum of scholarly and artistic fields. Recipients of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities are university faculty members who consistently go above and beyond their teaching and professional duties to make extraordinary contributions to their respective fields.

• Diana S. Aga, Department of Chemistry
• Maria Laura Feltri, Department of Biochemistry
• Qiaoqiang Gan, Department of Electrical Engineering
• Shambhu Upadhyaya, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
• Igor Zutic, Department of Physics

The State University of New York announced the inauguration of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Faculty Service in 2004. This newly established honor acknowledges faculty who have made sustained and wide-ranging service contributions to a broad array of university constituents. Recipients of the Award for Excellence in Faculty Service have distinguished themselves through exceptional service to the university and to their communities, as well as to their disciplinary, professional, and faculty governance organizations at the statewide, national, and international levels.

• Peter L. Elkin, Department of Biomedical Informatics
• Karl D. Fiebelkorn, Department of Pharmacy Practice
• Steven D. Schwaitzberg, Deparment of Surgery

Recipients of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, instituted by State University of New York chancellor Ernest L. Boyer in 1973, have demonstrated outstanding teaching ability through superb classroom performance. They are scholars who bring to their classes broad academic interests, rigorous and innovative teaching methodology, and current, far-reaching knowledge. Their concern for students is evidenced by the individual attention they accord each student and by their commitment to helping students to enhance their scholarly and creative abilities and to attain academic excellence.

• Michael E. Duffey, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
• Bina Ramamurthy, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

The State University of New York announced the inauguration of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching in 2013. The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching recognizes consistently superior teaching by adjunct faculty at the graduate, undergraduate, or professional level. Recipients of this award have demonstrated outstanding support for intellectual growth of individual students and the use of relevant contemporary data from their disciplines in their teaching. This recognition is a system-wide acknowledgment of the contributions and dedication to high quality education by adjunct teaching faculty.

• Susan M. Allen, Department of Information Science

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship, first awarded in 1977, is presented to honor exceptional skill-both professional and scholarly-in librarianship. The Award in Librarianship pays tribute to noteworthy contributions to the library profession and extraordinary service to the university.

• Elizabeth Stellrecht, University Libraries

Introduced in 1977, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service honors members of the professional staff whose extraordinary service contributions have significantly enriched the university. The Award in Professional Service is presented to professional staff members who serve energetically, innovatively, and knowledgeably in their fields.

• Matthew Ardila-Weigand, Orientation, Transition and Parent Programs
• Sean Brodfuehrer, Campus Planning
• Kerry Collins-Gross, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
• Christopher S. Connor, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
• Kristin M. Gniazdowski, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Kimberly M. Greenfield, College of Arts and Sciences
• Kimberly Kriz, Department of Electrical Engineering
• Erin O’Brien, School of Management
• Susan M. Snyder, Student Health Services        
• Karyn St. George, University Honors College

Established in 2008, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service gives employees in the Classified Services system-wide recognition of exceptional achievements and superior performance of duties. The award in classified service honors those employees who continuously demonstrate outstanding achievement, commitment to excellence, and exemplary customer service.

• Robert Czubaj, Campus Living
• Lori DuVall-Jackson, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
• Veronica Meyers, School of Public Health and Health Professions

The University is pleased to recognize the following faculty/staff members who recently achieved an exceptional milestone, completing 50 years of service to UB.

• Saul Elkin, Department of Theatre and Dance
• Carlos Feal, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
• Michael Frisch, Department of History
• Maria Runfola, Department of Learning and Instruction

The Office of the Provost created the rank of UB Distinguished Professors to honor full professors who have achieved national or international recognition as experts in their fields of study. UB Distinguished Professors are members of the faculty who have been full professors for a minimum of five years with a demonstrated record of excellence in artistic or scholarly contributions.

• Jochen Autschbach, Department of Chemistry

The Exceptional Scholar Award for Sustained Achievement was created by the University at Buffalo in 2002 to honor outstanding professional achievement that has been focused on a particular body of work over a number of years. This award was created to recognize an unprecedented accomplishment in a senior scholar's career, distinguishing a body of work of enduring importance that has gone beyond the norm in a particular field of study.

• Paul E. DesJardin, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Bing Gong, Department of Chemistry
• Josep M. Jornet, Department of Electrical Engineering
• Jeffrey M. Lackner, Department of Medicine
• Jun Qu, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Ram Samudrala, Department of Biomedical Informatics
• Jun Zhuang, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Introduced in 2002, the University at Buffalo’s Exceptional Scholar Award for Young Investigators celebrates a recent superior achievement of a scholar in his/her field of study. Such an achievement will have distinguished the recipient as an up-and-coming scholar, as well as earned the individual acclaim for his/her work, which could be a published work or other scholastic or artistic endeavor.

• James Chen, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Shi Li, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Established to honor exceptional educational pedagogy, UB’s Award for Teaching Innovation was created in 2003 to recognize faculty who have contributed significantly to engaging students with new methods and approaches to teaching. The award recognizes faculty members whose innovative teaching methods have a demonstrable effect on enhancing student learning-outcomes.

• Jason N. Armstrong, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• James O. Berry, Department of Biological Sciences
• Ramtin Sadid-Zadeh, Department of Restorative Dentistry

Established by the Office of Postdoctoral Scholars in 2009, the Distinguished Postdoc Mentor Award is awarded on an annual basis to faculty members who excel in the mentoring of postdoctoral scholars. A good mentor not only teaches their mentees but also serves as an advocate, advisor and positive role model during the period of direct training and most often, in the following years.

• Omer Gokcumen, Department of Biological Sciences
• David A. Kofke, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

The Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award, established by UB's Graduate School in 2011, annually honors and publicly recognizes exceptional excellence in faculty mentoring of graduate students at UB. Award recipients are faculty members who have demonstrated outstanding and sustained support and development of graduate students from course completion through research and subsequent career placement. Nominees for the award must be current members of the UB Graduate Faculty and have held faculty appointment at UB for at least 5 years.

• Stelios Andreadis, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
• Steven T. Diver, Department of Chemistry

This award, which was established in the Spring of 2011, recognizes the outstanding faculty mentorship that currently exists at UB and seeks to encourage further faculty commitment to and participation in the undergraduate research and creative experience.

• Colleen Culleton, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
• Kwang W. Oh, Department of Electrical Engineering
• David Schmid, Department of English

View a list of past faculty and staff honorees.