UB to celebrate faculty, staff excellence

The 10th annual Celebration of Faculty and Staff Excellence, a ceremony to mark exceptional achievements of UB faculty and staff, will be held on Oct. 9 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.

The ceremony will begin at 3:30 p.m. with a welcome by President Satish K. Tripathi and remarks by Provost Charles F. Zukoski.

Faculty and staff will be recognized for being named SUNY Distinguished Professors, UB Distinguished Professors and Exceptional Scholars. Individuals also will be honored as recipients of SUNY Chancellor’s Awards, the Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award and the UB Teaching Innovation Award.

A similar ceremony celebrating student excellence will be held in the spring.

A highlight of the faculty/staff celebration will be special recognition of five faculty members who have completed 50 years of service to UB. They are William H. Baumer, Department of Philosophy; Alastair Brownie, Department of Biochemistry; Jean G. Haar, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery; Mirdza E. Neiders, Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences; and David J. Triggle, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemical Pharmacology.

The event will conclude with creative performances by UB faculty members. Those attending are asked to register online.

Six individuals will be recognized as SUNY Distinguished Professors—the most prestigious faculty rank in the SUNY system. They are:

• Francis M. Gasparini, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences
• L. Nelson Hopkins, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (SMBS)
• Paul R. Knight III, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, SMBS
• David A. Kofke, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)
• Daniel J. Kosman, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry, SMBS
• Lynn M. Mather, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor, UB Law School

The Office of the Provost created the rank of UB Distinguished Professor to honor senior faculty members who have achieved national or international recognition as experts in their fields of study. They are:

• Anne B. Curtis, Department of Medicine, SMBS
• Stephen L. Jacobson, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, Graduate School of Education
• Jean-Jacques Thomas, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, CAS
• Joseph P. Valente, Department of English, CAS

The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service honors professional staff members whose extraordinary service significantly enriches the university. Recipients are:

• Edward F. Brodka, Office of Career Services
• Jacqueline T. Hollins, Academic Advisement and Student Advising Services
• William J. McDonnell, School of Architecture and Planning
• Mary Virginia O’Brien, UB Art Galleries
• John J. Wood, Office of International Education

The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities recognizes faculty members who consistently go above and beyond their teaching and professional duties to make extraordinary contributions to their respective fields. Recipients are:

• Richard B. Bankert, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, SMBS
• Chunming Qiao, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SEAS
• Zhen Yan, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, SMBS

The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship is presented to honor exceptional professional and scholarly skills in librarianship. Recipients are:

• David J. Bertuca, Arts and Sciences Libraries
• Charles F. Lyons, Electronic Resources

The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service recognizes classified staff members who continuously demonstrate extraordinary achievement, commitment to excellence and exemplary customer service. Recipients are:

• Teresa P. Dean, Office of Judicial Affairs and Student Advocacy
• Patricia A. Thomann, University Facilities

Recipients of the Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award have demonstrated outstanding and sustained support and development of graduate students, from course completion through research and subsequent career placement. They are:

• Diana S. Aga, Department of Chemistry, CAS
• Suzanne S. Dickerson, School of Nursing
• Thomas H. Feeley, Department of Communication, CAS

The Exceptional Scholar Award for Sustained Achievement recognizes outstanding performance in a recent segment of a senior scholar’s career. Recipients are:

• Joseph L. Izzo, Department of Medicine, SMBS
• Shambhu J. Upadhyaya, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SEAS
• Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, Department of Neurology, SMBS

The Exceptional Scholar Award for Young Investigators recognizes a recent superior achievement of a young scholar in his or her field of study. Such an achievement distinguishes the recipient as an up-and-coming scholar who has earned acclaim for published work or other scholastic or artistic endeavor. Recipients are:

• Jiyoung Park, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Architecture and Planning
• Gesualdo Scutari, Department of Electrical Engineering, SEAS
• Jun Zhuang, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, SEAS

Thomas E. Melendy, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, SMBS, received the Teaching Innovation Award, which honors exceptional education pedagogy and recognizes faculty who have engaged students with innovative methods and approaches to teaching.