University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

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By UB REPORTER STAFF

Published: May 12, 2010

Seven faculty members, two librarians and five staff members have received 2010 SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching honors those who consistently demonstrate superb teaching at the undergraduate, graduate or professional level. Recipients are Alfredo Aguirre, professor in the Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences, School of Dental Medicine; Nancy Campbell-Heider, associate professor, School of Nursing; David L. Fertig, associate professor in the Department of Linguistics, College of Arts and Sciences; Andrew Stott, associate professor in the Department of English, CAS; and Jiyuan Yu, professor in the Department of Philosophy, CAS.

The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities recognizes the work of those who engage actively in scholarly and creative pursuits beyond their teaching responsibilities. Recipients are John M. Canty Jr., Albert and Elizabeth Rekate Chair in Cardiovascular Disease, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Timothy Dean, professor of English and director of the Humanities Institute, CAS.

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 Nancy Babb, associate librarian, Charles Sears Law Library, and John M. Bewley, associate librarian and archivist, Music Library.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service honors professional staff performance excellence "both within and beyond the position." Recipients are Mary Anne Rokitka, associate dean for biomedical undergraduate education, medical school, and Steven L. Shaw, director of international admissions, Office of International Education.

The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service recognizes classified staff members who have consistently demonstrated superlative performance within and beyond their position. Recipients are Elizabeth G. Felmet, administrative assistant, CAS Program Administrative Group; Rose Marie LoGrasso, supervising janitor, Residence Halls and Apartments; and Diane M. Szalda, head account clerk, Student Academic Records and Financial Services.

A UB faculty member since 1991, Alfredo Aguirre is director of the Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences’ Advanced Education Program in Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology. He has balanced teaching with responsibilities that include researching human salivary glands and oral mucosa, and serving as director of UB’s oral pathology biopsy service.

Aguirre is the recipient of the 1997 Educator of the Year award from UB’s Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity and the 1997 Richard A. Powell Award for Teaching Excellence and the 2003 Alan Gross Award for Educator of the Year, both from the UB dental school.

Aguirre has developed courses on advanced oral pathology, oral histology and embryology, and oral mucosal diseases, and has mentored students who have gone on to work in private practice and as faculty members at universities in the United States and abroad. He holds oral pathology certifications and dental surgery doctorates from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and UB. He also holds a diploma in oral medicine from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a master’s degree in oral sciences/sialochemistry from UB.

Nancy Babb joined the Charles Sears Law Library in 2002. She is both a cataloger and manager of the Law Library's Web presence; her research and scholarly activities have incorporated both these arenas, exploring the evolution of traditional practices within the context of technological development and initiatives. The theory of authorship and practice of bibliography are one primary area of exploration; she has published on spirit authorship, with her current research focusing on animal and fictional authorship.

Babb has been an active participant in many committees and projects in the Law Library, the University Libraries and the university communities. She has been a guest lecturer for UB’s Discovery Seminar Program and is an ongoing contributor to the UB Reporter’s “Electronic Highways” column.

A member of both the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and the Association of Law Libraries of Upstate New York (ALLUNY), she serves as vice president/president elect of ALLUNY, as well as its webmaster and education chair. She also has been editor of the ALLUNY newsletter and chair of the National Council of Newsletter Editors, as well as webmaster for several national committees.

Babb earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Buffalo State College and a master’s degree in library science from UB. She volunteers with several local animal rescue organizations.

John M. Bewley joined UB’s Music Library in 1998 and has overseen cataloging of music literature, as well as processed and provided access to archival holdings. He also has overseen implementation of encoded archival description standards in finding aids for the University Libraries, applying such standards to such collections as the J. Warren Perry Collection of Ballet Photographs, Michael Pugliese Papers and Jan Williams Collection of Annotated Scores.

Bewley has created and managed 18 digital collections and helped curate more than a dozen exhibits related to music. He has taught music department courses, among them Music Librarianship and Music Bibliography, and has supervised students working on projects that have included the creation of databases for photograph and program collections, and the production of interview summaries and transcripts for lectures by prominent composers in the Slee Lecture Series.

Bewley holds a bachelor’s degree in music composition from the Boston Conservatory of Music, Drama and Dance; a master’s degree in music composition from the University of Cincinnati; and a master’s degree in library studies and a PhD in music composition and theory, both from Rutgers.

Nancy Campbell-Heider joined UB’s School of Nursing in 1988. She is chair of the graduate department and director of the master’s and doctor of nursing practice programs (DNP). Additionally, she is acting program coordinator for the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) program.

Previously director of the Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program in the nursing school, Campbell-Heider was project director on a million-dollar training grant funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that enhanced mental health education curriculum in the FNP program. During the 10 years she headed the FNP program, she received $3.4 million from the Health Resources and Services Administration in HHS for educational training of FNPs. Most recently, she was project director for a Knowledge Dissemination Grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, which funded an annual education conference for the International Nurses Society on Addictions titled “Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment: Working with the Criminal Justice Systems.”

She has received numerous awards, among them the Individual of Distinction in Addictions Education, 5th Annual Addictions Education Award from the Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers of New York State, the Outstanding Contributions to Education in Addictions Nursing Award from the International Nurses Society on Addictions and the Mecca Cranley Excellence in Teaching Award from the School of Nursing.

Campbell-Heider earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Winona State College in Minnesota and a master’s and PhD from the University of Rochester.

In addition to the Rekate Chair, John M. Canty serves as director of UB's Center for Research in Cardiovascular Medicine, chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He holds faculty appointments as professor of physiology and biophysics, and biomedical engineering.

He also heads the Cardiovascular Disease Group in UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, serves on several UB 2020 committees and is a member of the UBMD faculty practice plan.

Canty is recognized internationally for his research, which has led to novel approaches to repair diseased heart muscle and grow new blood vessels, as well as to better identify patients at risk of developing sudden cardiac arrest. He has served on many National Institutes of Health and Veterans Administration peer-review committees, and is a member of the editorial boards of a number of scientific journals. A Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, he also has been elected to the prestigious Association of University Cardiologists.

A graduate of the UB medical school, Canty is an attending cardiologist at the VA Medical Center, Erie County Medical Center and Kaleida Health. He received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the UB Alumni Association in 2008 for his service to UB and for his research.

A member of the UB English faculty since 2002, Tim Dean’s interdisciplinary work and interests connect the fields of poetry and psychoanalysis. As the director of the Humanities Institute, he brings together faculty members from varied fields to think about cross-disciplinary problems. He was a Humanities Institute Faculty Fellow In 2007.

Dean has authored three books, the first of which, “Gary Snyder and the American Unconscious: Inhabiting the Ground,” stemmed form his BA thesis. His latest book, published by the University of Chicago Press, is “Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking.” He has been a recipient of a Fulbright Travel Grant and a summer fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

He received a bachelor’s degree in American studies from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and master’s and doctoral degrees in English and American literature from The John’s Hopkins University.

Elizabeth G. Felmet began her career at UB in 1978 as a keyboard specialist in the University Libraries. In 1990, she accepted a position as senior typist in University Human Resources, then assumed the position of assistant to the chair for the Department of Art History in the College of Arts and Sciences. She currently serves as office manager for CAS’ Program Administration Group, supporting seven program directors in the college, including Asian, Jewish, Caribbean and Polish Studies, the Humanities Institute, the Digital Humanities Institute and the new Confucius Institute.

Felmet has been a member of several university-wide committees during her career at UB, including the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Committee’s subcommittee on sexual harassment, and has served as the civil service representative on the Library Administrative Council.

A UB faculty member since 1994, David L. Fertig is associate professor of linguistics specializing in Germanic languages. He is director of language programs in the Department of Linguistics, directs the department’s German language program and co-directs UB's Graduate Group for German and Austrian Studies.

Fertig is the author of “Morphological Change up Close: Two and a Half Centuries of Verbal Inflection in Nuremberg,” published by Niemeyer in 2000. He has given many scholarly talks on linguistic issues, with a special interest in morphological change and variation in German, English and other Germanic languages and dialects.

He has worked with local German-American organizations to promote the teaching of German in public schools, and helped organize the 2005 visit to Buffalo of the Consul General of Austria, Brigitta Blaha.

Fertig holds a PhD from the University of Michigan.

Rose Marie LoGrasso joined UB more than 32 years ago as a cleaner, hauling and emptying trash and scrubbing bathrooms, before becoming a manager. Today, her duties include overseeing about 20 employees and inspecting the work of crews that clean Goodyear, Clement, MacDonald, Pritchard and Schoellkopf halls on the South Campus. She also helps to ensure that all repair and maintenance needs in her buildings are reported.

Colleagues laud LoGrasso for showing appreciation for her staff. She has organized employee recognition events with awards that include letters and ribbons, and has established an annual tradition of taking workers out to breakfast at Amherst’s Family Tree restaurant—using her own money.

A clinical professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Mary Anne Rokitka began her academic career at UB in 1973 as a research associate in hyperbaric physiology. She has studied such topics as the sensitivity of terrestrial snails to ambient water vapor and temperature, and served as a co-investigator for space shuttle studies designed to evaluate the time course of cardiovascular deconditioning during exposure to weightlessness.

Rokitka has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on such subjects as environmental physiology and life in space. She has served as director of the Hospital Nursing Program; assistant to the vice president for health sciences; acting dean of the Division of Undergraduate Academic Services; associate dean of the Undergraduate College; and assistant dean of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She is the recipient of the First Annual Dr. Mary Anne Rokitka Award and the Charles W. Shilling Award from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society.

She is the recipient of the 1993 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 2004 Milton Plesur Excellence in Teaching Award from the undergraduate Student Association.

Rokitka holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Medaille College and a master’s degrees in natural sciences and biology and a PhD in biology, both from UB. Prior to starting her university career, she taught biology, chemistry, physics and earth science for several years at secondary schools in upstate New York.

As director of the Office of International Admissions, Steven L. Shaw is responsible for developing and refining the office’s highly specialized, credential-evaluation capacity, processing workflow, filing system and procedures, and communications strategy and systems for both prospective students and academic units.

Shaw supports a variety of international programs, including the School of Management’s master’s degree program in Bangalore, India, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ dual-diploma programs with Istanbul Technical University.

He began his international career as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English as a foreign language in Thailand. He joined UB in 1992 to direct the university’s English Language Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He subsequently served as resident director of UB’s American Studies Degree Program at Stamford College, Malaysia. He was appointed director of international admissions in 1999.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho and earned a master’s degree from University of Washington.

Andrew M. Stott is director of undergraduate studies and director of the MA program, both in the Department of English. His research and teaching focus on early modern British literature and comedy, including British entertainment culture from the 16th to the 18th centuries; the emergence of industrialized entertainment industries; clowning and pantomime; and Shakespeare and renaissance drama.

Stott is the author of three books, most recently “The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Madness, Laughter and the Story of Britain’s Greatest Comedian,” published by Canongate Books in 2009. The title was shortlisted for the Society for Theatre Research Book Prize, and won the prestigious Royal Society of Literature/Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction, as well as the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography.

Stott is a 2010-2011 Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Fellow for the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library in New York City. He earned a PhD in English from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom.

With 35 years of service at UB, Diane Szalda works in Academic Records and Financial Services. She was named head account clerk In 1998, managing a team of six employees. She and her staff are responsible for the financial accounts of more than 25,000 students during each university billing cycle.

Szalda is a co-functional lead for student financials with the Student Services Transformation (SST) initiative, part of UB 2020. In her SST role, she’s helping to configure a new student financial system that will fundamentally change how student services are delivered at UB.

Jiyuan Yu joined the UB philosophy faculty in 1997. He specializes in ancient Greek philosophy, Chinese philosophy and comparative philosophy, and speaks, reads or writes five languages: ancient and modern Chinese, English, ancient Greek and Italian.

The recipient of numerous awards, including the 2002 UB College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2002 UB Exceptional Scholar Award, Yu has taught graduate seminars and undergraduate courses on such topics as Aristotle, Plato and Chinese philosophy. He has supervised PhD candidates who have gone on to serve on the faculties of universities in the United States and abroad.

Vice president of the International Society of Chinese Philosophy Yu has authored, edited or translated more than a dozen books in English and Chinese, including several works on Plato and Aristotle. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Shandong University and a master’s degree from Renmin University, both in China. He holds a perfezionamento from Italy’s Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and a PhD from Canada’s University of Guelph.