This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

Briefs

Published: December 8, 2011

  • Sixth Scholarships Gala raises $157,000

    The 2011 Scholarship Gala raised $157,000 for UB student scholarships, thanks to the more than 360 UB alumni, faculty, staff, friends, and business and community leaders who attended the November event.

    Now in its sixth year, the annual gala was begun in 2006 to raise funds so UB could offer more scholarships to attract the best students, a goal of UB 2020, the university's strategic plan to become a model 21st-century public university. Scholarships are one of the most effective ways to guarantee that top students choose UB.

    Since 2006, the event has raised $974,000 to be used for scholarships across the university. UB distributes some of the funding for scholarships each year, depositing the rest into an endowment to be used by future generations of students.

    President Satish K. Tripathi told gala attendees that their presence at the event supports his vision for academic excellence throughout the university.

    “We consider this one of our top priorities: guaranteeing access to public higher education for deserving students,” Tripathi said. “A first-class education pays large dividends, both socially and economically. But we cannot forget that an increasing number of our students have financial need—even as a college education is more critical than ever.”

  • CFA receives NEA grant

    The Center for the Arts has received a $30,000 Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support a residency program for its Arts in Healthcare initiative.

    The award will support a two-week residency in March by Doug Varone and Dancers and cellist Stephen Katz, who will perform and conduct hands-on activities with patients, staff and families at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo.

    While the CFA has conducted more than a dozen residencies with professional dance companies in which the companies visit schools, primarily in the city of Buffalo, and conduct master classes for UB students, this is the first time the CFA has expanded the residency program to its partners in the Arts in Healthcare initiative: RPCI and Women & Children’s Hospital.

    “This is the first time the Center for the Arts has received a grant from the NEA,” says Thomas Burrows, executive director of the CFA. “Our Arts in Healthcare initiative is a diverse, multidisciplinary program dedicated to transforming health and healing by connecting people with the arts at key moments in their lives.  Support at a national level (from the NEA) truly demonstrates the importance and value of our community outreach activities.”

    The grant to the CFA is one of 863 Art Works grants awarded to organizations and individual writers across the country. The awards total $22.543 million, encompass 15 artistic disciplines and fields, and support projects in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

  • Community development forum planned

    A public forum on “Asset-Based Community Development: Bottom-Up Strategies to Mobilize Buffalo Toward Positive Change” will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 14 in True Bethel Baptist Church, 907 East Ferry St., Buffalo.

    The UB Civic Engagement and Public Policy Initiative is a co-sponsor of the forum, along with the Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo, Partnership for the Public Good, United Partners for Public Education, District Parent Coordinating Council, Grider Street Farmers Market Initiative, Ujima Theatre, Belle Center, Coalition for Economic Justice, Buffalo ReformEd and a collective of individual community advocates.

    The keynote speaker will be Deborah Puntenney, associate director of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University.

    Those interested in attending should RSVP to Megan Connelly at megan@ppgbuffalo.org or 852-4191, ext. 110.