UB to celebrate 154th commencement
Wels, Denman to receive UB's highest award, the Chancellor Charles Norton Medal

By MARY BETH SPINA
News Services Editor

The Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal, UB's highest award, will be given to Philip B. Wels, a UB alumnus and respected surgeon long active in community and university affairs, and posthumously to the late Hon. M. Dolores Denman, a UB Law School graduate and noted jurist, during UB's 154th general commencement, to be held at 10 a.m. May 14 in Alumni Arena on the North Campus.

The State University of New York honorary Doctor of Laws degree will be conferred on The Hon. Thomas Buergenthal, a former member of the UB law faculty and U.S. representative on the International Court of Justice at the Hague, at the UB Law School commencement at 5 p.m. May 14 in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

UB pharmacy alumnus John N. Kapoor, president of the health-care conglomerate EJ Financial Enterprises and chief executive officer of Akorn, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, will receive the SUNY honorary Doctor of Science degree at the School of Pharmacy commencement at 1 p.m. May 13 in Slee Concert Hall on the North Campus.

U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer will deliver the general commencement address. Other speakers will be President William R. Greiner and Betty Voltaire, recipient of the Division of Student Affairs Senior Leadership Award.

Schumer, who is serving his first term in the Senate and is a member of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; the Judiciary Committee, and the Rules Committee, is a powerful advocate of anti-violence measures that guard against domestic abuse, hate crimes and terrorism.

Among the speakers at UB's 13 other commencement ceremonies will be David Satcher, U.S. surgeon general and assistant secretary for health, who will address the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences commencement at 2 p.m. May 19 in the Center for the Arts.

Wels has long served UB as one of the community's most visionary and dedicated benefactors of time, energy, ideas and key funding. Chair emeritus of the UB Council and professor emeritus of surgery, he is a university founder and trustee of the UB Foundation, Inc. He has been the recipient of many awards from UB, including the Distinguished Alumni Award, the Dean's Award in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the Medical Alumni Association Achievement Award, the Chancellor Capen Award and the President's Medal.

Denman was the first woman in state history to serve as a presiding justice of one of the state's four Appellate Divisions. Throughout her career, she served as a role model for other women pursing legal careers, rising through the ranks from assistant district attorney to Buffalo City Court judge and then to Supreme Court judge to the Appellate Division. Most recently, she had been the Fourth Department's presiding justice.

Recipient of the SUNY honorary Doctor of Laws degree, Buergenthal has been a primary force in the global human-rights movement and is the first American appointed as a judge on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. A survivor of Auschwitz, he has fought tirelessly for the end of human-rights abuses and is the founder of several international human-rights program, including one at UB.

Kapoor, who will receive the SUNY honorary Doctor of Science degree, is a visionary leader and brilliant entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical industry. He came to the United States from Bombay, India, to pursue his doctoral studies in medicinal chemistry at UB. Nine years after earning his doctorate, he built LymphoMed, the first of a series of successful and innovative ventures, into a multimillion-dollar pharmaceutical company. A philanthropist, he is particularly committed to supporting pharmaceutical education at UB through the Kapoor Fellowship in Medicinal Chemistry. He received the UB Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1987.

The general commencement ceremony also will recognize some outstanding students. Receiving Chancellor's Awards for Student Excellence will be Daniel J. Heims, communication; Michael G. Patterson, business administration, and Nicole Piotrowski, business administration.

Recipients of the College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Outstanding Senior Awards will be Jessica K. Cavano, arts; Shari A. Salisbury, humanities; Wing Leong Teo, social and behavioral sciences, and Srinivas Raghu, physics and chemistry.

In addition, 30 students will be honored as the College of Arts and Sciences 2000 Outstanding Graduates.

Student vocalist will be Jennifer Kosack.

About 5,000 students will be candidates to receive degrees during general commencement and 13 other commencement ceremonies to be held during the weekend:

- Graduate School, 2 p.m., May 12, Center for the Arts. The speakers will be David M. Fogues and Anna L. Furguiele, president and vice president, respectively, of the Graduate Student Association. Provost David Triggle will confer degrees.

- Health Related Professions, 9 a.m., May 13, Alumni Arena. The speaker will be J. Warren Perry, the school's founding dean and professor emeritus. Michael E. Bernardino, vice president for health affairs, will confer degrees.

- School of Social Work, 9 a.m., May 13, Center for the Arts. The Hon. E. Jeannette Ogden, Buffalo City Court judge, will speak. Greiner will confer degrees.

- School of Nursing, 9 a.m., May 13, Slee Concert Hall. The speaker will be Bernadette Melnyk, associate dean for research and associate professor at the University of Rochester. Triggle will confer degrees.

- School of Information Studies, 10 a.m., May 13, Student Union Theatre, North Campus. The speaker will be Gail Staines, executive director of the Western New York Library Resources Council. Kerry S. Grant, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will confer degrees.

- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 1 p.m., May 13, Alumni Arena. The speakers will be Triggle and Mark H. Karwan, dean of the school. Triggle will confer degrees.

- School of Pharmacy, 1 p.m., May 13, Slee Concert Hall. The speaker will be pharmacy Dean Wayne K. Anderson. Greiner will confer degrees.

- School of Architecture and Planning, 2 p.m., May 13, Hayes Hall Lawn, South Campus. The speaker will be Peter D. Salins, SUNY provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. Kenneth J. Levy, UB senior vice provost, will confer degrees.

- School of Management, 5 p.m. May 13, Alumni Arena. Management Dean Lewis Mandell and Daniel Penberthy, who will receive the executive master's degree in business administration, will speak. Greiner will confer degrees.

- Graduate School of Education, 5 p.m., May 13, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be D. Bruce Johnstone, former SUNY Chancellor and UB professor of higher education and comparative education. Triggle will confer degrees.

- School of Dental Medicine, 2 p.m., May 14, Center for the Arts. Major Gen. Patrick D. Sculley, deputy surgeon general , U.S. Army Dental Corps and chief of staff of the U.S. Army Medical Command, will speak. Bernardino will confer degrees.

- Law School, 5 p.m., May 14, Center for the Arts. The speakers will be law Dean R. Nils Olsen, Jr.; Greiner; law professor Elizabeth B. Mensch, and graduating student Anthony Pendergrass. Greiner will confer degrees.

- School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, 2 p.m., May 19, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be David Satcher, the 16th U.S. surgeon general and assistant secretary for health. Triggle, Bernardino and John Wright, dean of the medical school, will confer degrees.