Final Reporter for spring semester
This issue of the Reporter-both print and electronic-is the final one of the spring semester.

There will be two issues during the summer on June 22 and July 20. The publication of weekly issues for the fall semester will begin on Aug. 24. Faculty, staff, students and alums who are away from campus can stay in touch with UB by reading the Reporter online at http://www.buffalo.edu/reporter.

Ohtake wins award for new faculty
Patricia J. Ohtake, assistant professor of physical therapy, exercise and nutrition sciences in the School of Health Related Professions, will receive the Margaret L. Moore Award for Outstanding New Academic Faculty Member from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) at its annual conference next month in Indianapolis.

The award was established in 1989 by the APTA to acknowledge an outstanding new faculty member who is pursuing a career as an academician and has demonstrated excellence in research and teaching.

A UB faculty member since 1995, Ohtake's research involves studying the long- and short-term effects of low oxygen levels and drugs of abuse on newborns, and investigating the effectiveness of various devices and techniques for clearing the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis.

Gilbert named Rockefeller fellow
Charlene Gilbert, assistant professor of media study, has been named a 2000 Film/Video/Multimedia Fellow by the Rockefeller and MacArthur foundations.

The fellowship program honors excellence among media artists who use their work to explore intercultural issues.

Gilbert is one of 20 American and Mexican media artists named as fellows, each of whom will receive up to $35,000 to develop innovative film, video and multimedia projects.

Gilbert's project is "The Henrietta Lacks Film Project," a documentary that uses an overlooked chapter in American medical history in the context of bioethics.

In 1951, suspicious cells were removed from the cervix of Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African-American mother of five. Her malignant cells, unlike normal cells, could be kept alive in cell cultures and soon were used in medical laboratories throughout the world without the permission of the Lacks family.

Creativity to abound at institute held at UB
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade! Bake a lemon pie! Learn to develop strategies to deal creatively with those life "lemons" that appear to be problems but are challenges and opportunities in disguise.

That's what almost 1,000 adults and young people from some 30 countries will be doing June 18-23 on the UB North Campus.

Billed as the "largest creative gathering on the planet," the Buffalo-based Creative Education Foundation's 46th annual Creative Problem-Solving Institute (CPSI) will offer more than 200 sessions that focus on learning better ways to make decisions and meet personal goals.

The opening session will be held at 6 p.m. on June 18 in the Center for the Arts Mainstage Theatre. Featured will be Second Hand Dance, a three-man acrobatic dance troupe.

William J. Shephard, chief program officer for the Creative Education Foundation, says CPSI invites attendees to challenge themselves to reach new levels of creativity in dealing with challenges at home and in the workplace.

For more information, call the foundation at 675-3181.

Final session is set in PSS video series
The third session of the Professional Staff Senate's Spring 2000 "Brown Bag-Video Series" will be held from noon to 1 p.m. May 23 and 24 on both the North and South campuses.

"How to Listen & Double Your Influence with Others" will be shown on May 23 in 106 Jacobs Management Center on the North Campus. It will be repeated on May 24 in 730 Kimball Tower on the South Campus.

The video, featuring business trainer and consultant Brian Tracy, will instruct viewers in the benefits of being a better listener and how to enhance their own listening skills.

The series, presented by the PSS's Professional Development Committee, is co-sponsored by the Leadership Development Center.

It is free of charge and open to all members of the professional staff.

For further information or to reserve a space, contact the PSS Office at 645-2003.

Dental faculty to test mouthwash that aims to deter smoking
Smokers who want to quit but really enjoy the taste of a cigarette may soon have a new weapon at their disposal. And if it works, it would be as easy to use as mouthwash.

In fact, it is mouthwash.

Faculty members from the School of Dental Medicine soon will begin a pilot study of a mouth rinse that claims to make smoking taste terrible.

Sebastian Ciancio, professor and chair of the Department of Peridontology who has conducted hundreds of product trials and will head this one, said he has seen the product's formula and it looks promising on several fronts.

"It could discourage people from smoking," Ciancio said, "but is also seems to have the potential to decrease plaque and gingivitis. It also may reduce tartar."

Ciancio will begin a small pilot study involving 20 smokers within the next two months to test the product's safety. If it proves to be safe, he will conduct a larger study to determine its effectiveness as a smoking deterrent and as a preventive for plaque and gum disease.

The new mouth rinse is a product of the same creative mind that developed the first Xerox copy paper, Ciancio said. The product's data sheet describes it as a breath-freshening, germ-killing liquid that works like any normal mouthwash with one notable exception: For 5-8 hours after using it, "the taste of cigarette smoke is distorted to the point where the person will not smoke past the first puff."

The mouth rinse doesn't affect the taste of anything but tobacco smoke, the inventor asserts, which makes it a useful long-term deterrent should former smokers be tempted to relapse. The inventor also notes that his product doesn't involve nicotine or any other drug.

"This is especially important for persons who are pregnant or who have undergone heart bypass surgery and can't use any of the currently approved smoking deterrents to help them quit," the inventor notes.

In the never-ending search for better dental products, companies also have contracted with the Department of Periodontology to test a new kind of dental floss, which initially will involve a small pilot study, and to conduct larger studies of two new toothpaste formulations.

Persons interested in volunteering for the smoking-deterrent mouth-rinse study or any of the others may call the dental school at 829-3850.

Ciccia and Sams receive PSS Outstanding Service Awards
Frank J. Ciccia and Sally A. Sams have been selected to receive Outstanding Service Awards from the Professional Staff Senate.

Ciccia and Sams will receive their awards during the PSS' annual awards luncheon, to be held at noon Tuesday in the Center for Tomorrow on the North Campus.

The Outstanding Service Award is given each year to members of UB's professional staff who are making outstanding community-service contributions. Winners receive a cash award and a certificate of recognition.

A UB professional staff member since 1986, Ciccia is director of the Leadership Development Program in the Office of Student Development. He also has held positions in the Office of Student Life as assistant director of student life/coordinator of Greek affairs, area coordinator, program coordinator and residence hall director.

Ciccia is a founder and chair of the Western New York Leadership Educators Consortium, chair for the Student Leadership Network for Region 2 of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and a member of the Class of 2000 of Leadership Buffalo.

He also is a board member for Gilda's Club of Western New York, a volunteer with Kevin Guest House, a member of the race committee for the Linda Yalem Memorial Run and a UB admissions ambassador.

Sams, who has worked at UB since 1973, is assistant to the dean for alumni and public relations in the School of Nursing. She also has served as an administrative assistant in the Living Well Center, the Office of Career Planning and Placement and the Office of Student Life.

Sams is active in the Western New York Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, serving on the board of director and chairing numerous fund-raising activities.

In addition, she has been active for many years as a member of the Lebro's Fall Classic 5K Run-serving as a race director the past two year-and as a volunteer with the Checkers/Nike Downtown Dash Running Race.

PSS to present all-day workshop on success
"Bridges to Success: Defining Professional and Personal Success" will be the topic of a full-day workshop June 13 in the Holiday Inn Grand Island, 100 Whitehaven Road.

The workshop, which will be held from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m., is presented by the Professional Staff Senate.

The keynote speaker will be Betty Siegal, president of Kennesaw State University in Georgia. Siegal will speak on "invitational theory," the goal of which is to encourage individuals to enrich their lives in each of four basic dimensions: being personally inviting to oneself; being personally inviting with others, being professionally inviting with oneself and being professionally inviting with others.

Siegal, the first woman to head an institution in the 34-unit Georgia university system, has been president of Kennesaw since 1981. Under her administration, the institution has evolved from a four-year college with an enrollment of 4,000 students and 15 baccalaureate-degree programs to its current university status with more than 13,000 students and 50 undergraduate- and graduate-degree programs.

The PSS workshop also will feature sessions on "Putting the Wind Back in Your Sail: Motivation for Change," "Using Movement to Navigate Stress: Self-awareness through Movement," "Keep Yourself Afloat with Humor: The Healing Power of Humor" and "All Hands on Deck for Smoother Sailing."

The workshop fee, which includes the program, continental breakfast, morning- and afternoon-break refreshments and lunch, is $30 for persons affiliated with UB and $50 for others.

Reservations must be made by June 2. For further information, contact the PSS at 645-2003 or via email at pssenate@buffalo.edu.

Poetry contest winners announced
Award-winning poetry in competitions sponsored by the University Libraries and the Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences have earned four students cash prizes and honorable mentions.

Joey (Zhong Wen) Tsao, a sophomore who plans to major in sociology, won the Academy of American Poets Poetry Prize of $100.

A certificate for honorable mention went to Kevin Grauke, a graduate student in English. The competition was sponsored by the University Libraries.

Robin F. Brox, a junior English major, earned first place-and a $100 prize-in the Friends of the University Libraries Undergraduate Poetry Competition.

Honorable mention and a citation went to Tsao.

Brox also won the $100 Scribblers Prize, sponsored by the English department. The prize was established in 1939 by the Scribbler's Club, which organized in 1893 to encourage local women writers, as a counterpart to the Press Club, which was not open to women.

Kim Chmielewicz, a graduating senior in the clinical laboratory science program, won the Arthur Axelrod Memorial Award and a $100 prize.

The award was established in 1975 through the English department by Mr. and Mrs. Harold Axelrod, the parents of Arthur Axelrod, an undergraduate in the English department.

UB seeks members for its "Corporate Challenge" team
It's time for the 24th running of the wild-and-crazy Chase Corporate Challenge. Wild because 13,000 people of all running abilities take part, and crazy because 13,000 people of all running abilitiesŠYou get the idea.

The race will be held June 24 in Delaware Park. The starting gun for the 3.5-mile race will go off at 6:45 p.m.

Last year, UB fielded a "team" of 120 faculty and staff runners and walkers. Thanks to the organizational skills of Dave Smith, recently retired from administrative computing services, UB in recent years has had its own tent and post-race party, like the hundreds of other organizations that take part in this annual fitness-and-fun event.

A $20 fee covers the entry fee for the race-which includes a Corporate Challenge T-shirt- as well as a UB T-shirt, tent rental, and food and drink during the post-race gathering.

To be part of the UB team or to obtain more information, contact Smith at dsmith@buffalo.edu and include your department and campus location. Smith is handling only faculty and staff.

Science Expo to be held
A space-science lecture by former NASA astronaut and Lockport native William Gregory and presentations on topics ranging from natural disasters to weather forecasting using state-of-the art technology will be part of the 17th annual Science Exploration Day program being held Monday on the North Campus.

The event, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., is designed to "turn on" high-school students to science through lively demonstrations, lectures and exhibits.

More than 1,000 students from public and parochial schools in Erie, Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties are expected to attend.

Gregory, a graduate of Lockport Senior High School and the U.S. Air Force Academy, will present a space-science lecture demonstration at 9:15 a.m., 10:15 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. in the Woldman Theatre in Norton Hall.

Seven large-group presentations will be held at 11:15 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. in Cooke and Knox halls and in the Natural Sciences Complex.

Some 35 other speakers and hand-on exhibits also will be featured during the event.

Rodney L. Doran, professor of learning and instruction, is campus coordinator for the annual event. Bob Sorenson, science department chair at Springville-Griffith Institute and Central School, is program coordinator.

Sponsors for the event are the Niagara Frontier Science Supervisors Association, Western Section of Science Teachers Association of New York State, New York Sea Grant, Wilson Greatbatch, Ltd. and West Valley Nuclear Services-Westinghouse.

UB sponsors include the College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Education, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Great Lakes Program.

UB conference to launch bipolar treatment program
UB has been selected as one of 20 clinical sites across the United States to provide a specialized treatment program for persons with bipolar disorder, known in lay terms as manic-depression.

Five hundred people from Western New York will be eligible for the treatment.

Uriel Halbreich, professor of psychiatry, will head the project, which is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

An all-day symposium on the diagnosis and management of bipolar disorder, to be held June 9 in the Albright Knox Art Gallery auditorium, will launch the clinical effort.

The symposium will feature major specialists in the field, including Robert Post, chief of the Biological Psychiatry Branch of NIMH; Gary Sachs, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; Michael Thase, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Lydia Lewis, director of the National Manic-Depressive Association.

The afternoon will be devoted to workshops on clinical management of the disease, and the involvement of family and friends in treatment.

The treatment program, which will begin enrolling patients soon after the symposium, will be a structured regimen involving state-of-the art medications, combined with psychotherapy.

Halbreich said bipolar disorder is poorly diagnosed and when it is diagnosed, is often not treated properly.

"The consequences of misdiagnosis and misguided treatment can be dramatic, " he said, "and may have a long-term impact on the well-being and quality of life of patients and family."

Persons interested in the treatment program may call 898-4312. Those interested in attending the symposium may call the Department of Psychiatry at 898-5940.

Registration deadline is June 2.

GSE to present summer institute
Graduate School of Education will present its first week-long summer professional-development institute for educators July 10-14 on the North Campus.

The institute, "Building Instructional, Leadership and Fiscal Capacity in Schools," will offer superintendents, principals, curriculum coordinators, building leadership teams, teachers and other interested educators an opportunity to study and discuss recent research and practices designed to enhance professional practice in these areas.

The workshop is co-sponsored by the GSE Center for Continuing Professional Education, the GSE Curriculum Center and the university's Western New York Educational Service Council, and by the Center for the Study of School-Site Leadership of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

For more information, contact the Center for Continuing Professional Education at 645-6642.

Curtain Call presents "Mass Appeal"
Curtain Call Productions is presenting "Mass Appeal," a play focusing on the conflicts by a comfortably ensconced priest in a prosperous Catholic congregation and a young seminarian who challenges his ways, at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through June 3 in the Pfeifer Cabaret, 681 Main St.

The play by Bill C. Davis features Joseph Natale and Evan Bergman in the lead roles. It is produced by Greg Natale.

Tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for seniors and $9 for students. Group rates are available. For information and reservations, call 685-0003.

Art department sets summer workshops
The Department of Art will present summer enrichment programs in drawing, printmaking, painting, sculpture, illustration, photography and computer graphics.

They will include a 19-day course for high-school students and a series of intensive, three-day session open to participants of any age from the Western New York and campus communities.

The workshops for high-school students will begin July 10 and culminate with a group show on July 29.

The first three-day intensive training and enrichment workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 5-7.

For further information contact Nancy Thayer, 645-6878, ext. 1352.