Goodwin to speak

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, historian and television commentator, will speak at 8 p.m. April 26 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

	Goodwin

Goodwin will be the final speaker in this year's 14th annual Distinguished Speaker Series presented by UB and the Don Davis Auto World Lectureship Fund. Ticket prices range from $18-$28 and are available at the Center for the Arts box office from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday or by calling TicketMaster at 852-5000.

A commentator on NBC-TV and a panelist on "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS, Goodwin also is well-known for her award-winning books on U.S. presidents and their roles in modern U.S. history. They include the Pulitzer Prize-winning "No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Home Front During World War II."

Her latest book, "Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir," is a descriptive and often-poignant trip as she revisits her family, friends and the neighborhood where she grew up an avid Brooklyn Dodgers fan after World War II.

Schaaf recognized

UB dental educator Norman G. Schaaf, whose pioneering research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) led to improved prosthetic devices for head-and-neck cancer patients disfigured by surgery and other treatments, received the first professional achievement award from UB's Center for Implant Dentistry.

The award was presented at a dinner April 5 in conjunction with the Third Annual Michael A. Meenaghan International Symposium on Implant Dentistry.

Meenaghan, a pioneer in the field of dental implants, was professor emeritus in the Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences in the School of Dental Medicine when he died in 1998.

The award, which exemplifies Meenaghan's legacy, was given to Schaaf for his global contribution to the dental profession through education, research and public service.

Schaaf recently retired as chair of RPCI's Department of Dentistry and Dental Prosthetics, and professor of prosthodontics in the UB dental school.

Correction

In an article in last week's edition, the Reporter stated that there is no FDA-approved skin substitute for treating burns. The Reporter since has learned that the FDA has approved one, and regrets the error.

Gordon Lightfoot to perform in CFA

Recording artist Gordon Lightfoot will perform at 8 p.m. April 22 in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

The list of Lightfoot’s hit songs includes “Early Morning Rain,” “Canadian Railroad Trilogy,” “Cotton Jenny,” “Don Quixote,” “Sundown,” “Shadows,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” “Beautiful” and “Ribbon of Darkness.”

He has gathered many accolades over the course of his career, including platinum and gold albums, four Grammy nominations and 16 Juno awards—the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy—including the Juno Hall of Fame Award. As a musical ambassador, Lightfoot also has been awarded the prestigious Order of Canada.

Among the artists who have recorded his songs are Peter, Paul and Mary; Marty Robbins; Richie Havens; Glenn Campbell; Anne Murray; Elvis Presley, and Barbra Streisand.

Tickets for Gordon Lightfoot are $35, $32 and $29, and are available at the Center for the Arts from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and at all TicketMaster locations.

For more information, call 645-ARTS.

Stress, cardiac health to be topics of lecture

Stress and cardiac health in our hectic 21st-century lives will be the topic of the Senior Alumni Luncheon, to be held at noon April 25 in the Center for Tomorrow on the North Campus.

The speaker will be Lawrence H. Golden, director of the University Stress Center and well-known area cardiologist.

A clinical professor of medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Golden will discuss the role of stress and distress on human health and disease.

The luncheon programs are designed for UB senior alumni and their guests.

Cost is $15 per person. For reservations and information, call 829-2608. The deadline for reservations is April 20.

The senior alumni luncheon series is sponsored by the UB Office of Alumni Relations.

Flint flagpoles to be replaced

The two remaining flagpoles at Flint Loop will be removed on Saturday and replacement poles should be in the ground sometime this summer.

Lou Schmitt, director of facilities operations, said one of the flagpoles broke and fell to the ground several weeks ago. At that time a structural engineering study determined that the two remaining poles were unsafe, he said.

Schmitt said three more poles will be purchased, and it may take six to eight weeks for delivery, as well as additional time for installation.

The poles should be in the ground and flying flags sometime this summer, he said.

Blue & White scholarship drive surpasses $500,000 goal

The Blue & White Club scholarship fund drive once again has surpassed its goal, raising more than $500,000 to support athletic scholarships.

Through volunteer efforts under the leadership of Gary Joseph, fund-drive chair, and Marshall Wood, co-chair, the Blue & White Club—the booster organization of UB athletics—raised a total of $504,870 during a six-week period. Funds generated through this effort are used to offset increased costs associated with athletic scholarships.

“To consider where we started just six years ago with a modest goal of $100,000, to achieve this success is a testament to the incredible support we have received from many key alumni across the country and the great support of our mission here in Western New York,” said Bob Arkeilpane, director of athletics. “It is even more impressive, and imperative to our growth, that we have seen such incredible support in our formative years in Division I-A and the Mid-American Conference.”

The Blue & White Club raised the bar this year an unprecedented $200,000 after reaching its goal of $300,000 last year. That made this year’s effort even more impressive, according to Joseph.

“We asked even more of our volunteer group and the many supporters of UB athletics this year,” he said, “and it was extremely gratifying to see not only the continued support of so many, but the many new faces and first-time contributors who understand the importance of having a quality Division I-A athletic program in Western New York.”

SOM receives grant for Belarus

The School of Management has been awarded a $218,000 grant from the Eurasia Foundation to continue its work developing an MBA program to be delivered in English at the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno (YKSUG) in Belarus.

The grant will allow the school to build on the work begun in 1999 under a Eurasia Foundation project titled “Creating Capacity in Belarus in Business Education.”

Developed as a cooperative effort among four universities—YKSUG, Riga Business School of Riga Technical University in Latvia, Niagara University and UB—the project has as its long-term goal the development of a self-sustaining, Western-style business school in Belarus.

The proposed MBA program would support Belarus in its efforts to provide professional managers with the knowledge and skills necessary for adapting Western management methods to the specific requirements of the Belarus economy. In the longer term, this initiative should contribute to market reforms that will enable Belarus to work more effectively with Western countries.

The first group of students was admitted to the preparatory, or pre-MBA program, in February. These students are enrolled in English as a Foreign Language classes organized in cooperation with the UB English Language Institute and the English Language Center of Riga Business School.

Pre-MBA coursework also includes introductory courses designed to prepare students for the MBA coursework that is scheduled to begin in October.

“Dersu Uzala” to replace “Ran”

The final screening for the spring Buffalo Film Seminars series on April 24 will be Akira Kurosawa’s 1974 Academy Award-winner “Dersu Uzala.” It replaces the originally scheduled “Ran,” also by Kurosawa.

The rarely screened picture, filmed in Russia’s Arctic north, tells the story of a friendship between a gold hunter-guide and a Russian explorer in what film critic Leonard Maltin describes as “a poignant, poetic examination of contrasting lives.”

Bruce Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Samuel P. Capen Professor of American Culture in the Department of English who is teaching the film seminar with Diane Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, says of Kurosawa’s masterpiece, which won an Oscar for best foreign-language film: “We could tell you why and how it’s good and important, but this is one of those movies the heart of which exists outside words.”

The public is invited to participate in discussion following the film, which will begin at 7 p.m. in Buffalo’s Market Arcade Film and Arts Centre, 639 Main St., Buffalo.

Vietnamese survivor to speak in Knox

Le Ly Hayslip, a survivor of the Vietnam War and founder of the humanitarian relief organization East Meets West Foundation, will speak from 7-9 p.m. Wednesday in 110 Knox Hall, North Campus.

The lecture, presented to mark Asian-American History Month, will be sponsored by Alpha Kappa Delta Phi sorority in conjunction with the Asian American Student Union.

After establishing the East Meets West Foundation in 1988, Hayslip authored “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman’s Journey from War to Peace” (1989) and “Child of War, Woman of Peace (1993), detailing her experiences in the war.

She encourages Vietnam veterans to return to the country and help build schools and medical facilities for children, women and the disabled.

After reading “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places,” award-winning filmmaker and Vietnam veteran Oliver Stone funded the building of Mother’s Love Clinic for homeless children in Da Nang. Stone also produced and directed a film about Hayslip’s life, “Heaven and Earth.”

With assistance from actor-comedian Robert Klein and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, another Vietnam veteran, money was raised to build Peace Village, a medical center for Vietnamese children.

Teleconference to tackle online issues

“Staying the Course: Retaining Online Students,” the last in a four-part series of live teleconferences on Faculty Issues in Online Learning, will be presented from 2:30-4 p.m. April 19 in 120 Clemens Hall, North Campus.

The teleconferences are being presented by the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Urban Affairs in collaboration with the Chief Information Officer and the Faculty Senate.

The April 19 teleconference will address such issues as the lack of agreement on the definition of retention and academic achievement, characteristics of successful online students, features of good online courses and the roles and responsibilities of faculty members.

Panelists will include Joyce Bishop, co-author of numerous student success and study-skills textbooks who has trained faculty members in online instruction; Carole Hayes, associate director of the Florida Public Postsecondary Distance Learning Institute, and Vicky Seehusen, associate vice president for distance education for the Community Colleges of Colorado.

Although the program is free of charge and open to all members of the UB community, seating is limited. For reservations, call 645-2097. Participants should arrive for the teleconference by 2:15 p.m.

Program to assist elderly patients of dental clinic

The schools of Social Work and Dental Medicine are collaborating on a pilot project designed to reach out to older adults who are patients in UB’s dental clinics and who may need social services.

The project is being supported with a $33,000 grant from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

More than 3,000 Western New York residents over age 65 who would not otherwise have access to affordable dental care are treated each year in the UB dental clinics. The partnership program will assist these thousands of high-risk older adults by providing referrals and counseling, while facilitating training and learning for UB dental and social-work students.

Dental patients will be surveyed to determine what services and information they would find most beneficial. Collaborative arrangements will be made with community agencies that serve the elderly, such as the Erie County Department of Senior Services and Meals on Wheels, to ensure that clinic patients have access to all available services.

In the second phase, the students will integrate health and wellness screening into routine dental-clinic visits to identify patients’ needs and begin problem-solving.

Deborah Waldrop, assistant professor of social work and co-director of the project, said that health-care professionals increasingly are being taught to assess the complex overlap between overall health and social issues. Patients see oral-health-care professionals for specific complaints, but may be dealing simultaneously with complicated problems related to health and aging that impede their treatment. Clinic patients often develop personal relationships with oral-health professionals, and the value of offering additional services in the context of this relationship became the impetus for this innovative program.