Farrell to chair sociology department
Michael P. Farrell, professor of sociology, has been named chair of the department.

He replaces Mark Gottdiener, who is taking a year-long sabbatical.

A member of the sociology faculty since 1968, Farrell's research interests include social psychology, adolescence and the sociology of the family, small groups and friendship groups. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in family and life, the sociology of diversity and the sociology of groups.

In 1998, he co-authored the influential "Sport and Teen Pregnancy," a report of the Women's Sports Foundation that opened the door for understanding the then largely unexamined connections between athletic participation, sexual behavior and teen pregnancy.

Volunteers sought for beach sweep
The Great Lakes Program is seeking volunteers to clean up UB's portion of the Great Lakes Watershed-Lake LaSalle and a section of Ellicott Creek-as part of the 12th annual Great Lakes Beech Sweep on Sept. 16.

The two-hour event is co-sponsored by the New York Sea Grant.

Participants will clean up and document the type of debris found along the campus waterways as part of the International Coastal Cleanup. The date gathered from around the world will be categorized to determine what steps might be taken to reduce or eliminate dumping of debris.

Interested participants should contact Helen Domske at 645-3610 or 645-2088. Participants will meet at 9:45 a.m.-rain or shine-near the entrance to Jarvis Hall next to the Furnas Parking Lot on the North Campus. Garbage bags, gloves and data cards will be provided.

Correction
An article in last week's Reporter announcing the University Convocation on Oct. 4 omitted the names of several faculty and staff members who will be recognized as part of the ceremony.

Also being honored will be Norman Mohl, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences; Susan Davis Bartl and Deborah Husted Koshinsky, recipients of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship, and Lawrence E. Chlebowy, Roger R. McGill, Barbara Ricotta and Regina Toomey, recipients of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service.

Tech transfer opens South Campus office
The UB Business Alliance Technology Transfer and Licensing office has opened a satellite office on the South Campus.

Located in 139 Cary Hall, the office will share space with the Health Care Industries Association, which supports and develops the regional health-care industry through networking, programs and services.

The Technology Transfer and Licensing office specializes in licensing the university's patent portfolio to the private sector. UB technologies generate new products, improve processes and help businesses grow and become more profitable. The partnership with the Health Care Industries Association enhances the strengths of the regional health-care industry by bringing together researchers, manufacturers and providers of health care with the university, according to Kimberly A. Rohring of Technology Transfer and Licensing.

An open house will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 19 in 139 Cary Hall.

The office maintains full-service capabilities. The office in Suite 200 The Commons remains in full operation.

Tedlock kicks off "Asia at Noon" series
Barbara Tedlock, associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of anthropology, will speak on "Shamanism in Mongolia" at noon Sept. 15 in 280 Park Hall on the North Campus in the first "Asia at Noon" lecture of the fall semester.

"Asia at Noon" is an ongoing series of hour-long, brown-bag meetings that provide faculty members and graduate students-as well as visiting scholars-the opportunity to share their research with the Asianist community of students and faculty.

The series provides a setting for interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and interaction among persons interested in Asia. Presentations usually last from 15-20 minutes, followed by free discussion.

For further information on the series, contact Thomas Burkman, director of the Asian Studies Program, at 645-3474 or .

UB biophysicists selected to participate in collaborative project with Japanese
Biophysics researchers at UB have been selected by the Japan Science and Technology Ministry to be its international collaborator on a $10 million research project aimed at understanding the mechanical sensitivity of cells.

Frederick Sachs, professor of physiology and biophysical sciences, will lead the UB project, estimated to involve about $500,000 over five years. UB and MIT are the only U.S. universities selected by the Japanese Ministry for ongoing collaborative projects.

The researchers will study the physiological process by which the mechanical deformation of a cell is transformed into electrical and chemical responses. For example, mechanical transduction, more sensitive than vision, occurs when the movement of cells in the inner ear generate nerve impulses that result in the sense of hearing. Sachs and his collaborators at UB discovered the first mechanical transducers in 1983 and, since then, their lab has been a world center for work on biological mechanical sensitivity.

"In addition to providing the sense of hearing, mechanical transduction also is involved in touch, the measurement of joint position, muscle tension, bone growth, blood-pressure regulation, filling of the bladder and intestines, and the regulation of cell, tissue and organism volume and size," Sachs said.

"Although it is an essential sensory process, mechanical transduction also can produce pathology. Cardiac fibrillation - the uncoordinated contraction of the heart - can be initiated by mechanical stress, and failure of the heart is the most common cause of death worldwide. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms of mechanical transduction will enable scientists to develop rational therapies for disease."

The work will be carried out in collaboration with Masahiro Sokabe, chair of the Department of Physiology at Nagoya Medical School, who is heading the project and who spent a sabbatical year in Sachs' laboratory at UB.

SIS to offer new graduate program
The School of Information Studies (SIS) has announced that by September 2001 it expects to implement a new master's degree in information and communication.

The new graduate program will satisfy the demand by public- and private-sector organizations for information-technology specialists also competent in communication, team-building, critical-thinking, organizational culture and organizational strategy.

Thomas Jacobson, professor and interim dean of the school, says the process of registering the new degree with the New York State Education Department has begun and is expected be completed by the end of next summer.

The program will be unusual in that emphasis will be not only on technological skills, but on those competencies identified by New York State businesses and private- and public-sector leaders as crucial if their organizations are to take full advantage of new information technologies.

Like other new undergraduate and graduate programs being developed by SIS, its design is grounded in a year of extensive research on workforce and education needs.

Jacobson said the research activities included interviews with a number of key individuals inside and outside the university, focus groups involving leaders in the public and private sectors, and a survey of workforce needs among 300 companies in New York State.

"We learned that the new school and its basic mission represent an exciting and much-needed university initiative," Jacobson says.

"We found out, too, that while technological skills are important, there are other skills of equal importance-what the planning group came to refer to as 'organizational competencies:' team building, communication, knowledge of organizational goals and sensitivity to organizational culture."

As a result of that research, Jacobson says a program has been designed for a 36-credit hour graduate degree to train students for entry into the information workforce in a wide variety of fields.

The program, a master's degree in information and communication, will employ a core sequence of seven courses in the organizational competencies cited above. Students subsequently will specialize in one of several separate study tracks, including information science, information architecture, management of information centers, system design and implementation, and organizational development.

Jacobson stresses that courses will not substitute for technical skills, but by emphasizing practical experience and theory, will offer another dimension to traditional skills in information technology. Students without field experience will be strongly urged to complete internships.

The planning process, which ended this June, was funded in part through a grant from AT&T. It involved a study of industrial trends and related educational programs and an examination of current and anticipated market needs in communication, technological and organizational skills.

Theater performance to combine text, sound, images
The Department of Theatre and Dance will present "The Secret Life of Roses" at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 14-16 in the Black Box Theatre in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

An original theater piece created by Sally Goers-Fox, the performance combines text, sound and images into a one-of-a-kind performance featuring Goers-Fox and Anna Kay France, associate professor emeritus in the Department of Theatre and Dance.

The performance also is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts and Genesee Valley Council on the Arts. Tickets are $3 and may be purchased at the Center for the Arts box office. For information, call 645-ARTS.

IREWG plans reception
The third annual "Old Girls/New Girls" Reception will be held from 3-5 p.m. tomorrow in the University Gallery in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

Provost Elizabeth Capaldi will welcome new women faculty members.

The reception is sponsored by the Institute on Research and Education on Women and Gender, The Association of Women Full Professors and the Office of the Provost.

It is open to male faculty and staff members, as well as female.

Conference to help job seekers scheduled
Senior Transitions Conference 2000, a conference aimed at giving graduating seniors the competitive edge in the job market upon graduation, will be held on Sept. 23 in the Student Union Theatre on the North Campus.

The event, which will begin at 10:45 a.m., will cover a variety of topics, including resume and cover letters, interviewing skills, job-search processes, networking strategies, personal finances and going to graduate school.

An etiquette luncheon will be served in Pistachio's in the Student Union.

Anyone interested in attending should preregister in the Office of Career Planning and Placement, 259 Capen.

For further information, contact the career planning and placement office at 645-6854.

Women's Club to hold welcome reception
The UB Women's Club will open its 55th year with a reception for new and prospective members from 7-9 p.m. Sept. 14 in Squire Hall on the South Campus.

Light refreshment prepared by members will be served. Dental students will lead tours of the school after welcoming remarks by Russell Nisengard, interim dean, and a historical overview of the school by faculty member George Ferry.

Membership is open to all women.

The Women's Club is involved in a range of educational and charitable activities to benefit its members, the university and the greater community. Club activities directly support the Grace Capen Academic Awards and financial-aid scholarships.

For further information, contact membership co-chairs Connie Rao at 634-8428 or Marilyn Pautler at 634-2549.

MBA students plan yearlong series of volunteer activities
MBA students typically are more interested in acts of commerce than acts of charity. But this weekend, about 50 full-time MBA students from the School of Management will begin a yearlong series of volunteer activities that they believe should be an important part of any business-school curriculum.

"It's very important for business students to develop a sense of the role they can play in improving their community, from both a business and a personal standpoint," says Quentin Lilley, a second-year MBA student and an organizer of the activities.

The volunteering kicks off from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday with "MBAs Make a Difference Day." One group of MBAs will begin rehabilitation of a house at 31 Hoffman St. in North Buffalo, in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity, while another group will perform general maintenance and landscaping at the Gloria J. Parks Community Center at 3242 Main St.

According to Lilley, the students' volunteer work will continue each month with new activities-such as a Halloween party for kids, food and clothing drives for Thanksgiving and Christmas, a spaghetti dinner and a community health fair-at the Gloria J. Parks Community Center.

Sponsored by M&T Bank and organized by UB's Graduate Management Association, the UB MBA volunteer program is in its second year. More than 30 students participated in last year's activities.

UB's full-time MBA program is a two-year graduate business program, offering a choice of 10 business concentrations. Business Week magazine has ranked the program as one of the best in the country.

Baldy Center offers short courses, lectures
"Global Justice in the New Century," the Fall 2000 edition of the Baldy Center's Visiting Scholars and Short Courses series, will open Sept. 18-22 with a course entitled "Law and Development."

The course will be taught by Mohan Gopal, chief counsel, East and Pacific, for the legal department of the World Bank and adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center. It will examine global justice issues related to policies disseminated by international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, and alternative indigenous models of development.

Gopal also will lecture at 3 p.m. Sept. 21 in 545 O'Brian Hall on the North Campus.

The series will continue Oct. 2-6 with a course entitled "Globalization and Human Rights." J. Oloka-Onyango, dean of the Faculty of Law at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. The course will examine globalization of markets and its effects on the status and rights of particular social groups, including minority populations.

The third class session on Oct. 6 will be a public colloquium in which Oloka-Onyango, along with Celestine Nyamu of the Harvard Law School and Brenda Yeoh of the National University of Singapore, will address the impact of globalization on particular societies and peoples they have observed.

The fall series will conclude with a course entitled "Nations, Religions and Law," which will explore the growing importance worldwide of the relationship between religious practice and doctrine, and the role of law in civil society and the variety of approaches and beliefs concerning secularity, religiosity and justice.

It will be taught by Rebecca Redwood French, professor of law and anthropology at the University of Colorado.

French also will deliver a public lecture on Oct. 26.

To enroll in any of the courses or obtain times and locations for the public lectures, contact the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy at 645-2102.

UB Child Care Center offers pre-k class
The UB Child Care Center is collaborating with the Buffalo Public Schools to offer a universal pre-kindergarten class.

The center has one spot open in the pre-k program at the South Campus site for a 4-year-old child who lives in the Buffalo school district.

Anyone interested should contact Gillian Henry at 829-2226, ext. 11, or Tamar Jacobson at 829-2226, ext. 13.