Faculty, staff, librarians receive Chancellor's Awards for Excellence

By MARA McGINNIS
News Services Editorial Assistant

Six faculty members, two librarians and four professional staff members have received 1998 State University of New York Chancellor's Awards for Excellence from SUNY Chancellor John W. Ryan.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching honors "superb" teaching at the undergraduate, graduate or professional level. Recipients are Rodney L. Doran, professor of learning and instruction; Michael G. Fuda, professor of physics; Philip G. Miles, professor of biological sciences; Richard T. Sarkin, associate professor of clinical pediatrics and director of pediatric medical-student education; M. Beth Tauke, associate professor of architecture, and Nancy P. Zimmerman, assistant professor of library and information studies.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship recognizes "skill in librarianship; service to the campus, the university and to the field; scholarship and professional growth, and major professional achievements." Recipients are William Hepfer, associate librarian in Lockwood Memorial Library, and Ellen T. McGrath, associate librarian in the Charles B. Sears Law Library.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service honors performance excellence, "both within and beyond the position." Recipients are John M. Grela, director of the Department of Public Safety; Eileen L. Hassett, assistant to the dean of engineering; Sean P. Sullivan, vice provost for academic information and planning, and Nelson E. Townsend, director of the Division of Athletics.

Doran, who joined UB in 1969, teaches science education in the Graduate School of Education. His research involves improving assessment options and formulating new approaches for science teachers. Involved in secondary-science-education reform, he has published extensively on science education.

In 1994, he received a Service Award from the New York State Science Mentor Network. He was cited for outstanding service to science education by the New York State Science Supervisors Association and was named Outstanding Science Educator in 1980 by the Association of Education for Teachers in Science.

A member of the physics faculty since 1967, Fuda is a fellow of the American Physical Society, an honor reserved for no more than .5 percent of the 41,000-member society.

Fuda, the author of more than 60 publications in scientific journals, is focusing his recent research on relativistic quantum mechanics of few-particle systems. He has received numerous grants from the National Science Foundation.

Miles, who joined the UB faculty in 1956, is an expert in the biology of plants and fungi, and is the president of the World Society of Mushroom Biology and Mushroom Products and the international editor of the Mexican publication Micologia Neotropical Applicada.

His main research interests are genetics and physiology of sexuality in fungi, hyphal fusion, nuclear migration and edible fungi.

A UB faculty member since 1981, Sarkin coordinated the Teaching Effectiveness Program in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He is an internationally renowned expert in the area of improving teaching skills of faculty and residents, and improving ways for physicians to communicate with patients and families.

An attending physician at Children's Hospital, Sarkin also is a general pediatrician.

Tauke, who came to UB in 1985, is interim associate chair of the Department of Architecture. In 1994, her essay, "IMAGinING the CITY," won first place in a national competition of the National Institute for Architectural Education.

The author of several published articles in design journals, Tauke has won numerous awards, including outstanding teaching and service awards from UB in 1986 and 1987.

A member of the UB faculty since 1993, Zimmerman is the coordinator of the School Library Media Program in the School of Information and Library Studies. She is an expert in children's and young-adult services and literature, computer applications for libraries and the integration of information technologies into the instructional process and school-library media centers. Zimmerman is president of the New York State Library Association.

Hepfer came to UB in 1983 as head of the serials department of the University Libraries Central Technical Services. He is an associate librarian in the reference and collection-development department in Lockwood Library, where he performs reference, bibliographic instruction and collection-development duties in the fields of education and linguistics.

He has published several articles in librarian journals and in 1986 received the Blackwell North America Scholarship Award for co-editing an American Libraries Association publication. McGrath, who came to UB in 1987, was named associate librarian of the UB law library in 1993 and is responsible for the administration of the cataloging department in the library, as well as for special projects.

From 1989-91, she led a project involving the cataloging of LEXIS files with a grant from Mead Data Central, Inc. She also has supervised projects involving students in the School of Information and Library Studies.

Grela, a member of the UB staff since 1973, was associate director of public safety from 1985-95, when he was named director. He is responsible for law enforcement on both campuses. During his UB career, he has been commended for his work in community-oriented policing.

He is a member of the Niagara Frontier Police Athletic Association, International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, International Association of Chiefs of Police and Northeast Colleges and Universities Security, Inc.

A member of the UB professional staff since 1983, Hassett serves on committees both internal and external to the engineering school and assists the dean with the preparation of research reports, special projects and administrative operations.

She is program administrator for the Greater Regional Industrial Technology program, a $1.5 million federal project in which UB provides technical assistance to small companies.

Sullivan, who came to UB in 1979, is the provost's chief budget-planner and academic officer, chief educational-technology planning officer and chief facilities-planning coordinator.

His contributions to UB include originating the Educational Technology Action Plan Initiative, which has established distributed technology-support and educational-technology planning teams throughout the academic organization.

As director of athletics, Townsend is responsible for the administration and development of a comprehensive, athletic, academic and recreational program serving all UB students. Since he came to UB in 1987, Townsend has successfully led 15 UB sports from NCAA Division III back to Division I.

He has served on national committees, including the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee, the NCAA Nominating Committee and the President's Council on Physical Fitness.