UB Graduate School of Education Confers Awards Upon Alumni

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education conferred awards upon one of its outstanding graduating doctoral students and several alumni at the school's May 17 commencement ceremony.

The school's 1997 Delbert Mullens "Thinking Outside the Box" Award was presented to Adair White-Johnson of Atlanta, who received a doctorate in social foundations of education from the Department of Educational Organization, Administration and Policy.

White-Johnson was honored for the quality of her doctoral dissertation, which focused on the identification and analysis of school-related factors that contribute to decisions by young African-American men to leave high school before graduation. Her findings led her to participate on a task force to serve the school district in which she conducted her research as it attempted to develop approaches to address the needs of under-served students. She ultimately wrote a proposal for a new course at the high school in question that has received state funding and approval for implementation.

She was nominated for the Mullens award by the UB Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Teaching Africana Studies in Schools, a joint project of the UB Graduate School of Education and the Faculty of Arts and Letters.

The school also presented its Dean's Service Award to Samuel Alessi of Buffalo, assistant superintendent for curriculum evaluation and development in the Buffalo Public Schools.

€ Anne L. Deming of Fredonia, president of Notre Dame College of Euclid, Ohio. Deming received the award from the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, from which she earned a doctorate in counseling psychology in 1977.

€ Robert L. Palmer, Jr., of Williamsville, UB vice president for student affairs. Palmer received the award from the Department of Educational Organization, Administration and Policy, from which he received doctorate in higher education in 1979.

€ Jill Fitzgerald of Chapel Hill, N.C., professor of education at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Fitzgerald received the award from the Department of Learning and Instruction, from which she received a doctorate in educational research and evaluation in 1979.