Toles, Baker to Receive SUNY Honorary Degrees at UB's 156th General Commencement Ceremony

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Astronaut Ellen Shulman Baker and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Tom Toles, both alumni of the University at Buffalo, will receive honorary degrees from the State University of New York during UB's 156th general commencement ceremony, to be held at 10 a.m. May 12 in Alumni Arena on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

Some 6,000 students are candidates to receive degrees during the general commencement and 13 other ceremonies to be held May 10-12, and on May 24.

UB's highest award, the Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal, will be presented posthumously at the general commencement ceremony to Lawrence D. Jacobs, former professor and chair of the UB Department of Neurology and a world-renowned researcher in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Speaking at the ceremony will be President William R. Greiner and graduating senior Naniette H. Coleman.

Greiner and Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi will confer degrees.

Eleven students will be recognized during the general commencement.

Recipients of the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence are David P. Bartels, Melissa A. Burgio, Amy E. Fuller, Preethi Govindaraj, Jenna K. Kennan and Naniette H. Coleman.

Coleman also will receive the Division of Student Affairs Senior Leadership Award.

Four graduates will receive the College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Outstanding Senior Awards: Allan J. Mangaser in the arts, Jenna D. Lay in the humanities, Brian N. Tse in science and mathematics, and Jocelyn R. Bell in the social and behavioral sciences. They are among the top students named from the 27 departments in the college, who also will be recognized at the ceremony.

Vocalist at the general commencement will be Carolyn Unitas Roos.

Baker, who will receive a SUNY honorary Doctor of Science degree, earned a bachelor's degree in geology from UB in 1974.

As a civilian astronaut with NASA since 1985, she has logged nearly 12 million miles over the course of three space missions. In-flight research by Baker, a specialist in internal medicine who received her medical degree from Cornell University, has focused on the physiological effects of space travel.

A star swimmer and 1994 inductee into the UB Alumni Association's Athletic Hall of Fame, she became -- as a freshman -- the first UB woman to place in a national collegiate athletic championship.

Toles, who will receive a SUNY honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, is a Buffalo native and one of the nation's most acclaimed editorial cartoonists. As a freshman at UB, he was graphic arts editor of The Spectrum, a position he held until he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English in 1973.

Upon graduation, he was hired by the Buffalo Courier Express; when that paper closed in 1982, he became the editorial cartoonist for The Buffalo News and, in the same year, signed a contract with Universal Press Syndicate.

Since then, his cartoons have appeared in more than 200 North American newspapers, and he has published five cartoon collections, as well as a children's book. His incisive, insightful social commentary has earned him some of journalism's highest accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize and the H.L. Mencken Free Press Award.

Toles soon will take the job as the editorial cartoonist for The Washington Post, succeeding the late, legendary Herbert L. Block, also known by the pen name Herblock.

In addition to the general commencement ceremony, UB will hold 13 other commencement ceremonies:

o Graduate School, 1 p.m., May 10, Center for the Arts, North Campus. The speaker will be Bruce A. Holm, senior vice provost. Capaldi will confer degrees.

o School of Health Related Professions, 9 a.m., May 11, Alumni Arena. The speaker will be Stephen L. Wilson, director of the School of Allied Medical Professions and associate dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health at Ohio State University. Michael E. Bernardino, vice president for health affairs, will confer degrees.

o School of Social Work, 9 a.m., May 11, Center for the Arts. New York State Sen. Byron W. Brown will speak. Kerry S. Grant, vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate school, will confer degrees.

o School of Nursing, 9 a.m., May 11, Slee Concert Hall, North Campus. Loretta Ford, former dean of the University of Rochester School of Nursing, will speak. Greiner will confer degrees.

o School of Informatics, 10 a.m., May 11, Student Union Theatre, North Campus. The speaker will be Jose-Marie Griffiths, Doreen E. Boyce Chair and director of the Sara Fine Institute for Interpersonal Communication and Technology in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. Kenneth J. Levy, senior vice provost, will confer degrees.

o School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 1 p.m., May 11, Alumni Arena. Mark Karwan, dean of the school, will speak. Grant will confer degrees.

o Law School, 1 p.m., May 11, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Herman Schwartz, professor of law at American University and a former UB law faculty member. Greiner will confer degrees.

o School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 1 p.m., May 11, Slee Concert Hall. Wayne K. Anderson, dean of the school, will speak. Bernardino will confer degrees.

o School of Architecture and Planning, 2 p.m., May 11, Hayes Hall lawn, South (Main Street) Campus. Frances Bronet, associate dean and professor of architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and president of the American Collegiate Schools of Architecture, will speak. Levy will confer degrees.

o School of Management, 5 p.m., May 11, Alumni Arena. Jerry M. Newman, interim dean of the school and SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, will speak. Grant will confer degrees.

o Graduate School of Education, 5 p.m., May 11, Center for the Arts. Adelaide H. Sanford, New York State regent, will speak. Greiner will confer degrees.

o School of Dental Medicine, 2 p.m., May 12, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Lawrence A. Tabak, director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Bernardino will confer degrees.

o School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, 2 p.m., May 24, Center for the Arts. Antonia Novello, New York State health commissioner, will speak. Bernardino, who also serves as dean of the medical school, will confer degrees.