Zionts Receives Honorary Degree in Finland

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Stanley Zionts, alumni professor emeritus of decision support systems in the University at Buffalo School of Management, recently received an honorary doctor of science degree from the Helsinki School of Economics, the largest business school in Finland.

The title of Honorary Doctor is awarded to distinguished individuals who have shown outstanding achievement in the field of science, economics or society. Zionts' fellow honorees hailed from universities and companies in Sweden, Great Britain and the Netherlands, and included a Nobel Laureate.

Zionts and his wife, Terri, attended the conferment of degrees in Helsinki in May. The formal award ceremony lasted for three days. Zionts and the eight others receiving degrees were fitted with special top hats for the occasion.

"I was incredibly honored to be chosen for this distinction by the Helsinki School of Economics," says Zionts. "The pomp and circumstance was unbelievable. I have never participated in such a formal event in all of my life."

Zionts retired from the UB School of Management in 2005 after 38 years of service. He taught in the school's programs in Riga, Latvia; Montpellier, France; Dalian, China; and Beijing, China. He also was a visiting professor at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Brussels, and has made presentations at numerous conferences and universities.

Zionts founded and served as the first president of the International Society on Multiple Criteria Decision Making, and was awarded the Gold Medal Award and the Presidential Service Award by that organization. He was a member of the organizing committee and a speaker at the society's 15th International MCDM Conference in Ankara, Turkey, in 2000, and the 16th International MCDM Conference in Semmering, Austria, in 2002.

Zionts holds doctoral and master's degrees in industrial administration and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, all from Carnegie-Mellon University.

He resides in Williamsville.