Zimpher names two from UB in first class of SUNY student fellows

BUFFALO, N.Y. – At the State University of New York’s (SUNY) third annual “Critical Issues in Higher Education” conference in New York City, Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher announced SUNY’s first class of student fellows, who will work with SUNY leadership over the next year to shape the system’s use of big data and transform the student experience.

The year’s conference theme, “Building a Smarter University: Big Data, Innovation and Ingenuity,” brought together international experts and thought leaders to examine how the emergence of big data can help higher education improve the student learning experience, enhance research, maximize resources, support effective community outreach, strengthen the education pipeline and advance university infrastructure.

“The ability to manage and accurately analyze data is a skill that is increasingly important in today’s marketplace,” said Zimpher. “Learning from experts from across the globe at this week’s conference, the SUNY student fellows will play a critical role in helping SUNY to educate and prepare future generations of students for this challenge.

“Selected by their campus provosts for this designation, our student fellows have each shown an interest in and capacity for using big data to enhance their academic and professional pursuits, and we are proud to partner with them as we determine the best uses for big data in the future of higher education.”

Of the eight fellows named, two were from the University at Buffalo. The interests of the fellows span the disciplines of health care, computer science, communication, finance, math and education.

The UB fellows are:

Dane Marco Di Cesare

Di Cesare is a third-year doctoral scholar pursuing a degree in special education. He is the recipient of the Leadership Grant – Preparing Leaders of Tomorrow to Work in a Digital Age. Di Cesare’s research interests involve developing digital tools to increase writing achievement for students with learning disabilities. He is in the process of earning two advanced certificates: a statistical analysis certificate from the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, and a certificate of new literacies from the Department of Learning and Instruction, both in the UB Graduate School of Education. Di Cesare has presented at state and national conferences, co-authored a publication in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Special Education Technology, co-authored two publications awaiting review and is currently preparing three manuscripts for publication.

Sandra Gothard

Gothard is a second-year doctoral student in the UB School of Nursing. Her professional career began in perioperative nursing at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Northwestern University in Chicago. She currently is regional administrative director of perioperative services at Bassett Medical Center. The Bassett Health Care Network system, ranked one of the top 100 most-integrated systems in the nation, offers all specialties and phases of care, and has more than 400 full-time providers in an employed model, which includes the Bassett-Columbia University Medical School and the Bassett Research Institute. Gothard’s research interests include exploring the extent to which sociodemographic and psychosocial factors could influence the state of obesity in the rural, female, adult population.

About the State University of New York

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating nearly 463,000 students in more than 7,500 degree and certificate programs, and more than 1.8 million New York State citizens in professional development and personal enrichment programs, on 64 college and university campuses. There are nearly 3 million SUNY alumni worldwide. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu.