Suzanne Laychock has been elected chair of the Faculty Senate and Don Erb has been elected chair of the Professional Staff Senate in recent elections held by the governance groups representing UB’s faculty and professional staff.

Both are filling two-year terms that run from July 1 through June 30, 2025.

Erb, senior sustainability associate for UB’s Student Unions, defeated Kimberly Behun, training coordinator in the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Erb previously served two terms as vice chair.

In the PSS election, members elected Sherene Milizia, registrar in the Office of Student and Academic Affairs, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, as vice chair. However, Milizia declined the seat; Virginia Stever, administrative director for the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Sciences and the second-highest vote getter, accepted the position.

Tony Waleszczak, program support specialist in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, ran unopposed for secretary.

Laychock, professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and senior associate dean for faculty affairs and undergraduate biomedical education in the Jacobs School, ran unopposed for the Faculty Senate chair position.

The senate’s secretary position is currently filled by Cynthia Tysick, innovative, pedagogy and creative spaces librarian in Lockwood Library. The position will be up for election next year.