Kudos

School of Dental Medicine faculty members Elaine Davis and Heidi Crow have been elected to member-at-large positions on the administrative boards of two of the seven councils of the American Dental Education Association.

Davis, associate dean for student affairs and professor of oral diagnostic sciences, was elected to the Council of Sections, which represents the many disciplines, administrative functions and special interests of dental and allied dental education within ADEA. It provides a venue where the constituencies can come together to address issues affecting education, research and the delivery of oral health care.

Crow, associate dean for advanced education and associate professor of oral diagnostic sciences, was elected to the Council of Hospitals and Advanced Education Programs. The council includes faculty and administrators in postdoctoral education in accredited advanced dental education programs at ADEA-member institutions. It provides a common forum for members to discuss and move forward on issues related to the education of postgraduate dental students and residents.

These council administrative positions follow a pattern of succession: from member-at-large to secretary to chair-elect and chair.

As council members-at-large, Davis and Crow join Lisa Mruz, assistant professor of pediatric and community dentistry, who was elected last year as member-at-large of the Council of Faculties. She is now secretary of that council.

The literary collection of Howard Wolf, emeritus professor of English, currently is on exhibit in the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College.

A 1958 graduate of Amherst, Wolf has been sending material to the college’s Archives and Special Collections since 1971. The collection features literary manuscripts, as well as personal and professional correspondence, including dozens of rejection letters; writings by colleagues and students he mentored; and an assortment of “cultural miscellany”—concert programs, clippings, calendars, tourism brochures, artwork, blank postcards. Correspondence includes letters from one-time UB colleagues J.M. Coetzee, Carl Dennis, Irving Feldman and Robert Hass.

The exhibition, "Collecting a Collector: The Howard R. Wolf Papers," also was the subject of a session during Amherst's 2013 reunion program held on June 1. Wolf, who was attending his 55th reunion, spoke at the session.

A UB faculty member for more than 40 years, Wolf is a writer who has worked in almost every genre: literary and cultural criticism, autobiography, short fiction, travel writing, novels, poetry, detective stories and plays. Among his major works are “Forgive the Father: A Memoir of Changing Generations” (1978), “Far-Away Places: Lessons in Exile” (2007), “A Version of Home: Letters from the World: An Autobiographical Journey Through Singapore, Malaysia, India, Greece and Turkey” (1992) and “Upper Manhattan—A Family Album” (1990).

Joseph Valente, professor and director of graduate admissions for the Department of English, is organizing the biennial international Queering Ireland conference, “Queering Ireland 3: Queer Irish Diasporas.”

The first such conference to be held in the U.S., it will take place Aug. 9-10 in the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

Among the presenters will be Henry Abelove, the doyen of queer studies in North America, and Brendan Fay, a LGBT Catholic activist whose 2011 film “Taking a Chance on God” has been screened at several European film festivals.

Three UB graduate students also will be among the presenters.

Andrew Symons, clinical assistant professor of family medicine, has been named Doctor of the Year by the New York State Academy of Family Physicians.

A 2002 graduate of the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Symons also serves as vice chair for medical student education for the Department of Family Medicine. He practices at UB Family Medicine in the Town of Tonawanda.