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UB to award 5,300 degrees

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By SUE WUETCHER
Published: April 29, 2009

Some 5,300 students are candidates to receive degrees during UB’s 163rd general commencement and 13 other commencement ceremonies, beginning tomorrow through May 23.

President John B. Simpson will speak at the general commencement ceremony, to be held at 10 a.m. May 10 in Alumni Arena, North Campus. Student speaker will be graduating senior Geoffrey E. Millard.

The 1958 football team will receive the Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal, UB’s highest honor. The award will be presented to team member Willie Evans by UB Council Chair Jeremy M. Jacobs.

Carl T. Hayden, chair of the SUNY Board of Trustees, and Simpson will present SUNY honorary degrees to Nobel Laureate Herbert A. Hauptman and comedy writer Alan M. Zweibel, B.A.’72.

Simpson, Provost Satish K. Tripathi and Bruce McCombe, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will confer bachelor’s and associate degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Forty-four students will be recognized during the general commencement ceremony.

To receive SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Student Excellence are Lisa L. Braun, Katrina M. Bytschkow, Bradley W. Cheetham, John B. Coles, Przemyslaw W. Garbaczewski, Aaron M. Krolikowski, Michelle M. Matteliano, Daniel P. Muffoletto, Hieu Q. Nguyen, Catherine J. Nicastro, Shannon M. Palermo, Steven I. Pancio, Angel J. Rosario Jr., Michael A. Steenberge and Jessica H. Zak.

Twenty-eight graduates will receive the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Outstanding Senior Awards. They are Anthony L. White II, African American Studies; Matthew R. Cole, American Studies; Catherine J. Nicastro, Anthropology; Amalia Rubin, Asian Studies; Carrie McNamee, Biological Sciences; Gregory Morrison, Chemistry; Elizabeth K. Hong, Classics; Lesley S. Thompson, Communication; Elizabeth S. Horwitz, Communicative Disorders and Sciences; Michael J. Kopalek, Economics; Philip J. Rogers-Reeves, English; Allison Bodine, Geography; Sarah Corin Gay, Geology; Michelle Matthews, Global Gender Studies; Benjamin M. Court, History; Katherine E. Cumberland, Linguistics; Yingrui (Renee) Liu, Mathematics; J. Garrett Vorreuter, Media Study; Erin M. Waite, Music; Edward J. Heppt, Philosophy; William J. Falls, Physics; Aaron M. Krolikowski, Political Science and Social Sciences Interdisciplinary; Katrina M. Bytschkow, Psychology; Janelle E. Olmer, Romance Languages and Literatures; Laura Ann Groschadl, Sociology; Danielle M. Barbiero, Special Major; Collin M. Ranney, Theatre and Dance; and Jacqueline N. Spicer, Visual Studies.

Kristen E. Mruk will receive the Student Affairs Senior Leadership Award.

Vocalists at the general commencement ceremony will be Arin L. Dandes and Kelsey A. Mathes.

The 2009 commencement season will kick off tomorrow with the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ ceremony, to be held at 2 p.m. in the Center for the Arts, North Campus. Daniel Levy, director of the Framingham Heart Study and director of the Center for Population Studies at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, will speak. Simpson will confer degrees.

The rest of the commencement schedule:

• Biomedical Sciences, 6 p.m. May 7, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Ronald M. Evans, professor of molecular and developmental biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Simpson will confer degrees.

• Graduate School of Education, 9 a.m., May 8, Center for the Arts. Simpson will confer degrees.

• College of Arts and Sciences masters and doctoral ceremony, 1 p.m., May 8, Center for the Arts. Simpson will confer degrees.

• School of Nursing, 9 a.m., May 9, Alumni Arena. Tripathi will confer degrees.

• School of Social Work, 9 a.m., May 9, Center for the Arts. Family therapist and clinical consultant Bonnie J. Collins will speak. Simpson will confer degrees.

• School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 12:30 p.m., May 9, Alumni Arena. Tripathi and Dean Harvey G. Stenger Jr. will speak; Tripathi will confer degrees.

• School of Public Health and Health Professions, 1 p.m., May 9, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Robert M. Bennett, outgoing chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents. Robert Genco, vice provost and director of the Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach, will confer degrees.

• School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 1 p.m., May 9, Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus. John Rodgers, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Independent Health, will speak. David L. Dunn, vice president for health sciences, will confer degrees.

• School of Architecture and Planning, 2 p.m., May 9, Hayes Hall lawn, South Campus. The speaker will be James A. “Beau” Willis, executive vice president for university support services. Simpson will confer degrees.

• School of Management, 5 p.m., May 9, Alumni Arena. Tripathi and Dean Arjang Assad will speak; Tripathi will confer degrees.

• School of Dental Medicine, 5 p.m., May 9, Center for the Arts. Scot Faulkner, a national consultant on strategic change and leadership, will speak. Dunn will confer degrees.

• Law School, 3 p.m., May 23, Center for the Arts. The speaker will be Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga of the Republic of Kenya. SUNY honorary degrees will be awarded to Irene Zubaida Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, and J. Mason Davis Jr., a practicing attorney who played a key role in the desegregation of Alabama in the 1960s. Simpson will confer degrees.