University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

I took a laboratory course in experimental psychology in college in which I performed a laboratory experiment each week and submitted a written report. My professor demanded clear and precise language by reviewing and critiquing each phrase and each sentence in those reports. Through this constructive and rigorous exercise, he taught me the importance of clear and precise language in science and also the rewards in clear writing. These are lessons that I still apply every day.

Timothy F. Murphy
UB Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Microbiology Senior Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research
School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Machiko R. Tomita
Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Rehabilitation Science

UB alumnus Alan Zaremba was a speech communication professor at SUNY Fredonia, where I received my undergraduate degree. Dr. Zaremba, who is now at Northeastern University, inspired me to pursue my doctorate and teach at the college level. We still keep in touch today and he is a shining example of how one person can make a profound difference in another person’s life.

Alan Gellin
Assistant to the Dean for Student and Alumni Affairs
Graduate School of Education

My most influential teacher was Virginia Tech Professor Joseph H. Sherrard V. He introduced me to the field of environmental engineering and then shepherded me toward graduate school and its many opportunities. Without his help and guidance, my life would have taken a completely different path and I would not be a member of the UB community.

A. Scott Weber
Professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education

The teachers who inspired me, and continue to do so, all worked in the design studio at Nottingham School of Architecture: Jack Diamond, who studied with Louis Kahn and taught at the University of Toronto, and Sir Philip Dowson at Arup in London. All were architects who saw design as an optimistic, civic endeavor!

Brian Carter
Dean
School of Architecture and Planning

My high school biology teacher, Mr. Newhouse, made me realize the wonders of nature. Nearly 40 years after high school, the wonder of the underwater world is the heart of my career as an aquatic biologist.

Helen Domske
Associate Director
Great Lakes Program

My favorite teacher was an iconic magazine journalism professor at Syracuse University named Bill Glavin. He shaped generations of journalism students at Newhouse [S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications] with his love of what he called the art form of literary journalism, his irreverent sense of humor and his generous heart toward his students. He was the kind of teacher whose words are a permanent part of your consciousness. His approval was as crucial and elusive when I was 20 as it remains 30-plus years later. He died of cancer in May. I remember being in my car in a parking lot on a hill in the middle of a wind and lightning storm when I heard that he had died.

Charles Anzalone
Senior Editor, University Communications
Adjunct Instructor, Journalism Certificate Program

My sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Eisenhower (and he will always be “Mr. Eisenhower”), stands out. He told my parents at “Parents Night” that although he couldn’t predict what I would do in life, he was sure that writing would play a big role.

Kathleen Wiater
Senior Associate Dean for Communications
School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences