This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

Briefs

Published: February 24, 2011

  • Lahiri is next ‘distinguished speaker’

    Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri will speak at 8 p.m. March 2 in the Mainstage theater in Center for the Arts as part of UB’s Distinguished Speakers Series.

    Appointed by President Barack Obama as a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for “Interpreter of Maladies,” a collection of stories exploring issues of love and identity among immigrants and cultural transplants.

    A film version of Lahiri’s 2003 novel “The Namesake” was released in 2007.

    Lahiri’s “Unaccustomed Earth” received the 2008 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the world’s largest prize for a short story collection, as well as the Vallombrosa Von Rezzori Prize and the Asian American Literary Award for Fiction.

    She also has won the PEN/Hemingway Award, an O. Henry Prize and the Addison Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

    She has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

    Tickets for Lahiri’s lecture are available at the Center for the Arts ticket office and at all Ticketmaster outlets, including Ticketmaster.com.

    For more information on the speakers, subscription and ticket orders and sponsors, visit the Office of Special Events website.

  • Celebration to honor Ebert

    In memory of longtime faculty member Charles H.V. (Vince) Ebert, the Department of Geography will host a “Celebration of Dr. Vince Ebert’s Contributions to Geography” from 5:30-7:45 p.m. March 4 in 120 Clemens Hall, North Campus.

    The celebration will pay tribute to Ebert, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus who died on Dec. 30 at age 86.

    The event will begin with informal socializing from 5:30-6 p.m. At 6 p.m., Randy Bertolas, an alumnus of the UB geography department who is professor of geography and chair of the Department of History, Politics and Geography at Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb., will talk about Ebert’s contributions to the field of geography.

    A reception will follow Bertolas’ talk at 7 p.m.

    Ebert served on the UB faculty for nearly 50 years and became an expert in the field of disasters, studying the effects of earthquakes, avalanches, volcanic eruptions, deforestation and soil erosion.

    But he may be best remembered for his teaching. He won numerous teaching awards, including the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 1975 and 1976; UB’s Mr. Faculty Award in 1965 and 1968; and the Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Geography Teaching from the National Council for Geographic Education in 1990. He was designated a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor—the highest rank in the SUNY system—in 1989.

    And while Ebert retired in 2000, he continued to teach as many as four courses a semester, including his popular and long-running undergraduate course, “Disasters: A Study of Hazards.” It has been estimated that Ebert taught more than 32,000 students during his career at UB.

    Those planning to attend the Ebert celebration should contact Betsy Abraham at 645-0471 or babraham@buffalo.edu.

  • Auction to support summer law fellowships

    The Buffalo Public Interest Law Program (BPILP), a not-for-profit organization at the UB Law School, will host its 16th annual auction at 6 p.m. Feb. 25 in the Pearl Street Grill & Brewery, 76 Pearl St., Buffalo.

    Tickets are $35 per person and include drinks and extensive hors d’oeuvres. All proceeds benefit BPILP’s Summer Fellowship Program.

    Organized by law students, the event is the primary fundraiser for fellowships that allow UB law students to accept unpaid summer positions in public-interest law. “Public interest” encompasses many areas of the law, including domestic violence, child advocacy, human rights, poverty law, elder law and environmental law. While many organizations are in need of legal assistance offered by law students, many cannot afford to pay students for their services.

    Over the years, BPILP fellows have worked in situations ranging from public defender’s offices and the Volunteer Lawyers Project to small not-for-profit businesses, human rights advocacy organizations and the New York Civil Liberties Union. Those who receive the fellowships contract to give at least 20 hours to BPILP in the following year, ensuring that the organization’s fund-raising operations are self-sustaining.

    The event typically draws UB Law alumni and friends from throughout the Buffalo legal community. Last year, the BPILP auction raised more than $35,000.

    To purchase tickets for the auction, or for more information on the event, contact BPILP at bpilp.ub@gmail.com.

  • Music offers free concerts

    Budget-conscious music lovers can much to keep them busy in March.

    The monthly Brown Bag Concert will take place at noon on March 1 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.

    And for the first time in more than a decade, the Brown Bag Concert will travel to the South Campus, with a performance at noon on March 3 in the Emeritus Center, 113 Goodyear Hall.

    Performing at the concerts will be faculty members Jonathan Golove, cello; Eric Huebner, piano; and Jean Kopperud, clarinet, who will offer a preview of the all-Beethoven program they will present at 7:30 p.m. March 1 in Lippes Concert Hall.

    Now in its 12th year, the Brown Bag Concert Series is designed to showcase the talents of UB music students and faculty. The series of free, informal concerts presented over the lunch hour allows patrons to catch a glimpse of the kind of programming offered on a regular basis by the Department of Music. Participants are invited to bring their lunch and enjoy complimentary Tim Hortons coffee. Each attendee will receive a pair of complimentary tickets for a more formal concert within the following month.

    Rounding out the free music events for November are a number of student recitals and performances by student ensembles. All are open to the public:

    • M.M. Recital: Christopher Culp, clarinet, 7:30 p.m., March 3, Lippes Concert Hall.
    • On The Edge Class Recital: Students from Jean Kopperud’s performance class. 3 p.m.March 8, Lippes Concert Hall.
    • String Studio Recital: Noon, March 9, Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, North Campus.
    • UB Symphony Orchestra: Daniel Bassin, conductor, 7:30 p.m., March 9, Lippes Concert Hall.
    • Computer Music Concert: 7:30 p.m., March 30, Black Box Theatre, Center for the Arts, North Campus.

  • Distinguished nursing alumna to lecture

    Anne Skelly, associate professor of nursing at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a UB School of Nursing distinguished alumna, will present the inaugural Margaret A. Nelson Lecture at 2 p.m. March 4 in 114 Wende Hall, South Campus.

    The lecture, titled “Self-Care of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Lessons Learned from the Field,” is free and open to the public.

    “It is an honor to be the inaugural speaker for this endowed lecture and to begin the dialogue about diabetes and present findings from our research to families and health care providers,” said Skelly. “Self-care is the cornerstone of effective diabetes management; however, important questions remain regarding the best ways to help individuals with diabetes—and their families—implement and sustain the behavioral changes necessary.”

    Skelly is a community-oriented, board-certified, primary-care nurse practitioner who has worked in neighborhood health centers, health departments and specialty clinics. Her research interests involve improving the self-care practices of minority women with diabetes, particularly African-American elders living in rural communities.

    She received a BS and MS in nursing from UB and went on to get her PhD in medical sociology from UB. She received the first UB School of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award in 2004.

    Margaret A. Nelson, a UB School of Nursing alumna (BS ’54, MS ’58) created this endowed fund to honor her late children, Linda Nelson Buettner and Bruce Nelson, who died of complications related to diabetes. The endowment fund was established to invite a visiting scholar to the School of Nursing to educate faculty, students, staff and the community about prevention, early detection and management of diabetes and other chronic illnesses. Margaret Nelson died Dec. 5.

  • RIA to present spring seminar series

    UB’s Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) will present a spring seminar series featuring national experts on addiction-related topics, beginning March 4.

    The four-part series, which is free and open to the public, is held at 10 a.m. on designated Fridays on the first floor of the RIA building at 1021 Main St. at Goodrich Street on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

    The opening presentation by Kenneth E. Leonard on March 4 is entitled “The Social Environment and Adult Alcohol Use: How Drinking Shapes and is Shaped by Friends and Family Relationships.” A senior research scientist at RIA, Leonard also is a research professor and vice chair for research in the UB Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He is nationally known for his research on alcohol’s relationship to marriage and family, parenting and infant development, as well as bar and domestic violence.

    On April 1, Mark Muraven will present “Improving Self-Control.” Muraven is associate professor of psychology and area head of the doctoral program in the Department of Social-Personality Psychology at the University at Albany. He is investigating how to improve coping by building self-control, how practicing self-control lowers the risk of smoking relapse and the role of self-control strength and restraint in alcohol relapse. Muraven did his postdoctoral research at RIA.

    On April 15, J. Scott Tonigan, research professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of New Mexico, will present “The Benefits of Alcoholics Anonymous: What Research Does and Does Not Tell Us.” His research specialties include the measurement of substance use and its consequences, 12-step programs and understanding the mechanisms that explain the benefits of AA, including spiritual growth, altruism, narcissism and perceptions of AA-specific social interactions.

    The series will conclude on May 20 with “Cue Reactivity, Reduced Response to Alcohol and Mechanisms of Person-Environment Vulnerability,” presented by Marsha E. Bates, research professor of psychology at Rutgers University’s Center of Alcohol Studies and director of its Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory. She is investigating mechanisms of behavior change initiation and building high-risk, high-payoff interdisciplinary approaches to alcohol-related problems via mechanism-based strategies.

    For more information about the seminars, contact RIA at 887-2566.

  • Increase in student fees proposed

    The comprehensive student fee would increase by 6 percent—by $65 a semester for full-time undergraduates and $39.50 a semester for graduate and professional students—beginning in fall 2011, according to a proposal by Dennis Black, vice president for university life and services, and Satish K. Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

    The increase would bring the total fee paid per semester to $1,053 for undergraduates and $790.50 for graduate and professional students.

    Black and Tripathi noted that the increase is necessary so that UB—in the current state, SUNY and university budget climate—can continue to offer programs and services that students need and expect.

    The proposed per-semester increases include:

    • A campus life increase of $9 to support a portion of state-mandated negotiated salary-and-benefit increases not provided for in the university’s base budget and other contractual obligations, as well as to support the growth and success of the undergraduate education initiative.

    • A health services increase of $10.50 to support a portion of state-mandated negotiated salary-and-benefit increases not provided for in the university’s base budget for personnel funded through the health fee.
    • An intercollegiate athletics increase of $25.50 (undergraduates only) to support required operating contractual increases. Increases in the cost of attendance has increased grant-in-aid costs for both men’s and women’s sports. Funds also will address transportation increases due to rapidly rising costs for team travel, as well as compliance with federal Title IX requirements.
    • A technology increase of $13.50 to address some of the increased costs to insure the continuity of the existing collection of electronic materials in the University Libraries, as well as inflation for information technology contractual increases for campuswide software and hardware licenses.
    • A transportation increase of $6.50 to support state-mandated negotiated salary and benefits not provided for in the university’s base budget and a portion of increased costs to the current bus and shuttle contract obligations.

    Final fee recommendations for 2011-12 will be made after student consultation, sometime before the end of the semester, Black and Tripathi said.

    More information on UB’s student comprehensive fee, proposed increases, and the waiver process, is available at the comprehensive fee website.

    Several opportunities for student comment also have been established. Comments may be sent via email to src@buffalo.edu through March 4, and representatives from the areas supported by student fees will be answering questions through the comprehensive fee website and through a listserv to be held through March 4. Details can be found on the comprehensive fee website.

    In addition, an assessment of student fee concerns is being conducted via the My Opinion survey that can be accessed through MyUB. The results will be shared via the comprehensive fee website.