July 18, 1996-Vol27n31

Mark Kristal is interim dean of social sciences

By CHRISTINE VIDAL
Reporter Editor

MARK KRISTAL, associate dean of social sciences and professor and chair of psychology, has been named interim dean of social sciences.

Kristal's appointment, which was effective June 1, was announced by Provost Thomas E. Headrick. He succeeds Ross MacKinnon, who was named dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Connecticut.

"The appointment comes at a key time for the faculty and the university," Headrick said. "Over the next six to eight months, efforts will continue within the university to identify and analyze our future options and make some critical choices.

"Some of those options will entail consideration of whether to continue the Faculty of Social Sciences or configure the Arts and Sciences faculties in some different way. They will require considerations of whether and how to expand and develop some programs, maintain others, and phase down still others as the university tries to build strengths and ensure financial viability and stability."

A member of the faculty since 1973, Kristal has held a number of administrative positions at UB. He was director of the Biopsychology Program in the Department of Psychology from 1978-86, and interim associate dean of the School of Health Related Professions from 1986-88. He became associate dean of social sciences in 1989 and was chair of psychology from 1995-1996.

Kristal is the author of more than 50 publications, and has served as a member of the editorial board of Physiology & Behavior since 1989. He is a manuscript reviewer for a number of professional organizations and journals, among them the American Psychological Association; Physiology & Behavior; Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior; The Journal of Comparative Psychology; and Experimental Neurology. He also serves as a consultant to a number of publishers.

Kristal received his bachelor's degree in psychology from Rutgers University, and master's and doctoral degrees in psychology from Kansas State University.

His research interests include physiological bases of motivated behavior, especially reproduction and ingestion; neural and endocrine bases of maternal behavior in mammals; functions of the hypothalamus, opioid systems and maternal behavior, parturition, and antinociception.