ALBINI RECEIVES NYSUT COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD

Boris Albini, professor of microbiology, received the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) Community Service Award at the NYSUT convention held May 1-4 in Washington, D.C.

Albini contributed more than 900 hours of community service during the past year. He is an executive board member of the International Institute of Buffalo and president of the Faculty Club at UB.

In 1996, he volunteered for one month in Bosnia, representing Medical Relief, UB and the WNY medical community. Information he obtained in Bosnia helped to secure federal grants to establish the partnership between Bosnia and The Buffalo General Hospital, providing skilled care and medical education in Bosnia. On April 17, he received the Regina Kociecki Award for Distinguished Achievement from United University Professions. He serves as vice president for the UB Health Sciences chapter.

A faculty member at UB since 1974, and author of more than 140 scientific publications, he serves on the editorial board of several peer review journals. A Fulbright scholar in 1991, Albini received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Colegio Americano, Caracas, Venezuela; Realgymnasium, Vienna, Austria; Akademie f. Musik u. Darstellende Kunst, Vienna; a degree in Romance languages and history of theatre and his M.D. degree from the University of Vienna, Austria.

RUTH BRYANT REAPPOINTED TO COUNTY ADVISORY BOARD

Ruth D. Bryant, assistant dean in the School of Architecture and Planning, has been reappointed to membership on the Erie County Cultural Resources Advisory Board for a two-year term by Dennis T. Gorski, Erie County executive.

Bryant, a UB graduate, is a former chair of the Professional Staff Senate (PSS). A 30-year employee of the university, she received the PSS Outstanding Service Award in 1990.

FORMER ENERGY SECRETARY HAZEL O'LEARY TO SPEAK

Hazel O'Leary, former U.S. secretary of energy, will speak at the first ALANA Convocation at UB, to be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, May 16, in the Student Union Theatre on the North Campus.

The event will honor graduating students‹both undergraduates and graduates‹who are of African, Latino, Asian and Native-American (ALANA) descent.

A reception for O'Leary and the students and their families and friends will be held from 10-11 a.m. in the Student Union lobby prior to the program.

The event, free and open to the public, is sponsored by UB's Office of Student Multicultural Affairs and supported by the Student Association.

O'Leary graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Fisk University in Nashville and received her law degree from Rutgers University. As secretary of energy, she led several major international trade missions to India, Pakistan and China, promoting U.S. energy proposals that resulted in international partnerships in sustainable energy development.

PETRIE, HOOT, BOGAN HONORED BY ECRC

Two UB faculty members and a staff member received special awards from the Early Childhood Research Center (ECRC) at UB during a special dinner held on April 17 to celebrate the "Week of the Young Child."

Hugh Petrie, outgoing dean of the Graduate School of Education; James Hoot, who has been director of ECRC for 10 years, and Christine Bogan, who has been a secretary at ECRC for 10 years and coordinated construction of the Christine Cataldo Playground adjacent to the center, were honored for their significant and continuing support of ECRC.

More than 100 staff members, teachers, guests and parents of youngsters enrolled in ECRC attended the event held in Baldy Hall.

The "Week of the Young Child" is sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the national accrediting group for early childhood education and daycare centers.

UB PROFESSOR IS BERKELEY LECTURER

Eli Ruckenstein, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UB, was the invited speaker this spring for the Thirteenth Berkeley Lectures in Chemical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley.

Each year, a leading chemical engineer is chosen to give two lectures to academic and industry researchers at the University of California at Berkeley. Ruckenstein lectured on "Thermodynamically and Kinetically Stable Dispersions" and on "Colloidal Scale Polymeric Composites."

A UB professor since 1973, Ruckenstein has made scientific contributions in a broad range of areas, including applied mathematics and catalysis, polymers, enzyme catalysis, surface phenomena, colloids and emulsions. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the winner of numerous national and international awards.

UB CENTER ANNOUNCES TWO NEW APPOINTMENTS

The Center for Industrial Effectiveness (TCIE) at UB has announced two staff changes. The center has hired Betsy Anderson as quality director for the Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR) program and has promoted Pamela Keen to manager of training services.

Anderson will provide quality and manufacturing assistance to local companies through projects that will involve students and faculty from the UB Department of Industrial Engineering. She also will assist faculty in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in curriculum development and teaching. A graduate of Alfred University, she earned a master's degree in business administration from UB.

Keen, formerly training coordinator for the center, will assist clients in training-needs assessments, state training-grant administration and company-funded training. Keen has been an employee of TCIE since 1993. A graduate of Empire State College, she previously worked at Moog as an administrative assistant.

SUNY CONFERENCE SET ON INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES

Christine Sauciunac, associate director for information technology services at UB, and H.G. Parsa are members of the planning committee for Learning With Technologies: Design*Implement*Assess, the sixth annual SUNY FACT Conference on Instructional Technologies (CIT) to be held May 27-30 at Brockport State College.

The conference, open to all SUNY faculty and staff, and on a limited basis to other interested educators, is designed to encourage SUNY faculty to develop and use instructional technologies.

CIT will feature more than 150 presentations focusing on design of learning technologies, their implementation and assessment.

Among the presenters are Edith Martin, chief information officer, Eastman Kodak Co., who will speak on "Getting the Picture: Technology and the Future;" Bernard Petit, coordinator of Brockport State College Interactive Telecommunications Network, who will discuss and demonstrate the Rochester Area Interactive Telecommunications Network, and Gerald Puccio, acting director of the Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College, who will discuss "Fostering Change Through Technology."

WELCH INVITED TO CARNEGIE COUNCIL ETHICS SEMINAR

Claude E. Welch Jr., SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Political Science, has been invited by the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs to participate in an invited faculty development seminar, "The Politics and Ethics of Humanitarian Intervention: Experience and Prospects." It will be held June 12-14 in New York City, and has been limited to 24 participants.

UB PROF IS VISITING PROFESSOR IN FINLAND

Marjorie A. White, professor and director, Center for Nursing Research in the School of Nursing, was a visiting professor at the University of Tampere, Department of Nursing Science, Tampere, Finland, during March. She taught a course in Family Theory and Research to 50 graduate students from Greece, Germany, Italy and Finland as part of the ERASMUS program (European Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students), involving educational exchange among European universities.

She provided research consultation to colleagues at the University of Tampere on a study of families and child abuse in Finland, for which she is principal investigator. The study was launched through a Fulbright Senior Scholars Fellowship to the University of Tampere in 1994-95.

STRAINCHAMPS TO GIVE PAPER AT ITALY CONFERENCE

Edmond Strainchamps, associate professor of music and associate chair, Department of Music, will deliver a paper at a scholarly conference in Florence, Italy, May 23-25. The event is being held in conjunction with events marking the 700th anniversary of the founding of the Cathedral of Florence.

The conference, entitled Cantate Domino, will examine the role of music in the history of the Florentine duomo through the centuries. Strainchamps has done research and published on music, both secular and sacred, in Florentine culture with emphasis on the 16th and 17th centuries, and has published extensively on these topics.

INDONESIAN TEACHERS GRADUATING FROM UB

Among those graduating from UB this weekend are nine Indonesian school teachers who will receive master's degrees from the Graduate School of Education during ceremonies on Saturday, May 17, at 5 p.m. in the Mainstage of the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

The nine are the last graduates among 18 Indonesians who came to UB in 1995 as part of an extensive teacher-retraining program undertaken by the Indonesian government. That program is part of an effort to transform the country into an industrialized nation within 25 years.

Despite great language difficulty and a prolonged absence from their homes and families, all nine have maintained grade point averages between 3.58 (B+) and 3.72 (A-). On Saturday, eight will receive master's degrees in general education through the Department of Educational Organization, Administration and Policy. One will receive a master's in science education.

After reporting to the Ministry of Education in Indonesia, the graduates will resume their work in junior or senior high schools in Indonesia.

The first seven members of the group graduated from UB in August 1996 and December 1996 after completing their master's degrees in teaching English as a second language and in science education. One additional teacher was called home by the Indonesian government and later completed his master's degree at an Australian university. Another became ill and died last summer upon his return to Indonesia.

The program has been headed by William Cummings, director of the UB Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education.