Student pianist to perform in Slee

Edward M. Chilungu, a junior honors student in the Department of Music, will perform the first movement of Aram Khachaturian's Piano Concerto with the UB Symphony at 8 p.m. Friday in Slee Hall.

A special major in music performance, Chilungu will be among the student soloists performing with the symphony under conductor Magnus Martensson, visiting assistant professor of music.

Chilungu, who has been studying both piano and violin since the age of 4, was the winner of the December 2000 Baird Concerto Competition. He currently studies piano with Frina Arschanska Boldt, associate professor of music.

The concert is free and open to the public.

O'Neill reading of "Oscar" postponed

Vincent O'Neill's reading of "The Importance of Being Oscar," scheduled for May 16 in the Center for the Arts, has been postponed. A new date will be announced.

The reading by O'Neill, artistic director of the Irish Classical Theatre and chair of the UB Department of Theatre and Dance, will benefit the Pan-Am Centennial Celebration 2001, a grassroots, community-wide initiative commemorating the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.

EOP to hold awards convocation

The Educational Opportunity Program (EOP)-Center for Academic Development Services will hold its 26th annual Awards and Honors Convocation at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Student Union Theatre on the North Campus.

Among those honored will be 447 students who achieved a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher during the spring and fall 2000 semesters.

Also honored will be 146 seniors who completed requirements for graduation in February or plan to graduate in May or August, as well as 71 students named to "Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities."

Two graduating seniors will receive special awards.

The Arthur O. Eve Award will be presented to Eric Bryden, a sociology major, and Tammy Lu He, a physical therapy major, will receive the Percy Sutton Award.

The Friends of EOP Award will be presented to Susan Schapiro, clinical associate professor emeritus in the Graduate School of Education, and Rosemarie Marciniak, assistant to the chair in the Department of Mathematics.

Rheumatology conference set

An update on research and treatment for rheumatologic conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, will be the topic of a symposium May 11 sponsored by the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The symposium will be held from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Buffalo Conference Center attached to the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 2 Fountain Plaza, Buffalo.

Although the program is designed for health-care professionals, members of the public also may attend.

The registration fee, which includes a continental breakfast and lunch, is $15 for medical and pharmacy students, and $40 for all others.

For more information or to register by the May 7 deadline, call 645-2828, ext. 247.

15 students named diversity advocates

Fifteen UB students have been named diversity advocates for 2001 by the University Committee for the Promotion of Respect for Diversity, in collaboration with the Office of Student Multicultural Affairs.

The diversity advocates project, begun in 1997, invites students to write an essay in which the student defines his or her perspective of diversity. Students selected as advocates can enroll in a three-credit course to receive training in diversity workshop techniques or participate on a volunteer basis. Students previously named as advocates often continue as volunteers as well.

A major part of the project is a diversity poster, which this year was designed by student Elizabeth Massa under direction of Renee Ruffino, a senior staff assistant in the Department of Art, and was unveiled Tuesday during the Residence Halls Multicultural Awards Reception.

The undergraduate advocates, also honored Tuesday, are Selam Assefaw, Shantey Brown, Shivoune Brown, Luis Celestino, Andrea Cleveland, Leslie Cecil, Like Gao, Aldin Gordon, Steven Hurt, Monica Monyo, Tina Song, Nadhiushka Vega, Zhong Wen Tsao, Gary Winston and Patricia Yu.

Administrative changes announced in health sciences

Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi has announced an administrative reorganization in the health sciences.

John R. Wright, dean of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, will serve as senior associate vice president for curricular affairs. Bruce A. Holm, formerly senior associate dean for research, will assume the position of senior associate vice president for research.

Wright and Holm will report in their new roles to Michael E. Bernardino, vice president for health affairs, who also will serve as executive dean of the medical school.

“One of UB’s main strengths is the presence of all the health sciences schools,” Capaldi said. “These administrative changes will allow us to coordinate across the schools so that we can deal most effectively with the changes in modern health-care delivery, which require integration of the components of health care.”

Four receive Welch awards

Four residence-hall students have been named recipients of the Nancy Welch Award for developing, implementing or supporting imaginative outstanding programs and projects to benefit UB’s student community.

The award is named for the former residential coordinator of UB’s Rachel Carson College.

The first-, second- and third-place winners received a cash award and a plaque.

Noah Brecher won the first -place award for her Middle East Peace Rally Project designed to increase tolerance and unity between on-campus Jewish and Arab communities. A sophomore majoring in anthropology, she lives in Suffern.

Second-place award winners were Valerie Bergeman and Timothy R. Matthews.

Bergeman was honored for her leadership in promoting school spirit and encouraging student participation in UB’s Thunder of the East Marching Band, Pep Band and Kappa Psi honorary band service fraternity. A junior majoring in pharmacy, she lives in Waterport.

Matthews was honored for his leadership and commitment in working with students and university administrators to develop and implement the current University Emergency Medical Service (UEMS), a student team that will provide medical knowledge and assistance in emergencies while awaiting medical professionals. A sophomore majoring in communication, he lives in Greece.

Jennifer A. Sacks won third place for her UB Vote 2000 Project, which had a positive effect on student voting habits by emphasizing the need for students to be informed, active voters. A junior majoring in psychology and sociology, Sacks lives in Seaford.

Receiving a plaque and certificate for honorable mention were Melissa M. Blain, Julio A. Gonzalez and Christine M. Smith for Sabor Latino, a festive celebration that emphasized Latin culture and combined observation of Hispanic Heritage Month with a theme of alcohol awareness.

Blain is a senior from Queens with a special major in pharmaceutics. Gonzalez, who is from Brooklyn, is a senior majoring in accounting. Smith, a junior majoring in accounting, is from West Seneca.

Multicultural programming in residence halls recognized

Nine undergraduate students at UB have been honored as 2001 Residence Halls Multicultural Programming Award winners.

The students, honored Tuesday with a reception in Capen Hall, were chosen for their promotion—through residence hall and apartment educational and social programming—of multicultural awareness, respect and appreciation for diversity. The students chosen also demonstrated student leadership and creativity in the planning and implementation of their programs.

Juniors Jada Gardner and Mirna Martinez, and sophomores Clara Fayomi and Stephanie Keiser took first place for their simulation of the game show Jeopardy—“Multicultural Jeopardy”—which included categories on religion, culture and ethnicity.

Sophomores Natanya Watson and Jodi Morales took second place for their creation, “Cultra-Rama,” a celebration of multiculturalism through residents’ presentations of culture, religious beliefs and food.

“Multicultural Food Month,” created by senior and third-place winner Sadia Raja, encouraged residents to dress in ethnic clothing and visit area ethnic restaurants.

Sophomores Urvish Tamakuwala and Alexis Torres both received honorable mention for their respective projects, “Henna Tattooing”—which introduced the Indian custom of henna tattoos to residents—and “Pajammamomma Momma”—which combined a pajama movie night with a multicultural dinner.

Students were awarded cash prizes for their efforts.

Shelia E. Pinckney, assistant director of college housing, and Cory Frans, Residence Hall Association hall representative, served as co-chairs for the competition.

Choreographers Showcase scheduled

UB students in the Department of Theatre and Dance will bring their innovation to the stage this weekend with the Young Choreographers Showcase in the Center for the Arts.

Now in its seventh year, the showcase will feature the original work of nine student choreographers—eight undergraduate and one graduate—who, with the support of faculty mentors, each have developed their own piece to culminate in what showcase director Tressa Gorman Crehan called an “eclectic” composition.

Contemporary music features prominently in the choreographers’ work, which includes several movement pieces, as well as narrative pieces on personal struggle, and one in which a couple is transposed from one time era to another.

Performances, which will be in the Black Box Theatre of the CFA, will be at 8 p.m. tomorrow, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the CFA box office between noon and 6 p.m. today and tomorrow.

For more information, call 645-ARTS.

Earth Day prizes awarded

Six students won prizes for poster and oral presentations at the Earth Day Environmental Sciences Colloquium held on April 20.

Recognized from among 24 poster presentations were posters by:

• James W. Schuetz, Department of Geology, “An Internet-based, Virtual Reality Tutorial Demonstrating the Simulation of Seasonal Changes in Surface and Ground-water Flow for Mirror Lake, New Hampshire,” first prize

• Rajat K. Chakraborti, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, “Characterization and Modeling of Aquatic Particles,” second prize

• Jamie Strassburg, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, “The Effect of Ultraviolet Disinfection on Swimming Pool Water Quality,” third prize

Recognized from among nine oral, or platform, presentation were:

• Seema Choudhary, Department of Chemistry, “Green Chemistry: An Environmentally Benign Chemistry,” first prize

• Chad M. Vezina, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, “Identification and Characterization of Polymorphisms in Human Cytochromes P450 1A1 and 1B1: Implications for Chemical Carcinogensis,” second prize

• Jagjit Kaur, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, “Modeling the Fate and Transport of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) in Presence of Zebra Mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in Saginaw Bay,” third prize.

Got mud??

Yeah, and there’ll be lots of it at UB’s 17th Annual Oozfest, North America’s largest mud-volleyball tournament, to be held Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in The Mud Pit on St. Rita’s Lane behind the UB Stadium on the North Campus.

It is presented by the University Student Alumni Board (USAB), the student affiliate of the UB Alumni Association.

Some 800 serious players on 96 teams from universities throughout the Northeast and Western Ontario, as well as a few hardy UB alums, will compete in the event, billed as UB students’ favorite tradition in Lisa Birnbaum’s “New and Improved College Handbook.”

Spectators who feel the urge to merge with the mud can enter and win special prizes in events other than volleyball, including the tug of war, dizzy bat spin races, a mud obstacle course and a slip-and-slide competition.

A new attraction for spectators who “come clean” and want to stay that way will be a rock climbing wall from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., courtesy of First USA Bank.

Proceeds from the $120 team registration fee will benefit the J. Scott Fleming Scholarship Awards and other USAB projects for students.

Among the Oozfest competitors will be teams sporting imaginative monikers like Start Spreading the Ooze, Madame Cleo’s Mud Slingers, The Flying Pierogies and Granimals.

It’s the 12th Oozfest for crowd favorite Poached Trout in a White Wine Sauce, a team of UB alumni from Washington, D.C., Virginia and Texas, who have in the past sported creative, if outlandish, uniforms ranging from Santa Claus suits to formal evening wear.

KISS 98.5 will provide giveaways, entertainment, music and a disc jockey from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.