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Four faculty members named UB Distinguished Professors
By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor
Four faculty members from across the university will be recognized as UB Distinguished Professors during the ninth annual University Convocation, to be held on Oct. 8.
The UB Distinguished Professor designation—not to be confused with the SUNY Distinguished Professor designation, a rank above that of full professor awarded by the SUNY trustees—was created last year by the Office of the Provost "to recognize those full professors who have achieved true distinction and who are leaders in their fields," says Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi.
It is open to faculty members who have been a full professor for at least five years and who have achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within their field through significant contributions to the research/scholarly literature or through artistic performance or achievement in the fine arts.
While attainment of the UB Distinguished Professor designation may pave the way for a faculty member to be nominated for SUNY Distinguished Professor, nominations also can come from the professorate in general, Capaldi says, noting "it is not a necessary step."
The second class of UB Distinguished Professors includes:
Huw M. L. Davies, professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences. Larkin Professor of Organic Chemistry, Davies has been a UB faculty member since 1995. He is the recipient of two SUNY Chancellor's Awards: the award for Excellence in Teaching in 2002 and the award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities—recognizing the work of those who engage actively in scholarly and creative pursuit beyond their teaching responsibilities—in 2003.
DAVIES
Director of the Department of Chemistry's graduate program, Davies holds more than 10 drug-related patents and has published widely in journals and books, as well being a frequent presenter at national and international meetings. His current research is funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and Johnson and Johnson.
Among his more recent accomplishments, he is the leader of a team of UB organic chemists that made an important advance that greatly facilitates the use of combinatorial chemistry and its commercial potential as a method for drug discovery and development.
Davies received an undergraduate degree with honors in chemistry from the University College Cardiff, Cardiff, Wales, and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England.
Leonard H. Epstein, professor, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; research professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences. A nationally recognized expert in the research and treatment of obesity in children, Epstein originated the Stoplight Diet Plan, the only weight-loss program in the U.S. to document weight loss and maintenance in children over a 10-year period.
EPSTEIN
He is the recipient of numerous federal grants—most of which are from the National Institutes of Health—and has published widely in professional journals. He and his work have been featured on CBS' "48 Hours" and have been the subject of numerous articles in the print media.
He received a bachelor's degree from Lafayette College and a doctorate from Ohio University.
Michael F. Sheridan, professor, Department of Geology, College of Arts and Sciences. Sheridan, who joined the UB faculty in 1990, has made a career out of mapping the predicted direction of flows from volcanic eruptions before they occur, based on extensive fieldwork and knowledge of the historic patterns of a particular volcano. Most recently, he developed three-dimensional computer simulations that predict how far and how fast those dangerous flows will travel, helping public safety officials to determine ahead of time which areas to evacuate.
SHERIDAN
A former chair of the Department of Geology, Sheridan is the author of four books and more than 120 articles in refereed journals. He has been involved in numerous research projects funded by the U.S. Geological Survey, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation
He received a bachelor's degree from Amherst College and master's and doctoral degrees from Stanford University.
Barbara H. Tedlock, professor, Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences. A UB faculty member since 1987 and former department chair, Tedlock is a nationally known specialist in psychological, symbolic and cognitive anthropology, the anthropology of art and aesthetics, and ethnomedicine in the American Southwest and Mesoamerica.
TEDLOCK
Her field research has taken her among the Zuni Indians of New Mexico; the Quich� Mayan Indians of Guatemala; the Iwo, Ife, Oshogbo and Ibadan peoples of Nigeria, and to Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Belize.
A past editor of American Anthropologist, the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association, Tedlock is a widely published author of many abstracts and journal articles, and magazine and newspaper pieces. She also has published three books: "Time and the Highland Mayan," "Dreaming: Anthropological and Psychological Interpretations" and "The Beautiful and the Dangerous: Zuni Indian Encounters."
A cum laude graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in rhetoric, she earned a master's degree with distinction in anthropology and ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University and a doctoral degree in anthropology from the University at Albany.