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UB Choirs to join celebratory performance
The UB Choirs will participate in a grand celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra and the 150th anniversary of the publication "Leaves of Grass" by Brooklyn poet laureate Walt Whitman at 8 p.m. April 16 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
It will be the choirs' fourth New York City performance in five years.
They will join the New York Virtuoso Singers and the Canticum Novum singers, all under the direction of Harold Rosenbaum, the artistic director of all three groups, in a performance of Beethoven's mighty Ninth Symphony ("Ode to Joy"), the great 19th-century hymn to the brotherhood of humankind.
The program also will feature the world premiere of "Dooryard Bloom," a song cycle by composer Jennifer Higdon commissioned for the occasion and based on the poetry of Whitman, an eminent humanist who, coincidentally, wrote reviews of Brooklyn Philharmonic performances for 19th-century newspapers.
UB Gymnastics Club to host national tournament
The UB Gymnastics Club will host the 17th National Association for Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs' National Tournament (NAIGC Nationals) April 14-16 in the Amherst Pepsi Center.
Preliminaries will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday and at 9 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday. Finalists will compete beginning at noon on Saturday.
The gymnasts in this league "persistently push themselves to do their best and do what they could not do the day before, despite the fact that most of them are neither Olympic nor scholarship hopefuls," says Daniel Toner, UB Gymnastics Club president and NAIGC Nationals director and committee chair.
"The simple love of the sport is one of the largest driving forces for all of us in gymnastics."
This meet marks the second time this "completely student-run gymnastics league" has held the national tournament in Buffalo, Toner adds.
"The tournament will be an excellent showcase of men's and women's collegiate gymnastics in a competitive and very fun atmosphere."
Pharmacy school ties for 17th in U.S. News rankings
The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences has tied for 17th place among schools of pharmacy across the nation, according to a U.S. News & World Report ranking of the best graduate schools in the country.
UB tied with three other institutions, including the University of Iowa, the University of Kansas and the University of Tennessee at Memphis.
Dean Wayne K. Anderson said the ranking demonstrates UB's success in preparing pharmacy graduates for newly expanded roles in health care in the 21st century.
"UB has been at the educational forefront as the role of pharmacy has evolved from a professional practice orientation to one that intersects with basic and clinical research activities," Anderson said. "This ranking recognizes the valuable, high-quality education and outstanding research environment we provide."
The school's doctor of pharmacy degree, a six-year entry-level program, prepares pharmacists for drug-therapy management, "one of the most important challenges in health care today," Anderson continued.
"This extensive educational program will prepare the pharmacist, as a disease manager, to be a member of the disease-management team consisting of physicians, non-physician providers and other allied health professionals. The pharmaceutical sciences, meanwhile, derive their basic strengths from the interdisciplinary nature of our school programs."
U.S. News asked pharmacy faculty members and administrators at U.S. colleges and universities to rank Pharm.D. programs and used these ratings to compile its ranking.
The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences was founded in 1886, and is the second-oldest component of UB and the only pharmacy school in the SUNY system.
Encompassing the departments of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the school offers a number of professional, undergraduate and graduate programs directed at several areas of the pharmaceutical sciences. The doctor of pharmacy degree program began in 1999.
Regarding other UB graduate programs, U.S. News placed the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in the top third of engineering schools. The UB Law School and Graduate School of Education were ranked in the top half of the U.S. News rankings in their areas.
ESI plans Earth Day colloquium
Mark Sagoff, senior research scholar in the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, and Pat Brezonik, a University of Minnesota faculty member currently serving as director of environmental engineering for the National Science Foundation, will be the keynote speakers at the Environment and Society Colloquium Commemorating Earth Day 2005, to be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.
The campuswide colloquium presented each year by the Environmental and Society Institute (ESI) is designed to showcase multidisciplinary scholarship and educational activities related to environmental science, engineering, policy and management. It will be free and open to the public.
Sagoff will speak "On the Death of Environmentalism" at 11:05 a.m. in the Screening Room in the CFA. He will discuss whether the emphasis of "sound science" has killed environmentalism.
A Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment, and president of the International Society of Environmental Ethics, Sagoff has published widely in journals of philosophy, law, economics and public policy. His most recent book, "Price, Principle and the Environment," was published in 2004 by Cambridge University Press.
Brezonik, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and director of the Water Resource Center at the University of Minnesota, will speak at 1:05 p.m. in the Screening Room on "Global Water Quality: Implications for Supply and Health." His talk will address the role of science and technology in solving the problems of an abused and over used resource.
In his position at the NSF, Brezonik coordinates the Collaborative Large-scale Engineering Analysis Network for Environmental Research (CLEANER) Program.
His research interests have focused on the impact of human activity on water quality and the biogeochemical cycles of such important elements as nitrogen and phosphorus in large watersheds and lakes.
The colloquium also will feature more than 40 poster presentations by ESI faculty and students, and workshops on environmental research, natural building and the possibility of invasive species threatening the Great Lakes. In addition, a juried exhibition of visual art related to contemporary environmental themes will be presented.
A prequel to the event will be offered by the Department of Philosophy at 4 p.m. today in 141 Park Hall, North Campus. Sagoff will present a paper titled "Locke was Right: Nature has Little Economic Value."
For more information on the colloquium, visit the ESI Web site at http://www.buffalo.edu/esi.
Symposium to address academic freedom in post-9/11 age
"Art, Law and the Patriot Act," a symposium addressing the issues of civil liberties and academic freedom in the post-9/11 age of the Patriot Act and government watchdogs, will be held from 6-9 p.m. April 13 in the Screening Room in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.
The symposium, sponsored by the UB departments of Art and Media Study, and the UB Art Galleries, will be free of charge and open to the public.
It will bring together representatives from the fields of art, law, history, science and economics to offer perspectives on the issues surrounding the recent federal investigation of Steven Kurtz, a UB professor of art and founding member of the internationally renowned Critical Art Ensemble (CAE), as well as to consider the broader implications of the Patriot Act for people living in the United States.
Invoking a 1989 bio-terrorism law and the Patriot Act, federal agents detained Kurtz, searched his home and confiscated research material after police found what they considered to be suspicious material following the death of Kurtz's wife, Hope, of cardiac arrest. Although authorities found no public safety threat, Kurtz was charged with mail fraud, which carries the possibility of a long prison term if he is convicted.
The panelists will include Steve Barnes, a founding member of the CAE, a collective of tactical media practitioners whose focus has been on the explorations of the intersections of art, critical theory, technology and political activism; Maria Fernandez, assistant professor of art history at Cornell University; Phillip Thurtle, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at Carleton University; Sharon Hayes, an artist from New York City; Kevin Jon Heller, a legal scholar; Paul Zarembka, UB professor of economics; and Jeanne-Noel Mahoney, executive director of the Western Regional Office of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Pedagogy to be topic of workshop
A satellite broadcast workshop, "Pedagogy 102 for Distance Learning Faculty," will be held from 2:30-4 p.m. April 21 in B-15 Abbott Hall, South Campus.
The seminar, a continuation of the "Pedagogy 101" broadcast held on Feb. 24, will be presented by the Center for Teaching and Learning Resources (CTLR).
It will feature successful practitioners and highly regarded theorists presenting the most current and useful pedagogical models and applications. They include Garrett Brand, online and hybrid coordinator, Grand Rapids Community College; Larry Ragan, director of instructional design and development, Penn State's World Campus; Mary Wells, director of distance learning, Prince George's Community College; and Janet Zimmer, academic director of the Information Systems Management Program, University of Maryland, University College.
The workshop is free of charge, but seating is limited and registration required. To register for the workshop, visit the CTLR Web site at http://wings. buffalo.edu/provost/ctlr/ or contact Lisa Francescone at 645-7328 or lcf@buffalo.edu.
Gift to bring distinguished architects to UB
A $30,000 gift from Christopher Michael Martell and his wife, Sally, will support a program that will bring architects of international significance to the School of Architecture and Planning to work with graduate students and give a schoolwide public lecture.
Mike Martell is the owner of Rainbow Products Services, which specializes in concert sound and lighting. He holds two degrees from the School of Architecture and Planning—a bachelor's degree received in 1996 and a master's degree in architecture awarded in 2001.
Sally Martell is executive director of The Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation, which was established in 1993 to support funding for research in the areas of childhood and adolescent depression, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
"We are delighted that a young alumnus and his wife recognize the value of philanthropy and are helping to support our school in ways that their gift can benefit many students," said Brian Carter, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning.
"Their gift will be important in advancing our school and building the reputation of the graduate program in architecture at UB," he added. "Thanks to the Martells, our students will gain new understandings of design and better appreciation of the creative insights and inspiration of gifted architects."
Mike Martell explained: "We wanted to give back to the school in a way that would benefit as many students in the program as possible. We wanted to direct some of our efforts at UB, where I received an excellent education." The Martells' gift will be spread over a two-year period.
The internationally renowned architect Steven Holl delivered the inaugural Martell Lecture on April 1.
Annual meeting with the PRB scheduled
The annual meeting of interested faculty and professional staff with the chair of the President's Review Board will be held at 2 p.m. April 26 in the Assembly Hall, 330 Student Union, North Campus.
James Sawusch, professor in the Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, and chair of the PRB, and Lucinda Finley, professor in the Law School and vice provost for faculty affairs, will discuss the criteria and procedures used by the PRB in recommending promotion, and answer questions.
The meeting is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Faculty Senate.