University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: June 22, 2006

By KEVIN FRYLING
Reporter Staff Writer

Six faculty members, five professional staff members and two librarians from UB have received 2006 SUNY Chancellor Awards for Excellence from Chancellor John R. Ryan.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities recognizes the work of those who engage actively in scholarly and creative pursuits beyond their teaching responsibilities. Recipients are Douglas Clements, professor and associate dean for education technology, Department of Learning and Instruction, Graduate School of Education (GSE); Marilyn Morris, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; and Thomas Ralabate, associate professor, Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Arts and Sciences.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching honors those who consistently have demonstrated superb teaching at the undergraduate, graduate or professional level. Recipients this year are Paschalis Alexandridis, professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; and S. G. Grant, associate professor, Department of Learning and Instruction.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Faculty Service recognizes consistently superior service sustained over a multiple-year period to the local campus, the State University or the community, or the award winner's service contributions to discipline-related professional organizations or to faculty governance. This year's recipient is LeAdelle Phelps, professor and associate dean for academic affairs, Department of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology, GSE.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service honors performance excellence "both within and beyond the position." Recipients are Barbara Burke, interim director, Office of Equity, Diversity and Affirmative Action Administration; Joseph Hindrawan, assistant vice provost, Office of International Education; Laura Mangan, associate director of the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, UB Law School; Cheryl Taplin, director and associate vice provost for student advising services, Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education; and Ray Volpe, program director, UBMicro IT Support Services.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship recognizes "skill in librarianship; service to the campus, the university and to the field; scholarship and professional growth; and major professional achievements." Recipients are Amy Gische Lyons, associate director, Health Sciences Library, and A. Ben Wagner, associate librarian, Science and Engineering Library.

Paschalis Alexandridis conducts pioneering research on the self-assembly and directed assembly of polymers, supramolecules and nanoparticles. One third of his total research funding—$2.4 million to date—has come from industry, including Bausch & Lomb and Xerox. His research papers, published in high-impact factor, peer-reviewed journals, have received more than 3,000 citations.

Alexandridis has received numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award, Bodossaki Foundation Academic Prize in Applied Science and UB Exceptional Scholar Award for Sustained Achievement. He joined the UB engineering faculty in 1997 after serving as a postdoctoral associate and assistant professor at Lund University, Malm�, Sweden. He holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and a master's degree in chemical engineering practice from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As interim director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Affirmative Action Administration, Barbara Burke is responsible for activities involving affirmative action, equal opportunity and non-discrimination at UB, including overseeing reporting and compliance functions related to federal, state and university policies, and providing counsel to senior officers on policies or issues related to legal compliance. She also serves as a liaison to SUNY, the Research Foundation counsel and various regulatory agencies.

Burke is chair of the Employee Assistance Program, a founding member of the Campus Child Care Committee and is involved with numerous other university programs, activities and committees. She is a UB alumna.

Douglas Clements focuses his research on underrepresented children whose potential for learning math often goes unrealized. His work has been supported through a number of grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Educational Sciences and the National Science Foundation. He and two colleagues currently are funded through a $6-million Interagency Education Research Initiative program created to conduct a large-scale study of integrated early-childhood mathematics curriculum and professional development innovations.

Clements has published more than 100 referred research articles, eight books, 50 book chapters and 200 additional publications in the areas of mathematics education, educational technology and early childhood education. He received his doctorate from UB in 1983.

S. G. Grant's professional and research interests include curriculum and assessment policy, and teachers' classroom practice, with a focus on the teaching and learning of social studies. He has authored or co-authored several books on the subject, as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles.

Grant earned a doctorate from Michigan State University in 1994 and holds a master's degree in social studies education and bachelor's degree in education/history from the University of Maine.

Joseph J. Hindrawan, who serves as director of international enrollment management in the Office of International Education, is responsible for developing and implementing an overall international enrollment strategy, and works with the Graduate School, professional schools and graduate departments on admissions standards, marketing and recruitment. He also works on developing UB programs in Asia, including both start up and ongoing administration.

Hindrawan holds a bachelor's degree from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and an M.B.A. from UB. He joined UB's professional staff in 1991 and has served in his current position since 2000. In 2005, Hindrawan was a Fulbright scholar to the U.S.-Japan International Education Administrators Program. He is a member of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the Association of International Education Administrators and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

Amy Gische Lyons is a leader in using new technologies to provide innovative services to faculty, physicians and students. She has served as project director of the Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS) project, an initiative that joins students, faculty, hospitals administrators and librarians in developing information and document-delivery systems. She also assisted in the development of HUBNET, a collection of electronic books, journal databases, reference sources and clinical tools.

Her current duties involve oversight of regular activities, budget and facilities management, and coordination of human resources at the Health Sciences Library. An editorial reviewer for the Journal of the Medical Library Association, Lyons earned master's degrees in both library science and business administration from UB, as well as a certificate of leadership from the Association of College and Research Librarians/Harvard Graduate School of Education Leadership Institute.

Laura Mangan has developed, coordinated, organized and overseen more than 30 Baldy Center conferences and workshops that have led to the publication of more than 15 books, conference proceedings or special journal issues. She is managing editor of Law & Policy, a peer-reviewed socio-legal journal.

Mangan previously worked on the staff of the Canadian-Legal Studies Centre at UB and the UB Human Rights Center.

A member of the Buffalo Museum of Science Development Committee, she is co-chair of the Elmwood Franklin School Parents Council Speakers Series. She holds a bachelor's (honors) degree in history from the University of Sussex, England.

Marilyn Morris' research interests include drug metabolism and membrane transport, hepatobiliary extraction, p-glycoprotein-mediated transport and sulfate kinetics. Her recent work focuses on in vitro/in vivo correlations in drug metabolism and high throughput screening techniques for pharmaceutical properties.

Morris received a bachelor's degree in pharmacy from the University of Manitoba, a master's degree in pharmacology from the University of Ottawa and a Ph.D. in pharmaceutics from UB.

She previously was a faculty member at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A UB faculty member since 1989, LeAdelle Phelps is the author or co-author of more than 95 journal articles, book chapters and books. Her professional interests include neuropsychology, child and adolescent counseling, and health-related disorders in adolescents and children, including eating disorders, fetal alcohol exposure, low-level lead exposure and prenatal cocaine exposure.

Phelps directs the Counseling Psychology/School Psychology Ph.D. Program in the Graduate School of Education, and serves as associate chair of the American Psychological Association Committee on Accreditation and editor of Psychology in the Schools.

She received her Ph.D. from the University of Utah.

Award-winning choreographer Thomas Ralabate has taught dance to UB graduate and undergraduate students since 1976. He originated and developed the department's curriculum for tap, jazz and social dance.

A former North American Latin Ballroom dance champion, Ralabate is an internationally recognized teacher, dancer and choreographer. He was named the first recipient of the Adele Artinean Award from the National Association of Dance Masters (NADM) and received an Ivy Hall Foundation Award and Artistic Achievement Award from the NADM in 1996 and 1993, respectively.

In 2001, he was named chair of the NADM education committee, which oversees the development of the organization's syllabi and certification testing.

Cheryl Taplin began her career at UB in 1987 as academic coordinator for the Upward Bound Program. She also has served in a number of advisement and administrative positions in the Academic Advisement Center.

In 2002, Taplin received both the Extra Mile Award from the Office of Athletic, Academic and Student Services, and the Friends of EOP (Educational Opportunity Program) Award. She has been a member of more than 30 university committees on student activities, advisement and orientation, and is involved in technology and systems development.

In 1992, she received a master's degree in applied public affairs studies from UB.

Under Ray Volpe's direction, UBMicro has grown from a small, grant-funded project into a high-profile program, with annual sales approaching $10 million. Volpe founded the program in 1990 with a $200,000 grant from Apple Computer Co., which also funded the creation of a computer lab in Baldy Hall. UBMicro now serves the entire SUNY system for software licensing with the Microsoft Campus Agreement and contracts with Adobe and Macromedia.

Volpe is program director of the Students Needing Assistance Program (SNAP), which distributes computers annually to students who qualify through financial aid.

He also is editor and chief writer for iConnect@UB publications.

The winner of eight UB Service Excellence awards, Volpe earned a bachelor's degree from UB and has taught students in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

A subject specialist in chemistry and physics, A. Ben Wagner's work has strengthened science research excellence at UB and transformed the library's science collection through the use of electronic resources. He is well known for his exceptional collaboration with faculty and students in chemistry and physics.

Wagner holds an appointment to the National Science Digital Libraries Collection Development Advisory Council and has had a leadership role in the Special Libraries Association. He earned a master's of library and information science degree from Drexel University and a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Bloomsburg University.