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Volunteers sought for mentoring program
Jerry Linder is looking for a few good UB men and women to help ensure a brighter future for some Buffalo elementary and high school students.
Linder, manager of the Classification, Recruitment, Staffing and Salary Administration unit in Human Resources, is the driving force behind the recently launched Volunteer Mentoring/Academic Assistance Program, which provides mentoring and tutoring to Buffalo elementary and high school students and helps schools prepare these students for college.
The program is part of UB's historic partnership with the Buffalo Public Schools.
"There are gifted and talented students in the City of Buffalo school system and there are more students who want to learn," Linder says. "These students just need a little help, a little guidance, a little affirmation that someone cares about them and their futures."
The program, which Linder says is available only to "serious-minded students who want to expand their learning experience and/or need tutorial assistance," is being offered year round. Volunteers are needed from 3-9 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. on Saturdays, now through June, and from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday during July and August. Mentoring and academic enrichment services will be provided in English, reading, math, science, social studies and history.
"We have so much knowledge and talent within our university: faculty, staff, students, retirees and alumni," Linder says. "If we can mobilize volunteers to invest an hour or so a week to mentor and share their knowledge and talent with students who have little or no idea of all the amazing research and learning going on here, it will change young lives."
Joining Linder on the program's steering committee are Vincent Clark, director of community relations; Henry Durand, associate provost and director of the Center for Academic Development Services; Mary Gresham, dean of the Graduate School of Education; Mara Huber, director of the UB-Buffalo Public Schools Partnership; Peter Nickerson, professor in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and director of the school's Pathology Graduate Program; Rosalyn Taylor, retired assistant superintendent for the Buffalo Public Schools; Carmela Thompson, associate director in the Office of Admissions; and Sherryl Weems, associate vice provost and executive director of the Educational Opportunity Center.
For further information and to sign up as a volunteer, click here.
SOM launches program in India
Helping high-tech managers in India build better business practices is the focus of a new master's degree program launched by the School of Management in conjunction with Amrita University in Bangalore, India.
The master of science in management of information technology enabled services (MITES) will help fulfill the emerging need for highly trained managers in information technology enabled services (ITES). This rapidly growing sector of India's economy includes such services as call centers, claims processing, medical transcription, accounting and data processing.
"There is a need in India not only for highly trained engineers and scientists, but also for managers," said John M. Thomas, dean of the School of Management. "Our program will give Indian managers another dimension to their careers."
The one-year, 31-credit MITES program is a specialized degree that is unique among Indian educational offerings. While several universities in India offer general management degrees, no other degree program is specifically focused on the management of ITES firms.
Hewlett-Packard is helping to fund the program and is initially providing all the students. Classes are taught on weekends by UB School of Management faculty in collaboration with the Amrita faculty.
"In addition to content related to ITES management, students will receive solid grounding in key functional areas of management, such as finance and accounting," Thomas said. "Plus, they will develop skills in leadership, communication and strategic thinking."
Thomas said he is extremely pleased at how well the program has progressed in a short time. "There has been huge interest," he added. "More than 300 individuals applied to the program." The program, which began in June 2007, currently has two classes of 35 each running simultaneously to meet the demand.
Alumni to present work at Zodiaque performance
Two successful alumni of the Zodiaque Dance Company will present their work as part of the dance troupe's fall performances Oct. 17-21 in the Drama Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.
Performances will be at 8 p.m. Oct. 17-20 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 21.
Jon Lehrer, formerly of Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and founder of the new Buffalo-based dance company Lehrerdance, will remount his work "The Way Within." Based on the Buddhist fundamental idea that to find peace and Nirvana requires looking inside oneself, the piece is loosely based on Herman Hesse's novel "Siddhartha," the theme of which is the search for truth.
The performance also will feature a work by Rebecca Guile, founder of Xtreme Talent Convention.
Lehrer's and Guile's work with the company has been made possible by the Zodiaque Dance Fund.
Student choreographers Andrew Delo and Lindsey Sahm will contribute to the performance, as well as faculty members Melanie Aceto and Kerry Ring, who will perform a new experimental work, "Contextual Conduct," which explores how music affects the audience's perception of meaning. Each night the dance will be performed twice to two different musical selections chosen by the audience, offering two different contexts in which the piece can be seen.
The concert also will feature the work of dance faculty members Tressa Gorman Crehan, Shelley Hain and Tracy Navarro.
Tickets for Zodiaque Dance Company are $16 for general admission and $8 for students and are available at the CFA box office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and at all Ticketmaster locations, including Ticketmaster.com.
Dorian Wind Quintet to perform
The Department of Music will present a concert by the Dorian Wind Quintet, the first wind quintet ever to play in Carnegie Hall, at 8 p.m. Oct. 26 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.
The artists also will meet the public for an "up close and personal look" at the Dorian Wind Quintet at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 27 in Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, North Campus.
Like other artists in UB's concert series this season, the Dorian Wind Quintet has some strong ties to Buffalo and to UB. Clarinetist Jerry Kirkbride was a creative associate at UB's former Center of Creative and Performing Arts, and bassoonist John Hunt is a former member of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Other members of the quintet are flutist Gretchen Pusch, oboist Gerard Reuter and hornist Karl Kramer.
Since its formation at Tanglewood in 1961, the Dorian Wind Quintet has been recognized worldwide by professional musicians and audiences alike for its uniquely polished and passionate performances. The Dorian made history in 1981 as the first wind quintet to appear at Carnegie Hall.
The quintet has collaborated often with well-known artists, including Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Jean Casadesus, Phyllis Curtin, Anne Epperson, Lukas Foss, Claude Frank, Lee Hoiby, Lorin Hollander, Ruth Laredo, the late Jean-Pierre Rampal, James Tocco, and Beveridge Webster. It has appeared at numerous festivals, including the Stravinsky Festival at Lincoln Center, International Festival in Warsaw, Caramoor International Music Festival, Newberry Spring Festival (Great Britain), Stratford Festival in Ontario, San Luis Obispo Festival and the New American Music Festival in Sacramento.
Advance tickets for the concert—purchased up to 3 business days before the concert—are $12 for general admission; $9 for UB faculty/staff/alumni, senior citizens and WNED members with card; and $5 for students. Tickets may be obtained at the Slee Hall box office from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, at the Center for the Arts box office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and at all Ticketmaster outlets, including Ticketmaster.com. Tickets purchased at the door will be $20 for general admission; $15 for UB faculty/staff/alumni, senior citizens and WNED members with card; and $8 for students.
Music Is Art opens season
The sixth season of Music Is Art Live @ the Center has begun on Tuesdays in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.
The all-ages event, which is free and open to the public, features intimate live performances and visual arts demonstrations celebrating Western New York's best contemporary musicians and visual artists.
The festivities start at 7:30 p.m. in the Mainstage theater of the CFA.
More than 7,500 patrons have attended the live events and thousands of households have watched the television series on WNLO-TV (UPN 23) and WNED Thinkbright TV to date. The series has featured 58 musical artists representing more than 20 music genres, with 100 visual artists representing more than 20 different mediums. The series also has provided 62 students with excellent educational opportunities by way of its professional internship program.
Music Is Art Live @ The Center is a collaboration of the Center for the Arts with the Music is Art organization and founder Robby Takac of Chameleonwest Studios and the Goo Goo Dolls. This spring, the Music Is Art Live @ The Center television series garnered three Telly Awards: silver for lighting design, bronze for editing and bronze for entertainment programming.
Takac and Thomas Burrows, executive director of the Center for the Arts, serve as executive producers, supported by a team of production personnel from the Center for the Arts, Chameleonwest Studios, local video production personnel and UB student interns.
This fall's lineup of musical artists:
Oct. 9: Tina Marie Williams and Lee Ron Zydeco and the Hot Tamales.
Oct. 16: JoAnn Vaccaro and Goodbye Houston.
Oct. 30: David Kane's Them Jazzbeards.
Nov. 6: Amungus.
Nov. 13: Geno McManus and Alison Pipitone Band.
PSS to present brown bag seminars
The Professional Staff Senate will present brown bag seminars this fall on both the North and South campuses.
"Be Prepared to Speak," a step-by-step guide to public speaking, will be held Oct. 16 in 100D Allen Hall, South Campus, and Oct. 17 in 210 Student Union, North Campus.
"Be Prepared to Lead," a step-by-step guide for current or future managers or supervisors, will be held Nov. 13 in 100D Allen Hall and Nov. 14 in 210 Student Union.
All seminars, which will be produced by Toastmasters International, will be held from noon to 1 p.m.
For more information, contact the PSS office at 645-2003.