The Daily Bulletin Archive

Buffalo State is delighted to welcome its two new deans, associate dean, and director of the Great Lakes Center.

Benjamin C. Christy, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities

Benjamin Christy was appointed dean of the School of Arts and Humanities on June 1 following a national search. Christy comes to Buffalo State from Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, where he served as dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts for the past 11 years. A native of Dallas, Texas, he received his B.M.E. from Texas Christian University, and his M.M. in wind instruments and A.Mus.D. in clarinet performance from the University of Michigan, where he was the teaching fellow in clarinet and clarinetist in the Contemporary Directions Ensemble.

Christy has been featured as a clarinet soloist in Vienna and in the Soviet Union with the Leningrad State Chamber Orchestra and the Klassica Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad. He has also performed in Carnegie Hall and Town Hall in New York City, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia's Academy of Music, as well as on television and radio and in many college and community concert series.

In his role at Buffalo State, Christy will lead the School of Arts and Humanities, which comprises the departments of Art Education, Communication, Design, English, Fine Arts, Interior Design, Modern and Classical Languages, Music, Philosophy and Humanities, and Theater, as well as the college's prestigious graduate program in art conservation and the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall.

Christy says he plans to work closely with the faculty as he takes over leadership at the School of Arts and Humanities. “I’m very interested in collaboration,” he said. “I want to enhance our interdisciplinary programming and advance regional collaborations, including expanding our partnerships with the Burchfield-Penney Art Center and other Buffalo cultural organizations.”

Kevin Railey, Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School

Former English Department chair Kevin Railey was named associate provost and dean of the Graduate School in May.

Railey received his Ph.D. in English from Stony Brook University and taught at Skidmore College before coming to Buffalo State in 1991 as a member of the English Department. He has taught a wide range of American literature courses, worked with preservice teachers, and published extensively on the topics of William Faulkner and education. In addition to serving as chair of the English Department for eight years, Railey was interim associate vice president for enrollment management in 2005–2006. He received the President’s Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Equity and Campus Diversity in 2003, and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in 2005.

Railey plans to work with people across campus to identify and meet goals for the Graduate School. “To get anything done,” he said, “it is necessary to collaborate and to identify areas where the Graduate School and the other schools have shared needs and objectives.”

While noting that education programs account for the majority of graduate students, Railey is also aware that many of Buffalo State’s students leave the area for plentiful jobs across the country.

“School districts from all over come here to recruit our students,” he said, ticking off high-growth areas—Las Vegas, North Carolina, Virginia—“and then those students earn their graduate teaching degrees where they work.” He is therefore interested in expanding the offerings and the recruitment efforts of the Graduate School in programs unrelated to education as well as strengthening the attractiveness of graduate education degrees to local teachers.

Lori V. Quigley, Associate Dean of the School of Education

Lori Quigley, associate professor of elementary education and reading, has been named associate dean of the School of Education. A literacy specialist with more than 15 years of elementary and secondary classroom experience, Quigley teaches graduate-level courses in the college’s two literacy specialist programs and in the childhood and early childhood curriculum and instruction master’s program. She holds a Ph.D. in language, learning, and literacy from Fordham University. A member of the Wolf Clan of the Seneca Nation of Indians, Quigley also works with the recruitment and retention of Native American students, serving as the Buffalo State liaison to the SUNY Native American Consortium.

Quigley received a presidential appointment to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education in 2004; she currently serves the council as chair. She also chairs the Seneca Nation Library Board of Trustees. The Native American Indian Education Association of New York has twice recognized Quigley for her contributions to Indian education. She received both the SUNY Research Foundation’s Research and Scholarship Award and the Buffalo State College President’s Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Equity and Campus Diversity in 2006.

Quigley said she hopes her knowledge of the accreditation process helps to facilitate the School of Education’s planning as it prepares for the spring 2008 visit by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education Board of Examiners. “I firmly believe that Buffalo State will continue to be recognized for its high quality professional education programs,” she said.

Quigley also wants to help School of Education faculty embed information into their course syllabi that reflects culturally appropriate and culturally responsible pedagogy in an effort to broaden their ability to respond to the ever-expanding diversity that exists in classrooms today. “I think Buffalo State’s School of Education curriculum offerings can become a showcase for infusing diversity throughout the curriculum,” she said.

Alexander Yurievich Karatayev, Director of the Great Lakes Center

Alexander Yurievich Karatayev has been named director of the Great Lakes Center at Buffalo State. Karatayev comes to Buffalo State from Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) in Texas, where he had served since 2001, most recently as a professor of biology. He received the SFASU Faculty Achievement Award in Research in 2005.

His research interests include biodiversity, conservation, and management of freshwater ecosystems; taxonomy, biology, ecology, and productivity of the benthic community; and the ecology, biology, parasitology, and spread of aquatic invasive species and their role in ecosystems. An impressive record of publishing and presenting his work includes 71 peer-reviewed publications and 81 presentations at scientific meetings. He belongs to several professional societies including the International Research Consortium on Molluscan Symbionts and the International Group on Aquatic Alien Species.

Karatayev has been involved in many research collaborations with scientists throughout the world, including studies exploring the spread of zebra mussels and their role in aquatic ecosystems. He is looking forward to working at Buffalo State because of the college’s proximity to lakes Erie and Ontario, as well as its renowned Great Lakes Center with its waterfront research facilities.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to continue my long-term research on invasive species such as zebra mussels,” Karatayev said. “And I hope that the Great Lakes Center will become a valuable resource for the Western New York region. The Great Lakes are excellent areas to address many questions of invasive biology including impacts of invasive species on lake ecosystems, contrast lakes with low and high numbers of invasive species, population dynamics and co-effect of invasive species, and many others.”

Karatayev holds two doctoral degrees—a doctor of science and a doctor of philosophy, both in hydrobiology—from the Belarusian Academy of Science, Republic of Belarus.