The Daily Bulletin Archive

Buffalo State College will hold its 137th Commencement celebration on Saturday, May 16, in the college Sports Arena. More than 2,500 students will receive their degrees during two baccalaureate ceremonies and one master’s hooding and C.A.S. ceremony. The college will award a SUNY honorary doctor of letters to playwrightMarsha Norman, keynote speaker for both undergraduate ceremonies. Alan November,educational technology consultant, will deliver the commencement address at the 6:00 p.m. master’s hooding and C.A.S. ceremony.

Distinguished Alumnus Awards and President’s Distinguished Service Awards also will be presented during the three ceremonies.

Norman is a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and co-chair of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at the Juilliard School. A former journalist and screenwriter, Norman has also received Tony and Drama Desk awards, the Oppenheimer Award, the John Gassner Playwriting Medallion, and an American Theatre Critics Association citation. She won the Pulitzer for her gripping drama ’Night, Mother(1983), in which a divorced woman who lives with her widowed mother announces her intention to commit suicide.

A frequent lecturer and essayist, Norman was formerly the vice president of the Dramatists Guild of America and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. She serves on the boards of Agnes Scott College, her alma mater, and the Writers Guild of America East Foundation.

November, senior partner and founder of November Learning, is an author and international leader in education technology. He was co-founder of the Stanford Institute for Educational Leadership through Technology and was selected as one of the original five national Christa McAuliffe Educators.

November was named one of the nation’s 15 most influential thinkers of the decade by Technology and Learning magazine. He was also listed as one of eight educators to provide leadership into the future by the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse in 2001. In 2007 he was selected to speak at the Cisco Public Services Summit during the Nobel Prize festivities in Stockholm.

His areas of expertise include planning across the curriculum, staff development, new school design, community building, and leadership development. November holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard University.

The following graduates of the Class of 2009 will be recognized for their academic and extracurricular achievements, leadership, and service:

President’s Medal for Outstanding Undergraduate Student
SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence

Jenelle Orosz earned a bachelor of science degree in secondary English education with a GPA of 3.95 while competing on the college’s varsity women’s indoor and outdoor track and field team and serving as its captain for three years. She made Buffalo State history as the first female track and field athlete to become an All-American in 2007, and she made the all-SUNYAC track and field team three times. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, the national honor society for educators; the Buffalo State All College Honors Program; and the National Council of Teachers of English. She presented her work at the 2007 American Educational Studies Association Conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

Huewayne Watson earned a bachelor of arts in history and a minor in African and African American studies with a cumulative GPA of 3.58. He received the outstanding junior award from the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program. He also is a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society, and the Buffalo State All College Honors Program. He has served the college as executive vice president of United Students Government and as a student representative on the President’s Council on Equity and Campus Diversity, the Commencement Committee, and the College Senate Budget and Staff Allocations Committee. He also served as a research intern for the Buffalo Common Council North District Office.

SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence

Gertrude Antwi earned a dual bachelor of arts degree with majors in biology (GPA 3.95) and chemistry (GPA 3.86). Her campus involvement includes the Pan African Students Organization, the Chemistry Club, the Buffalo State College Newman Center, and United Students Government. Her awards include the Biology Honors Research Award, the C-STEP Recognition Award for achieving the highest GPA in 2006–2007, and the Greatbatch Enterprises Inorganic/Physical Chemistry Award. She is a member of Phi Lambda Upsilon, the national honor society for chemistry students; Iota Sigma Pi, the national honor society for women in chemistry; the Buffalo State All College Honors Program, and the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program.

Aimee Levesque earned a master of arts in English with a GPA of 3.89. She is interested in eighteenth- and nineteenth- century literature, and she is developing a specialization in the relatively new field of disability theory. Levesque’s efforts as an advocate for special-needs children have been recognized with several awards, including the National PTA Healthy Lifestyles Award, the PTA Advocate in Action Award, and the National PTA Unit Achievement Award. She has presented her work and served as panel chair at several professional conferences, including the 2009 American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies conference in Richmond, Virginia, and she helped found Buffalo State’s English Club and Sigma Tau Delta.

Lai Sze Wan earned a bachelor of science in forensic chemistry with a cumulative GPA of 3.92. She received two Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowships and presented at several conferences, including the American Chemical Society Northeast Regional Meeting. She has also coauthored articles that appeared in scientific journals, including the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. A student of Buffalo State’s All College Honors Program, Wan received a number of awards, including the Greatbatch Enterprises Organic Chemistry Award for outstanding performance in organic chemistry and a certificate of recognition for outstanding job performance during her internship at the New York Police Department.

President’s Medal for Outstanding Graduate Student
SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence

Diego Uribe Larach earned a master of science degree in creative studies with a GPA of 4.0. Uribe Larach captured the attention of Tufts University’s Visual Understanding Environment’s software team for his design of classroom and meeting space within the virtual world Second Life. He has been invited to contribute a related article to a special issue ofCreativity and Innovation Management, a European refereed journal. Uribe Larach also served as a creativity and innovation trainer and consultant to clients that include Xerox, IBM, and Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile.

Buffalo State College Council Medal

Dominique Gabriel served as the Buffalo State College Council’s 2008–2009 student representative. Her campus leadership roles also include treasurer and president of United Students Government (USG), treasurer of the Caribbean Students Organization, and service on a number of campuswide committees. She graduates with a bachelor of arts in political science and a minor in public administration.