William Wieczorek, director and professor, Center for Health and Social Research, attended the COMPSTAT 2008 International Conference on Computational Statistics, held in Porto, Portugal, August 24–29. He was an invited speaker and presented a session titled “Spatial and Computational Models of Alcohol Use and Problems.”

Carol Townsend, chair and associate professor, Design, will be included in the 2009 volume of Who’s Who in America. Her work Untitled was featured in the premiere issue of Buffalo Spree Home magazine. Her piece appeared as part of an article about the collection of Ted and Marlene Pietrzak.

At the New York College English Association’s Fall Conference at St. Bonaventure University October 24–25,Steve Street, lecturer, College Writing Program, presented a paper on close-reading Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” with general-education students and attended a panel called “Close Reading and Composition.”

Hibajene Monga Shandomo, assistant professor, Elementary Education and Reading, has published her book, Continuous Assessment in Swaziland: The Predictable Fate of Western Innovation in Africa (VDM Verlag, September 2008). She also received an Award of Recognition from Poplar Street Academy, a Professional Development School she has partnered with for seven years in the development of future teachers.

Dean Reinhart, interim director, Admissions, moderated a panel titled “Inside the Admissions Office” at the Buffalo SUNY College Night, held at the Buffalo Convention Center on September 15. The panel included representatives from Niagara County Community College, SUNYIT in Utica, and the University at Buffalo. The panel discussed what really goes on in making decisions and how students can put their best foot forward in the application process.

Allen Podet, professor, Philosophy and Humanities, has been invited to deliver a paper and chair a session at an international Jewish studies conference on the teaching of religious studies held in Bielefeld, Germany, November 22–24.

Kent McGowan, director, Financial Aid, gave two presentations at the New York State Financial Aid Administrators Association (NYSFAAA) annual conference October 21–24 at the Adam’s Mark: “Improved Navigation and Data Manipulation in Excel” and “Using Pivot Tables and Lookup Formulas in Excel.” Both were intended to assist colleagues in better using Excel as a tool in their work.

Jodelle Magner, assistant professor, Mathematics, gave a presentation, “Connecting Field Experience with ‘Mathematics for Elementary Education Majors’ Content Courses” at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Regional Conference and Expositon in Cleveland, Ohio, October 16–17. The presentation discussed the interactions students enrolled in a service-learning course, MAT121, had with elementary school children in an after-school tutoring program called Math Mania during the fall 2007 semester.

Drew Kahn, chair and professor, Theater, delivered the keynote address at the Teacher Enrichment Evening: Experiential Learning through the Arts, at Temple Beth Am on October 30. He presented “Finding Anne Frank in Rwanda: A Diary of Universal Genocide” and conducted a follow-up workshop about using theater techniques to educate in the classroom.

Martin Ederer, assistant professor, History and Social Studies Education, presented “The Donation of Constantine, Lorenzo Valla’s Declamatio, and Domenico de’ Domenichi’s ‘Quaestio super c. Constantinus’: A Humanist’s Contribution to a Renaissance Debate” at the New York State Association of European Historians annual meeting at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, September 19–20.