Deborah Silverman, assistant professor, Communication, served as a panelist for the roundtable discussion “What’s Top of Mind Now for the PR Profession—And Where Are We Headed?” hosted by the Public Relations Society of America on January 23 in New York City. As a PRSA board member, Silverman was one of three team leaders for the board’s recent “Pulse of the PR Profession” research project, featuring in-depth interviews with PR practitioners nationwide about the impact of the recession on their careers. Silverman also posted an entry about the project on PRSA’s new blog, PRSAY.

Ted P. Schmidt, associate professor, Economics and Finance, has been appointed to the St. Mary’s School for the Deaf Board of Trustees.

Gerald Nosich, professor, Philosophy and Humanities, presented “A Training for College Life Mentors, Resident Assistants, and Orientation Leaders,” at Buffalo State College on October 15. He also presented “A One-Day Foundational Workshop on Critical Thinking” and “A Workshop on Critical Writing” at Eastern Kentucky University, in Richmond, Kentucky, on November 6 and 7.

Barbara D. Miller, associate professor, Modern and Classical Languages, made an interactive presentation at the historic Birge-Horton House in Buffalo on Presidents Day related to her recently published book about nineteenth-century church records in historical context. The presentation, open to the public, was sponsored by the Katherine Pratt Horton Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. A docent for tours of the home, which is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, Miller was recently reappointed chair of the KPH Chapter’s College and University Scholarship Committee, which offers University at Buffalo and other students financial awards based on academic excellence and financial need.

Michael Johnson, associate professor, Modern and Classical Languages, presented his poster “Wisdom and Aspects of Creativity Theory in Job 28” at the 2008 annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, in Boston, Massachusetts, November 21–25.

Beth Holleran, lecturer, and Amitra Wall, associate professor, Sociology, presented a workshop to Buffalo State College students on Friday, January 20. The workshop, RaFa RaFa, was designed to illustrate the concepts of culture (values, beliefs, norms, and language), ethnocentrism, culture shock, authority, conformity, and in and out groups. Students, grouped into two societies, were charged with the tasks of learning the rules of their society and of visiting and interacting with members from the other society. After stepping out of their comfort zones, students had an opportunity to debrief and discuss assumptions and ideas that are taken for granted. Student participants included Brittany Aron, Coshele Campbell, Carolyn Drumsta, Teresa Dykeman, Jenny Findel, Skyler Flaherty, Kennieth Frazier, Ryan Glendinning, Diane Hollis, Jessica Lees, Sharne' Lindsey, Marni Lippel, Laura Lott, Cory Martin, Kiara Phelps, Christine Santoro, and Erica Tucker.

Musa Abdul Hakim, associate librarian, E. H. Butler Library, presented a workshop titled “Homage to a Combatant Poet: Aimé Césaire” on February 11 at the Rooftop Poetry Club in the library. In addition to the workshop, Hakim also arranged a book display, “Homage to Aimé Césaire (1913–2008): Afro-Martinican Poet, Quietist Revolutionary, Statesman, Father of the Negritude Literary Movement.” The display, in the lobby of Butler Library, will end February 28.

John Thompson’s column “Don’t Be Afraid to Explore Web 2.0,” which appeared in the June 2008 issue of thePhi Delta Kappan journal, was selected for reprinting in the Education Digest (December 2008).

Deborah Silverman, assistant professor, Communication, presented two papers at the National Communication Association’s 94th Annual Convention, held in San Diego, California, November 21–24: “Service Learning Projects in the PR Writing Course” and, with coauthor Dennis John Gaschen, “Working to Learn and Learning to Work: A Profile of Service Learning Courses in University Public Relations Programs.”

Constance Dean Qualls, chair and professor, Speech-Language Pathology, and vice president for science and research, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, has been named editor in chief of the Open Applied Linguistics Journal (Bentham Science Publishers). The Open Applied Linguistics Journal is an open access online journal that publishes original research articles, reviews, and short articles in all areas of applied linguistics. This peer-reviewed journal aims to provide the most complete and reliable source of information on current developments in the field with an emphasis on publishing quality articles rapidly and making them freely available to researchers worldwide.