Martin Ederer, assistant professor, History and Social Studies Education, published an article, “The Properly Ordered Church: Agents, Objects and Methods of Reform in the Preaching of Domenico de’ Domenichi,” in Nach dem Basler Konzil: Die Neuordnung der Kirche zwischen Konziliarismus und monarchischem Papat (ca. 1415-1475) (Jürgen Dendorfer and Claudia Märtl, eds.; LIT Verlag, Münster, 2008), a collection of Festschriften assembled from a 2006 conference at the Historisches Kolleg, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany.

Bruce Baum, professor, Exceptional Education, conducted five workshops and one co-keynote address at education and creativity conferences at Klein-Kariba in Bela Bela, Limpopo, South Africa, in October.

William White, assistant professor, Modern and Classical Languages, published an article titled “The Nut and Bolt of Student Teaching” in the journal of the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers,Language Association Journal. White also presented a paper, “An Unfortunate Occurrence: The Removal of the Curriculum from the Hands of the Professoriate,” at the 15th annual conference of the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum in Austin, Texas, October 9–11.

John Thompson, associate professor, Computer Information Systems, presented “Web 2.0: It’s Not Just for Online Courses” to Medaille College faculty on August 21.

James J. Sobol, assistant professor, Criminal Justice, recently published his book, Social Ecology and the Vigor of Police Response: An Empirical Study of Work Norms, Context, and Patrol Officer Behavior (VDM Verlag, June 2008).

Deborah Silverman, assistant professor, Communication, was elected to the national board of directors of the Public Relations Society of America at the PRSA Assembly, held on October 25 in Detroit, Michigan. She will serve a two-year term as director, effective next January. Silverman is the first person from Buffalo (and the Buffalo-Niagara PRSA chapter) to be elected to the national board

Allen Podet, professor, Philosophy and Humanities, presented a paper on the “Concept of Messiah in Abrahamic Religions” to the Interfaith Symposium of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Buffalo Chapter, held October 26 in Cheektowaga, New York.

Melissa J. Miszkiewicz, director of academic computing, Computing and Technology Services; Kelly Marczynski, assistant director and senior research scientist, Center for Health and Social Research; andBarbara J. Dray, former assistant professor, Exceptional Education, and current assistant professor, Special Education, University of Colorado Denver, recently traveled to Murcia, Spain, to explore potential opportunities for collaboration with colleagues at the Universidad De Murcia Grupo Investigacion de Tecnologia Educative (GITE), a group of faculty researchers within the University’s Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar.

The Murica group contacted Miszkiewicz after an Educause presentation with Dray and Marczynski in 2008. Dray and Miszkiewicz developed an instrument called the Online Learning Readiness Survey (OLRS) to measure learner characteristics and technology capabilities for online learning readiness. Colleagues Marczynski and William Wieczorek, director, Center for Health and Social Research, assisted with the design of a rigorous three-year validation study. Miszkiewicz and Dray in collaboration with Linda Castaneda and Maria Paz Prendes of Universidad De Murcia are pursuing external funds to extend the research begun by Dray and Miszkiewicz.

The Murcia team currently has a longstanding record of securing grants from the European Union, national government (Spain), and regional government (Murcia). They have been looking for a rigorously validated instrument to use in connection with their own programs and studies. A large collaborative study is planned to begin this January with a Spanish translation of the OLRS, followed by online delivery of the instrument to 500 Universidad De Murcia Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar pending graduates to measure their readiness for online professional development. The potential readiness for online professional development in these students is significant. Currently the government of Spain mandates that all certified teachers complete 60 professional development credits each year through online formats (e-learning). No other delivery system is available. Their Spanish colleagues have expressed concern about the efficacy of online professional development without information about whether teacher candidates are themselves ready to learn online. They have conveyed that teachers are trained to use technology in the classroom, but are not necessarily trained to learn through online formats.

Technical support for this study is also provided by Rada Montroy, technical support specialist, and Margaret Banak, training team consultant, Computing and Technology Services. Survey technology is driven by Buffalo State licensed Opinio survey software, hosted by the SUNY Information Technology Exchange Center (ITEC), located at Buffalo State College. Miszkiewicz’s travel is supported with an Incentive Award from the Research and Creativity Council of the Buffalo State College Research Foundation.

Jason Grinnell, assistant professor, Philosophy and Humanities, and William White, assistant professor, Modern and Classical Languages, presented a paper titled “An Inconvenient Truth: The Incoherence of Multicultural Education” at the 15th annual conference of the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum in Austin, Texas, October 9–11. The paper and discussion offered an alternative approach to multicultural education based on critical literacies rather than static notions of cultural perfectionism.

Lisa Forrest, instructional technology librarian, E. H. Butler Library, received the 2008 Excellence in Library Service Award from the Western New York Library Resources Council (WNYLRC) at the council’s 42nd Annual Meeting of the Membership on October 22. The WNYLRC is a not-for-profit consortium serving 83 member libraries and library systems in Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara and Orleans counties. WNYLRC awards recognize excellence in librarianship and service to patrons. Forrest received the award for her work as founder of the Rooftop Poetry Club and for her ability to use technology in a way that enhances what is considered a traditional humanities program. Forrest gratefully acknowledges the contributions of colleagueDennis Reed Jr., Web editor and library communication associate, whom she collaborates with extensively on the Poetry Club’s Web site and podcasts.