Buffalo State alumnus Travis Ingersoll (’01, Psychology); Jill M. Norvilitis, associate professor, Psychology; Zhang Jie, professor, Sociology, and director, Center for China Studies; Shuhua Jia,Department of Medical Psychology, Dalian Medical University; and Sheldon Tetewsky, senior research analyst, Center for Health and Social Research, published their article “Reliability and Validity of the Fear of Intimacy Scale in China” in the Journal of Personality Assessment 90 (3): 270–279.

Heidi Dietz Faletti, associate professor, English, read the paper “The Poeticizing of Psychosis in Büchner’sWoyzeck: Frontiers of Modern Drama” and chaired the section “Literary Masters of the Danube Monarchy” at the 36th annual Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900, held at the University of Louisville February 21–23. Faletti read the paper “The Overdetermined Sublime in Dostoevsky’s The Doubleand Kafka’s The Trial” and was a panelist for the section “From the Sublime to the Ridiculous: Humor and the Sublime” at the 29th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, held in Orlando, Florida, March 19–23. Faletti also read the paper “The Symbolist Manifesto of Jean Moréas and the Modernist Treatise from Decadence to Surrealism” at the Northeast Modern Language Association Convention, held in Buffalo, New York, April 10–13.

Barbara J. Dray, assistant professor, Exceptional Education, has been appointed to the executive board for Division K of the American Educational Research Association. At the AERA 2008 annual meeting in New York City March 24–28, Dray presented the research paper “Interrogating Whiteness and Deficit Thinking: Implications for Mindfulness Pedagogy.” Additionally, she organized a series of community events during the conference for Division K in alignment with this year’s theme—Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Toward a Civic Responsibility. Division K members toured El Puente Headquarters and Academy for Peace and Justice in Williamsburg Brooklyn and enjoyed an after-hours reception at the Franklin H. Williams Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute in Midtown Manhattan on March 27.

Bruce G. Bryski, associate professor, Communication, recently appeared on National Public Radio member station WBFO-FM 88.7 to discuss the role of media satire on American politics and the effect of late-night comedians on the public’s perception of political candidates and presidential hopefuls.

Deborah A. Silverman, assistant professor, Communication, has received the 2008 Outstanding Practitioner Award from the Buffalo-Niagara Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. Silverman was cited for her achievements with PRSA, including her current service as chair of PRSA’s Northeast District, encompassing upstate New York and New England, her work as chair of the district’s conference in Buffalo in September, and service on two national PRSA committees. She will receive the award at the chapter’s annual Excalibur Awards dinner on June 19 at the Buffalo Launch Club on Grand Island.

Best in Show: Four Semesters of Student Work, a collection located in E. H. Butler Library’s mezzanine level March 14–31, represented works from students in DES 242 Fibers I and DES 114 Workshop in Fiber for non-art majors. The body of work was created between fall 2006 and spring 2008 by Buffalo State students under the leadership of Carol Ann Rafferty, lecturer, Design. The work was shown in chronological order from the semester in which it was created. Additional student work from this collection was on display in Upton Hall’s fourth-floor gallery.

Muriel A. Howard, Buffalo State College president;Wanda Slawinska, associate librarian, E. H. Butler Library; and William Wieczorek, director, Center for Health and Social Research, have each received a Citizen of the Year Award from the Am-Pol Eagle, a weekly Polish American newspaper.

The awards acknowledge individuals and organizations for outstanding service and contributions on the behalf of the Polish American and Western New York communities. Since 1964, the Am-Pol Eagle has presented awards in more than two dozen categories ranging from art and drama to youth. Previous recipients include Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra director JoAnn Falletta, former New York governor George Pataki, UB vice provost Stephen Dunnett, former UB president Stephen B. Sample, former Buffalo mayors James D. Griffin and Anthony Masiello, local business leader Robert Rich Jr., and former congressman Jack Kemp.

Howard was honored as a non-Polish American community leader, Wieczorek as Citizen of the Year in Health, and Slawinska as Citizen of the Year in Culture.

Aimable Twagilimana, professor, English, and coordinator, African and African American Studies Interdisciplinary Unit, has won a Fulbright Scholarship to Senegal for 2008–2009. He will spend the academic year at the Cheikh Anta Diop University (the University of Dakar) teaching American literature and carrying out research in contemporary African literature, with special focus on the legacy of Léopold Sédar Senghor.

Gary Solar, chair and associate professor, Earth Sciences and Science Education, was nationally elected to a three-year term as a Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) councilor (2008–2011) for the Geosciences Division.

Ramona Santa Maria, lecturer, Computer Information Systems, gave a commentary on women in technology for an online podcast to Sonja Thompson, news editor for Tech Republic online magazine, part of the BNET Business Network (CNet and ZDNet). The individual podcast turned into a group podcast, and last week, Santa Maria participated in Tech Republic’s Special Report for Women in IT: Educational Opportunities. This special report highlights educational opportunities for females of all ages who are interested in technology. The podcast is available online. A paper by Santa Maria, “Urban High School Students Narrate the Possible Outcomes Associated with Learning Classroom Technology,” was accepted for publication by theInternational Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society.