Mark Warford, associate professor, Modern and Classical Languages, recently accepted an invitation to serve on the board of directors of the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers. His two-year term begins in 2008.
Rafika Merini, associate professor, Modern and Classical Languages, attended by special invitation the University at Buffalo Regional Institute’s “Region’s Edge Intelligence Briefing,” a critical examination of the Buffalo Niagara and Southern Ontario cross-border region, held at UB on June 14. She took part in a discussion and a reception following a presentation by a panel of experts. Merini has been invited yearly to UB’s Niagara Colloquium, where the guests give presentations on their Canada-related activities and research interests. She highlights the activities of the Buffalo State/University of Ontario Trois-Pistoles French Immersion Program as its founder and director and as a patron. She also discusses her teaching of French and Francophone literature in translation.
Rekha Menon, associate professor, Fine Arts, has published two articles: “Disrobing the Third World’s Third World,” in Shifting the Geography of Reason: Gender, Science and Religion (Marina Paola Banchetti-Robino and Clevis Ronald Headley, eds.; Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007); and “The Rhetorical Power of the Global Western Space/Image,” in Educating for Participatory Democracy(Roy Elveton, ed.; Hampton Press, 2007).
Jean Gounard, director, International Student Affairs, and vice president for advocacy, Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Fulbright Association, spoke on future projects and funding of the Fulbright Program at the Fall Fulbright Conference of the chapter, held at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, on October 27.
Shannon Gormley, assistant professor, Exceptional Education, gave an invited presentation, “Implementing Validated Practices for Language Based Reading Difficulties: What Teachers Need to Know,” at the Learning Disabilities Worldwide 15th Annual World Congress on Learning Disabilities, held in Burlington, Massachusetts, October 26–28.
Dolores Battle, senior adviser to the president for equity and campus diversity, delivered the Lynda Campbell Memorial Lecture, titled “Multicuturalism, Language and Literacy,” for the St. Louis (Missouri) University College of Arts and Sciences Communication Disorders Department on October 20.
Susan Baldwin, assistant professor, Health and Wellness, presented a peer-reviewed paper, “Teaching Across Many Cultures: Strategies, Rubrics, and Assessments in the Health Classroom” at the 81st annual American School Health Association’s School Health Conference, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, July 9–13. Baldwin also presented her first peer-reviewed international paper, “Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: Targeting Obesity,” at the Oxford Round Table, “Preventive Health: Intervention and Progress,” held in Oxford, England, August 5–10.
Zhang Jie, professor, Sociology, and director, Center for China Studies, delivered a paper, titled “Sexism and Women Prejudiced against Other Women: A Study of Chinese College Students,” at the 13th annual conference of the Association of the Chinese Professors of Social Sciences in the United States (ACPSS), at Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio, October 26–28. Nine visiting scholars from China also attended the conference with him.
A poem titled “This Ache,” by Carol Townsend, chair and associate professor, Design, was published in the August 5 edition of the Buffalo News on the “Spotlight: Poetry and Literature” page.
Melissa Miszkiewicz, director of academic computing and technical services, Computing and Technology Services, presented “Intersecting Learner Characteristics and Technology Capabilities: Survey Validation” at the annual Educause 2007 meeting in Seattle, Washington, October 23–26. This presentation is part of a series given by Miszkiewicz; Barbara Dray, assistant professor, Exceptional Education; and Kelly Marczynski, assistant director and senior research scientist, Center for Health and Social Research. The team’s research currently focuses on the development and three-stage validation of an instrument to measure learner characteristics and technology capabilities in terms of readiness for education and digital-divide issues.