Sue Baldwin, assistant professor and internship program coordinator for Health and Wellness, is among the first group to earn the certification as a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) on April 1. The newly created advanced-level certification, MCHES, is awarded by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. The MCHES certification attests to the individual's knowledge and understanding of the health education areas of responsibility at an advanced level, and assists employers in identifying qualified health education practitioners. The MCHES credential indicates that an individual has met three components: academic and experience requirements, passing of a certification assessment, and a compliance with ongoing continuing education requirements. This achievement is considered a milestone in an individual's professional development and a testament to the individual's commitment to continuous improvement in the health education profession.

Rafika Merini, associate professor, Modern and Classical Languages, wrote a research paper, "Choderlos de Laclos's Liaisons Dangereuses: a Cultural Icon," which was read in absentia by the panel chair during the panel presentation on April 9 at the NeMLA 2011 annual convention held in Brunswick, New Jersey, from April 7 to April 10. Plans to include a revised version of the article in an upcoming publication are being pursued by the panelists.

Melissa J. Miszkiewicz, director of academic and research technology planning in Computing and Technology Services, coauthored "Developing an instrument to assess student readiness for online learning: a validation study." Kelly Marczynski, associate director of the Center for Health and Social Research, is also a coauthor. The article was published in Distance Education 32 (1) 29–47. Distance Education is a peer-reviewed journal of Taylor and Francis. The Online Learning Readiness Survey is available in an official Spanish translation.

Sue Baldwin, assistant professor and internship program coordinator, Health and Wellness, was one of the keynote speakers at a Genesee Valley BOCES Student Support Services Center all-day training session, "Best Practices in Comprehensive School Health Policy," which was hosted by the Health and Wellness Department at Buffalo State on March 28. The session provided Western New York school districts with ideas to assess school health policies and procedures; a tool to assess district wellness policies; action-planning guidelines to plan future health policy initiatives; information about Students Taking Charge (national health initiative); safe routes to school assessment process; school district physical education planning process guidelines; and Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT) procedures. Baldwin's program-planning students were assigned to work with school districts who attended this event.

Jagat J. Mukherjee, research scientist, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Lab, Great Lakes Center, presented his current research on tumor promotion at the 102nd annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research, which was held in Orlando, Florida, from April 2 to April 6. The presentation, “Potentiation of PAH-induced cell transformation by phenolic fraction of tobacco smoke: a mechanistic insight,” was coauthored by Subodh Kumar, interim director of the Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Lab. The objective of this research is to develop chemo-preventive strategies against cancer induced by tobacco smoke.

Sharon F. Cramer, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor, Exceptional Education, received the Chugh/University Faculty Senate Outstanding Service Award on April 15. This award was initiated in 2005 to recognize individuals who "have achieved a reputation for outstanding service in the area of faculty governance at the System and Campus levels." The award was presented at the spring 2011 plenary meeting of the University Faculty Senate at SUNY Fredonia.

Jill M. Gradwell, associate professor and coordinator of social studies education, presented two papers at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in New Orleans. She presented "The Second We Stop Growing We Are Dead: Examining Two Middle School History Teachers' Collaborative Relationship" with Lorrei DiCamillo of Canisius College, and coauthored "Authentic Pedagogy: Examining Intellectual Challenge in a National Sample of Social Studies Classrooms" with 17 researchers across the nation. The latter article won the Research in Social Studies Special Interest Group Award for Best Paper.

Zhang Jie, Professor, Sociology, published“Strain as the Cause of Suicide” in Popular Medicine 2010(12): 50–51.

Susan Baldwin, assistant professor, Health and Wellness, presented a 3-hour post-conference training session at the American School Health Conference on October 16, 2010. The session was “Healthy Students, Successful Learners: Strategies for Gaining Top School Administrator Support.”  Baldwin presented with Jaki Ellis, Bev Samek, Marjorie Benjamin, and Nancy Langenfield, all considered experts in the field of school health and the coordinated approach to school health.

Sue McMillen, professor, Mathematics, presented a graphing calculator session entitled “Obvious Outliers?” at the Teachers Teaching with Technology (T³) International Conference in San Antonio, Texas, in February.