The Daily Bulletin Archive

The Buffalo State community is invited to officially commence the 2009–2010 academic year during the 22nd annual Academic Convocation ceremony at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, September 17, in Rockwell Hall Auditorium. Convocation is an important tradition on our campus, a time when we celebrate learning and excellence. Please join us in recognizing the accomplishments of our faculty and staff colleagues.

This year’s Bonnie and Vern L. Bullough Academic Convocation speaker will be Gene R. Nichol, professor of law and director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Nichol served as president of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, from 2005 to 2008; as dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law from 1999 to 2005; and as dean of the University of Colorado Law School from 1988 to 1995.

Nichol has received many awards, including the American Bar Association’s Edward R. Finch Award (2003), UNC’s Pro Bono Professor of the Year (2004), the National Employment Lawyers Association’s Courage to Do Justice Award (2008), and the Thomas Jefferson Award from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (2008).

He has published articles and essays in such prominent law reviews as the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, and the University of Chicago Law Review. From 1998 to 1999, he was a political columnist for the Rocky Mountain News and the Colorado Daily. He has also written for the Washington Post, the Nation, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

President’s Awards for Excellence
President’s Awards for Excellence will be presented at Convocation to the following faculty and staff members for their outstanding contributions to Buffalo State.

EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH, SCHOLARSHIP, AND CREATIVITY

Valentin E. Brimkov
Professor, Mathematics
Valentin Brimkov is regarded internationally as one of the best known and most respected scientists in the areas of his research, which include discrete geometry and combinatorial image analysis. He has also made significant contributions to many other areas of applied mathematics including optimization, theory of computation and complexity, graph theory, and combinatorics. In 2006, he received the Wilkes Award of the British Computer Society for the best paper published in the Computer Journal, published by Oxford Press. His publication record is extensive, approaching a total of 150 published works to date.

Michael J. De Marco
Professor and Chair, Physics
Michael De Marco has been the principal investigator on three grants from the United States Department of Energy totaling more than $1 million. De Marco’s research centers on the use of the Mössbauer effect to probe the electronic and magnetic properties of a large class of materials, the ruthenates, which have magnetic and superconducting phases. He is the only investigator currently working with this important technique in the United States, and his work is known internationally. Results he has published with collaborators in leading peer-reviewed journals challenge current understanding of the mechanisms for superconductivity and contribute significantly to greater understanding within the field.

EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING

James Mayrose
Assistant Professor, Technology
James Mayrose has distinguished himself in the classroom through his dedication to creating learning experiences that require full student engagement. Mayrose is an aerospace and mechanical engineer with significant publications and awards, including the 2004 Inventor of the Year award from the Niagara Frontier Intellectual Property Law Association. He uses practical, interactive teaching methods to explain engineering’s difficult concepts in ways that make them understandable to students. His dedication and willingness to make himself available for individualized instruction, advisement, and mentoring has earned him outstanding student evaluations.

EXCELLENCE IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF EQUITY AND CAMPUS DIVERSITY

Gail V. Wells
Director, Student Life
Gail Wells has been affiliated with the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) since 1995, and has served as team leader for NCBI on campus. In this role, she has been instrumental in expanding the campus NCBI Coalition Building Team, which now has 28 members. Each member of the team has experienced a training workshop led in part by Wells. The team’s goal is to create a nurturing environment for a diverse campus community. Wells has served on the national board for NCBI and is on the leadership committee for the Black African Heritage Caucus of NCBI. Wells has modeled the importance of celebrating diversity, and her exceptional skills as a facilitator have been a critical part of the successful NCBI training on campus.

EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE

Marcia D. Burns
Secretary 1, Modern and Classical Languages
Marcia Burns is known for her superb human relations skills as well as her organization, administrative competence, and drive. Burns joined Buffalo State in 2005 in the Purchasing Department, where she demonstrated impressive problem-solving skills. In her current position, she served as liaison between the department and Campus Services during the construction of a new seminar room for Modern and Classical Languages, and solicited input from faculty members as well bringing suggestions to them. The dean’s office also appreciates Burns’s attention to both detail and deadlines.

Heather D. Maldonado
Assistant to the Dean, University College
Heather Maldonado works to eliminate barriers that needlessly stand between students and graduation while upholding academic standards. Her supervision of probationary undeclared students in University College has led to an 11 percent reduction in the number of such students, and improved by 13 percent the number of undeclared students who remove themselves from probation in the first term. Her efforts to improve students’ first-year experience include creating the First-Year Convocation as well as engaging directly with students by volunteering to serve as adviser for a full load of freshmen advisees.

Kathleen M. O’Brien
Director, Campus House
Lecturer, Hospitality and Tourism
Kathleen O’Brien was instrumental in securing a $1 million capital investment to renovate Campus House and establish it as an applied-learning center for students in hospitality administration. Under O’Brien, membership in Campus House has more than quadrupled since fall 2002, and revenues have grown from $65,000 to $100,000. O’Brien also teaches several courses within the department and serves as co-director of the Buffalo State College Restaurant Institute, which was established in collaboration with the Small Business Development Center.

Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence
The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Librarianship will be awarded to Maureen Lindstrom, associate director for information commons in E. H. Butler Library. The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Classified Service will be presented to William Smith, a janitor in the Custodial Services Department.

Distinguished Teaching Professorship
Andrea Guiati will be formally recognized as a newly appointed SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor.

A reception on the front lawn of Rockwell Hall will immediately follow the Convocation ceremony. For more information, please contact Carolyn Martino in the Academic and Student Affairs Office at 878-5903.