office of international education, university at buffalo...

UB INTERNAUB INTERNAUB INTERNAUB INTERNAUB INTERNATIONALTIONALTIONALTIONALTIONALO F F I C E O F I N T E R N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , U N I V E R S I T Y A T B U F F A L O

Confucius Institute.........3

UB in Haiti........................4

Fogarty Programin Zimbabwe...................7

Brock University..............8

Study Tour to India........9

Provost Honored............10

Faculty Fulbrights.........11

From the Vice Provost..12

Cravens Collection.........13

An American in Vagney..15

Law Programin Thailand....................17

Minoan Excavation......18

Cross-BorderEducator........................19

International Activitiesof Faculty & Staff..........22

Directory........................27

C O N T E N T S

S P R I N G 2 0 1 0 VOL. XIX, NO. 1�

UB INTERNATIONALVisit the Office of International

Education website at:

http://www.buffalo.edu/intled

CHANCELLOR OF AMRITA UNIVERSITYRECEIVES HONORARY DEGREE

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By Christine Vidal

Mata Amritanandamayi Devi(Amma), chancellor of AmritaUniversity, UB’s institutional

partner in South India, received a StateUniversity of New York Doctor of HumaneLetters degree during a conferral cer-emony held on May 25, 2010 at Slee Hallon the UBNorth Cam-pus.

A distin-guished andbeloved hu-mani ta r ianand spirituall e a d e r ,Amma is in-ternationallyregarded forher tirelessefforts on be-half of globalpeace, hercommitmentto expand-ing educa-tional opportunity, and the far-reachingimpact of her charitable organizations inrelieving poverty and human suffering inIndia and around the world.

Amma is the founder and chancellorof Amrita University, a leading privateuniversity in India, and has played a keyrole in encouraging and supporting thestrong strategic partnership betweenAmrita University and UB.

Lippes Concert Hall, the ceremonyvenue, was filled to capacity for the event,which was attended by UB faculty, staffand students; a large delegation of se-nior officials from Amrita University; and

many members of the local community.An academic procession of senior faculty

and administrators from both universities,led by President John B. Simpson andAmrita Vice-Chancellor P. Venkat Rangan,welcomed Amma on stage and congratu-lated her during the conferral of the de-

gree. The ceremony included perfor-mances by Roland Martin on the Fisk organin Lippes Concert Hall and a performanceof Indian classical dance by the students ofthe Natya School of Buffalo, directed by Pro-fessor Tejaswini Rao.

In his remarks Simpson said, “Throughher leadership of Amrita University as wellas through her humanitarian work, Chan-cellor Amma exemplifies the value of inter-national dialogue and dedicated public ser-vice in the global arena. These are values atthe core of the University at Buffalo’s mis-sion as an internationalized public univer-sity seeking to prepare our students to con-

SUNY Trustee Lewin (right) and President Simpson hood Chancellor Amma, while StephenDunnett presents the honorary degree.

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tribute meaningfully to the global world.”Since 2006 UB and Amrita University have partnered

on collaborative activities that include a dual-master’s de-gree programs in management and computer science.Additional collaborative programs in social work andmedicine are in development.

At the ceremony Provost Tripathi hailed Amma’s rolein support-ing the part-n e r s h i p :“This level ofinstitutionalcooperationrequires anambitious vi-sion, strongleadership,and greatf l e x i b i l i t yfrom bothpartners. Asour partner-ship hasgrown, Ih a v elearned howi m p o r t a n tChance l lorAmma’s rolehas been—behind the scenes—in nurturing and encouraging ourinstitutional relationship. From the beginning, she hasseen the potential this partnership for the benefit our re-spective universities and the constituents we serve.”

The SUNY Honorary Degree recognizes Amma’s com-mitment to expanding educational opportunities and in-ternational cooperation, as well as her extraordinary hu-manitarian service, which includes founding MataAmritanandamayi (M.A.) Math, a humanitarian organi-zation that oversees her charitable activities in India andother nations, and relief efforts she spearheaded for vic-tims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

“Amma has been a leader in expanding educationalopportunity in India, particularly through the establish-ment of Amrita University, which in its first 15 years hasbecome one of the most distinguished private universitiesin India,” said Stephen Dunnett, professor and vice pro-vost for international education. “She also is a strong pro-ponent of Amrita’s expanding cooperation with U.S. insti-tutions of higher education and she has placed particularemphasis on the connection to UB, which has borne fruitin a number of ways,” Dunnett added.

In her acceptance speech, Amma said she “sees thishonor as an indication of [UB’s] ongoing support for thegreat ideal of service to humanity. Our organization hasbeen able to serve society due to the dedicated selflessservice of countless people around the world. Ammawould like to offer this honor to the dedication, sincerityand goodness in their hearts.” She said that there is a need for scientific knowledge

taught in univer-sities to be bal-anced by value-based wisdomwhich draws onthe world’s greatspiritual tradi-tions. “The mainindicator thattrue knowledge isgrowing is theblossoming ofd i s c r im ina t i vet h i n k i n g — t h eability to differen-tiate that whichuplifts us fromthat which pullsus down. Devoidof discriminativethinking, knowl-edge is incom-plete, like flower

without fragrance, like word without meaning, a flameand its light.”

“Spiritual education is a training that helps us to trulyunderstand ourselves. It gives us strength and helps uscomprehend the deeper realms of knowledge. It gives usthe ability to face life’s challenges with courage and equa-nimity of mind,” she said. “This is why education for life isas important as education for livelihood. Education for lifeis spirituality. It helps us to gain a deeper understandingof the world, our mind and our emotions, as well as thoseof others.”

In closing she declared, “It is Amma’s prayer that wedevelop the expansive-mindedness to embrace both sci-entific knowledge and spiritual wisdom. We can no longerafford to see these two streams of knowledge as flowingin opposite directions.

"In truth, they complement one another. If we mergethese streams, we will find that we are able to create amighty river—a river whose waters can remove sufferingand spread life to all of humanity.” �

Christine Vidal is online editor for University Communications.

Chancellor Amma delivering her address during the ceremony (Photo: Nancy J. Parisi)

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By Bruce Acker

The University at Buffalo celebrated the grand open-ing of its Confucius Institute on April 9, 2010 with aceremony featuring lively Chinese music and color-

ful dance, along with welcomingremarks by UB President John B.Simpson and Gong Huili, execu-tive president of Capital NormalUniversity, UB's partner inBeijing.

The ceremony took place inthe Mainstage Theatre in UB’sCenter for the Arts on the NorthCampus. The program includedtraditional and contemporaryperformances by students fromthe UB Department of Theatreand Dance and the College ofMusic at Capital Normal Univer-sity, as well as professionaldancer Xingqiong He fromChengdu, China, and the Chi-nese Club of Western New YorkDance Troupe.

The program featured thedazzling “Long Ribbon Dance,”signifying the yearning of theancient Chinese to learn the secrets of eternal life; thebeautiful “Jasmine Flower,” popularized for Western audi-ences as a theme song of the Beijing Olympics; and “ToStudy,” a dance inspired by “The Analects” of Confucius.

The Chinese Consulate in New York City were repre-sented at the opening ceremony by education counselorJianjun Cen, who gave congratulatory remarks along withUB Provost Satish K. Tripathi.

In one of the first activities of the new Confucius Insti-tute, UB dancers learned Chinese dance techniques, train-ing under the direction of He, a choreographer, teacherand performer in the Chengdu Musical Theater Troupewho has been in residence at UB since January.

“This is a landmark event in the long, ongoing historyof UB’s engagement with China, and in particular ourhistoric and vital partnership with Capital Normal Univer-sity,” says Stephen C. Dunnett, vice provost for interna-tional education and chair of the advisory board for theConfucius Institute.

“In the 30 years since UB became the first U.S. univer-sity to enter China and sign agreements with key institu-tions in Beijing, Capital Normal has played a major role inthe development of Chinese language and culture stud-ies at UB,” says Dunnett.

“This university has sent excellent teachers of Chinese

to teach at UB, as well as receiving many UB students forprograms in Chinese language and culture at CNU. It isfitting that in this anniversary year we celebrate this newand expanded phase in our collaboration with CNU.”

Part of a network of 300 Confucius Institutes around

the world, the Confucius Institute at UB is dedicated topromoting the teaching of Chinese language and culturein Western New York. The institute is a collaborative pro-gram involving UB’s Asian Studies Program in the Collegeof Arts and Sciences; Capital Normal University, UB’slongstanding partner in Beijing; and the Chinese Lan-guage Council International (Hanban), which will providesignificant funding.

Through the Confucius Institute, UB plans to provideexpert teachers from Capital Normal University to localschools to help establish or expand Chinese languageprograms; offer Chinese language classes and culturalorientation for businesses, government officials and com-munity groups; organize study tours to China; presentChinese language and culture summer camps; and es-tablish a China film and lecture series.

Kristin Stapleton, associate professor of history and di-rector of UB’s Asian Studies Program, has been appointeddirector of the Confucius Institute. Stapleton says that UBhas been able to attract two talented and energeticpeople to carry out its mission.

The Asian Studies Program recently hired an executivedirector, Wenzhong (Eric) Yang, Ph.D., to manage theoperations of the new Confucius Institute. Yang comes toUB from Michigan State University, where he served as

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Xingqiong He performs the Long Ribbon Dance during the opening ceremony for the Confucius Institute at UB

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associate director of the U.S.-China Center for Researchon Educational Excellence.

“We expect the programs and resources provided byUB’s Confucius Institute to have a major impact on teach-ing about China in Western New York,” Yang says, “help-ing students, businesspeople and other community mem-bers better understand the language and people of thislarge, influential and complex country.”

Yang is joined by Xiaopeng Du, associate professor of

English Language and Literature at Capital Normal Uni-versity, who is serving a two-year term as associate direc-tor of the Confucius Institute.

“I am thrilled to be at UB to help launch this importantnew institute and to provide people in the Buffalo areawith a better understanding of China,” says Du. “CapitalNormal University has an excellent relationship with UBdating back many years, and we are very pleased to beable to support the new Confucius Institute in Buffalo.” �

Bruce Acker is assistant director of Asian Studies.

By Charlotte Hsu

A panel of UB experts convened on the North Cam- pus in late March to discuss the January earthquake that devastated Haiti, leveling parts of the country’s

Presidential Palace and killing an estimated 230,000people.

The diverse group of pre-senters at the event, titled“UB Reaching Others: TheHaiti Earthquake,” includedPierre Fouché, a HaitianPh.D. candidate studyingearthquake engineering;Chris Renschler, a geogra-phy faculty member whosestudents mapped damage inthe disaster’s aftermath;Andre Filiatrault, the French-speaking director of MCEER,UB’s extreme events researchcenter; Lawrence Bone, a UBdoctor stationed on a hospi-tal ship off the Haitian coast;and Stephen Dunnett, viceprovost for international education.

Together, the panelists explained why the January 12earthquake was so destructive, and how short- and long-term emergency-response efforts can help Haiti rebuild.The event highlighted the importance and direct impactof UB’s work in mitigating and responding to extremeevents, one of eight areas of academic strength the uni-versity is building as part of its UB 2020 long-range strate-gic plan.

Fouché, a Fulbright scholar, took the podium first, open-ing with a talk on Haiti’s vulnerability to natural disasters,noting that the island nation is a “multi-hazard” environ-

UB REACHES OUT TO HAITI

ment whose geography exposes it to deadly hurricanes,flash floods, landslides and earthquakes.

“What we have seen in the January 12 event basicallywas a repetition of what has happened to Haiti in thepast,” Fouché said, relating that a 1770 earthquake de-stroyed the country’s capital city.

Factors that haveexacerbated the de-struction that naturaldisasters afflict onHaiti include a historyof struggles and poorurban planning,Fouché said. Haiti,which gained inde-pendence in 1804through a successfulslave revolution,faced crippling eco-nomic sanctions thatmade it difficult forthe country and itspeople to build andmove forward.

Many homes and other structures were built withoutproper planning as governments failed to enforce zoninglaws and construction standards. The engineering occu-pation lacks accountability, Fouché said, with graduates ofengineering programs able to go into practice withoutundergoing licensure.

On January 12, these problems culminated in a disas-ter of monstrous proportions. Schools collapsed. Thirteenof 15 major government buildings were destroyed. Threemillion people were left homeless, many afraid to re-en-ter the houses left intact.

Following Fouché’s presentation, Renschler, Filiatraultcontinued on page 6

Pierre Fouché

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By Ellen Goldbaum

At a university campus in Port-au-Prince where not a single building withstood the January earthquake, more than 200 Haitian engineers, architects and

other professionals gathered in tents last weekend in tem-peratures hov-ering near 100degrees to be-gin learning theprinciples ofearthquake-re-sistant design.

The gather-ing was the firstEarthquake En-gineering Edu-cational Semi-nar, jointly-sponsored byUB’s MCEER andU n i v e r s i t èQ u i s q u e y a(UniQ).

The three-day seminarwas a result of amemorandumof understanding signed between MCEER (formerly theMultidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Re-search) and UniQ, a private university in Port-au-Prince,to bring MCEER’s earthquake-engineering expertise to theprofessional and student engineering communities inHaiti so they can learn fundamental earthquake-engineer-ing principles in order to retrofit damaged facilities anddesign new construction.

The response to this first seminar was overwhelming,organizers say.

“We expected between 60 and 70 attendees and wegot 215,” says Andre Filiatrault, MCEER director and UBprofessor of civil, structural and environmental engineer-ing, who ran the seminar.

“The attitude of the engineers was extremely positive,”he says, “They realize that they need to become profi-cient in this type of engineering and there is a thirst tolearn.”

Within eight days of the January 12 earthquake,Filiatrault had assembled and deployed the first team ofstructural engineers to Haiti to conduct building-safety in-spections at the request of the United Nations. Whenteam members returned to the U.S., they knew moreneeded to be done.The relationship between MCEER and UniQ, which will

extend for at least three years, is designed to help Haitiestablish its own community of earthquake engineers tomitigate earthquake-induced damage to its buildings.Each seminar will provide credit toward a master’s de-gree in earthquake engineering that UniQ is developing

with MCEER’ssupport. The popular-ity of this firsts e m i n a rp r o m p t e dsponsors to di-vide partici-pants into twogroups, withF i l i a t r a u l tteaching oneand PierreFouché, a Hai-tian native andUB doctoralcandidate ine a r t h q u a k eengineer ing,teaching theother. SofiaT a n g a l o s ,

MCEER education and outreach officer and informationservice director who lived in Haiti as a child, provided on-site organizational support.

The seminar was conducted completely in French.“This is the best thing that we can do for Haiti: to start

educating the architects and engineers about the funda-mental notions of earthquake engineering so that theycan avoid past mistakes,” Filiatrault says.

After an introduction by Fouché about the seismologyand seismicity of Haiti, the seminar focused on an intro-duction to the principles of earthquake-resistant designand on the ATC-20 (Applied Technical Council) RapidBuilding Assessment Methodology.

“A key advantage of the seminar was its emphasis onfield studies, as well as classroom-type instruction,”Filiatrault says. All attendees were able to participate infield assessments of earthquake-damaged buildings inPort-au-Prince to see firsthand the impact of earthquakeson structures lacking the necessary earthquake-engineer-ing detailing, and to learn how to conduct damage as-sessments on structures throughout Port-au-Prince thathave yet to be inspected.

“We gave attendees a firm grounding in the conceptsof earthquake engineering and some really practical in-formation on how to build better buildings even without

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Andre Filiatrault (seated center) and Pierre Fouché (standing far right) with participants in the May 2010seminar at UniQ

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and Bone discussed immediate recovery efforts in the af-termath of the magnitude 7.0 quake. Their talks werefilled with poignant moments.

As Renschler and his team of students joined with aglobal community of scientists to identify collapsed build-ings and assess damage using satellite imagery and aerialphotographs, “We could see what was going on rightnow there, and some of the scenes were really heart-breaking,” Renschler, director of UB’s Landscape-basedEnvironmental System Analysis and Modeling Laboratory,told the audience.

Filiatrault, who led a mission of 10 engineers and ar-chitects to Haiti to assess the safety of buildings that re-mained standing, recounted how he and fellow teammembers spent the night inside a school that they hadcleared for use.

“There was a major difference, psychologically, forthose kids, seeing structural engineers sleeping inside thebuildings, and immediately, everything calmed down,”Filiatrault said.

Bone, chair of UB’s Department of Orthopaedics andan orthopaedic trauma surgeon at Erie County MedicalCenter, recalled treating earthquake victims aboard theUSNS Comfort, saying that many may have been disabledfor the rest of their lives without the care he and fellowphysicians provided.

“Multiple fractures in one limb, and this was patientafter patient,” Bone said. “So, I was very fortunate to bein a situation where we had modern equipment and afull staff to support us, to be able to manage what was, forme, after 30 years of dealing with trauma, the most over-

A MAJOR STEPcontinued from page 5

making detailed calculations,” he says. “We showed themthe differences between what makes a building safe orunsafe. When they begin to apply even just those prin-ciples to their engineering and architectural practices, itwill make a tremendous difference.” In his presentation,Filiatrault cited Chile’s 1960 earthquake as a parallel ex-ample.

“I wanted to highlight the fact that Haitian engineersare not alone and that what they are going through hasbeen experienced by other countries,” he says. “That1960 earthquake in Chile caused tremendous sufferingand loss of life, and it served as a turning point wherethings started to change. In the same way, I told themJanuary 12, 2010, can also represent a change in para-digm for Haiti.”

Subsequent seminars will focus on the specific calcula-

tions that are required to construct safe buildings, a seg-ment that is largely missing from current engineeringcurricula in Haiti. The next seminar, which will last for fivedays, will take place in early September. Additional fac-ulty from other U.S. engineering schools will be involved.

“The goal is to develop with UniQ an earthquake-en-gineering curriculum–the first in Haiti and in thefrancophone region of the West Indies,” notes Tangalos.“There is much that needs to be learned–not just in thelack of building codes, but also in the understanding ofthe proper building materials and construction methods.”

The MCEER-UniQ partnership also will develop longer-term educational programs on seismic design of build-ings with a focus on adapted techniques for reconstruc-tion, as well as promote academic exchange and coop-eration over the next three years. �

Ellen Goldbaum is a senior editor for University Communica-tions.

whelming experience I’ve ever had.”Dunnett closed the presentation portion of the event

with a discussion of how UB can help rebuild Haiti’s edu-cation infrastructure, including through programs to pro-vide financial support to current and future Haitian stu-dents.

While disaster and tragedy were at the center ofDunnett’s and other panelists’ talks, their message wasultimately one of hope: As Fouché, the day’s first speakersaid, “At the end of the day, one thing that I know isthat...the Haitian people is a very hardworking and cou-rageous people in the face of adversity, and I hope thatthings will get better.”�

Charlotte Hsu is community relations associate for UniversityCommunications.

During his January trip to Port-au-Prince, Andre Filiatrault (in orange vest)evaluates a building housing an orphanage

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Gene D. Morse visited the University of Zimbabwe(UZ) to lead a three-day series of meetings withuniversity leaders, faculty, students and commu-

nity leaders to introduce the newly funded AIDS Interna-tional Training and Research Program (AITRP).

This innovative program, sponsored by the NationalInstitutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center, is a col-laboration between the UB and UZ that supports the de-velopment of future researchers to address the HIV/AIDSepidemic inZ i m b a b w eand surround-ing regions.

This five-year 1.5 mil-lion dollarprogram wasawarded anadministrativesupp lementlast Septem-ber as part ofthe AmericanRecovery andReinvestmentAct of 2009 tosupport the development of electronic health informationtechnology.

The visit included a series of meetings to discuss thecollaborative plans for the new UB-UZ AITRP program, aswell as a seminar for the UZ College of Health Sciencesstudents focused on building the collaboration and stimu-lating interest in future trainees.

The collaboration was established by Dr. CharlesChiedza Maponga of the Department of Pharmacy at UZand a visiting faculty member in the UB School of Phar-macy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, where he earned hisdoctorate in pharmacology.

During his visit to the University of Zimbabwe Collegeof Health Sciences, Morse met with UB-UZ AITRP mentorsat the University of Zimbabwe to discuss mentor require-ments and how training will be coordinated betweenmentors at the University at Buffalo and the University ofZimbabwe.

UB-UZ AITRP Co-Director Maponga, who hostedMorse’s visit, led presentations and meetings with facultyand students to describe the unique program which pro-vides a mentored research training environment to es-tablish independent clinical and translational pharmacol-ogy investigators and enhance the research capacity ofZimbabwe and surrounding region.

During an opening ceremony and conference led by

Professor L. Nyagura, Vice Chancellor of the University ofZimbabwe, and Dr. Ranga Masanganise, Acting Dean ofthe University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences,Dr. Morse spoke to members of the UB-UZ AITRP Execu-tive Steering Committee and Training Advisory Group,Officials from the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health, Zimba-bwe-based research organizations, aid agencies, commu-nity leaders and regional collaborators.

Morse discussed the collaborative nature of the UB-UZAITRP in the devel-opment of aca-demic researchand educationalprograms, and theimportance ofeach agency’s in-teractive role withthe program. Theofficial ZimbabweWelcome was pre-sented by Profes-sor Levi Nyagura,Vice Chancellor,University of Zim-babwe. Nyaguraprovided a heart-

ening message on behalf of UZ and he expressed thedesire for UZ to grow additional research collaborationssimilar to the AITRP initiative.

Dr. Robert Schooley, Head Infectious Diseases, Univer-sity of California, San Diego provided the NIH AIDS Clini-cal Trials Group International Perspective and the role thatthe UB-UZ AITRP will play in the overall efforts to conductresearch in Zimbabwe and surrounding countries insouthern Africa.

Morse’s comments during the opening conferencewere aired on Zimbabwe National Television. “This is amajor advance which will increase the number of clinicalresearchers who can contribute to the country efforts toconduct implementation research in conjunction withantiretroviral access rollout programs” said Morse, associ-ate director, translational pharmacology core, in UB’s NewYork State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and LifeSciences and professor in the School of Pharmacy andPharmaceutical Sciences.

Morse, who believes an international orientation witha focus on the development of sustainable resources isessential to the future success of all aspects of HIV phar-macology research, went on to say that, “We are trying todo two things: to help provide better access to medica-tions to the country in the short-term; and in the longterm, to help Zimbabwe develop a comprehensive re-

Gene Morse meets with members of the Parirenyatwa Patient Support Group to discuss the UB-UZAITRP Program

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search plan that addresses the multiple issues complicat-ing treatment and research there, including the largenumbers of patients on these medications, maternal-fetaltransmission, resistance, dietary factors, use of traditionaland herbal medicines and co-infection with hepatitis B,tuberculosis and malaria.”

The UB HIV Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory is anideal model for developing a research facility in Zimba-bwe because it is one of the few places in the U.S. thatcombines research, education, clinical practice, trainingin medication adherence, applied clinical pharmacologyand state-of-the-art laboratory analysis.

Following the UZ presentations and meetings, a re-ception and information session was held for universityleaders and community researchers to review the pro-gram goals and discuss country perspectives on how theincreased research capacity will assist the broader healthcare needs to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

“UB’s Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and LifeSciences and the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuti-

FOGARTY PROGRAMcontinued from page 7 cal Sciences are well positioned to take a leadership role

in shaping that international perspective — through thiscollaboration with the University of Zimbabwe and otherresource-limited countries — in HIV clinical pharmacol-ogy, applied pharmacotherapeutics and translational re-search.”

These start-up meetings in Zimbabwe established astrong working relationship with key leaders of the uni-versity, government and community partners and set thegroundwork upon which the program will accomplish itsgoals. These meetings have resulted in immediate, tan-gible outcomes including data analysis, abstract submis-sions, manuscript preparation and an RO1 submission. Todate, three abstracts have been accepted at internationalscientific conferences.

Since 2002, the UB program has trained four post-graduate clinical pharmacology scientists at the Universityof Zimbabwe through an initial pilot program run by thetwo institutions and funded through NIH grants from theNational Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases’AIDS Clinical Trials Group, the National Institute on DrugAbuse and the University of California, Berkeley. �

Brock University, UB’s institutional partner in St.Catharines, Ontario, has the unique advantage ofbeing within convenient driving distance to make

visits between the two universities relatively quick andeasy. Like UB, the Ca-nadian university isclose to the interna-tional border, and bycar is less than 30 milesfrom the Buffalo cam-pus.

This prompted re-ciprocal visits by del-egations of faculty fromeach campus to theother during the 2009-2010 academic year. InNovember 2009, tenfaculty and administra-tors from Brock visitedUB to learn about UB’sresearch agenda and explore areas of mutual interest. InApril 2010 a dozen UB faculty and administrators visitedthe Brock campus to address a similar agenda. Facultyfrom a variety of disciplines including classics, education,history, linguistics, public health and social work partici-pated. Additional faculty visits back and forth, represent-

ing other disciplines, are being planned for the future.The institutions’ proximity has encouraged other co-

operative activities under the auspices of the exchangeagreement between Brock and UB signed in 2007. That

agreement calls forthe campuses totake turns hostingthe annual CrossingBorders StudentConference, atwhich undergradu-ate and graduatestudents from institu-tions neighboringthe U.S.-Canadaborder present pa-pers on topics in Ca-nadian-Amer icanstudies and relatedfields. In addition, the

Canadian Studies Program at UB has partnered with Brockto offer joint courses on Canadian Studies. These jointcourses, which are partially taught at UB, Brock and thePeace Bridge Customs Plaza, are a stepping stone to aproposed Joint Brock-UB M.A. degree in Canadian-Ameri-can Studies. �

The site of the Niagara Health and Bioscience Research Complex on the Brock campus

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By Bruce Acker

A number of UB faculty members will significantly expand the treatment of India in their undergraduate courses and research, thanks to a faculty study

tour over the most recent winter intersession organizedby the Asian Studies Program.

The Indian study tour was made possible by a Title VIgrant from the U.S.Department of Educa-tion to enhance UB’sundergraduate educa-tion in South Asian lan-guages, literatures, andcultures.

The goals of thestudy tour were four-fold: (1) to facilitate thecreation of new under-graduate courses onSouth Asia; (2) to allowfaculty to revise existingcourses to include moreSouth Asia content; (3)to encourage researchprojects that involveSouth Asia; and (4) tostrengthen ties withUB’s partner schools inSouth Asia, particularly Banaras Hindu University (BHU).

The UB delegation, led by History professor RamyaSreenivasan, set out for India on December 27, 2009 andfollowed a 10-day itinerary that included the cities of Delhi,Jaipur, Agra, Varanasi, and Sarnath. In addition to visitingmany historical sites, participants had several chances tomeet with colleagues from Jawaharlal Nehru University inDelhi and Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi.

The group experienced an India of striking juxtaposi-tions: signs for a Pizza Hut near the holiest of temples;cows vying with tour busses and auto-rickshaws for right-of-way on congested city roads; and ramshackle roadsidesnack bars and humble hovels situated next to a Hyundaidealership. They also encountered vivid examples of thehistoric and contemporary interconnectivity of societiesand religions in India, with a visit to Sarnath, the site ofthe Buddha’s first public teaching, just a few miles fromthe Hindu holy city of Varanasi; and the adjacent holysites in Varanasi of the Kashi Vishwanath Hindu Templeand the Gyanvapi Mosque, both of which are patrolledby armed guards.

An unexpected highlight of the trip was a near day-long backroad car trip through small villages and towns

of rural Rajasthan, occasioned by a protest that blockedthe superhighway from Jaipur to Agra. As a result, thegroup saw rural India at work, from the small “sheds” forhousing patties of cooking dung to camels pulling everykind of load to open markets lining the streets. A valuable component of the trip was the visit to Banaras

Hindu University in Varanasi,with which UB is developinga robust partnership. The UBdelegation was graciouslywelcomed and engaged infruitful discussions with mem-bers of BHU’s administrationand faculty. The delegationcame away from these meet-ings optimistic that its visit willlay the groundwork for fur-ther exchange of students,instructors, methods, and re-search between the two insti-tutions. In addition to ProfessorSreenivasan, members of thedelegation consisted of pro-fessors Kristin Stapleton(Asian Studies and History),Thomas Burkman (Asian

Studies), Junhao Hong (Communication), JeannetteLudwig (Romance Languages and Literatures), PatrickMcDevitt (History), Claire Schen (History), and HershiniBhana-Young (English). The group also included MarkLempke, a graduate student in the Department of His-tory, and Tae-Hyung Kim, professor of History and Gov-ernment at Daemen College.

Funding for the study tour was provided by the U.S.Department of Education South Asia grant to the AsianStudies Program, the UB Provost’s Faculty Internationaliza-tion Fund, and the UB Department of History.

The U.S. Department of Education grant is also help-ing to fund a new tenure-track professor position in SouthAsian Languages and Literatures beginning in 2010-2011,the addition of Urdu language classes in 2011, visitingscholars from India, study abroad opportunities in SouthAsia for students, and visiting artists and musicians at UB.

Along with the Department of Education grant, theAsian Studies Program is planning the development of aSouth Asia Institute to help fund and oversee teachingand research on the region. �

Bruce Acker is assistant director of Asian Studies.

Members of the Faculty Study Tour at the Taj Mahal in Agra, India

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PROVOST TRIPATHI RECEIVES DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARD FROM BHU

Satish K.Tripathi,P rovos t

and ExecutiveVice Presidentfor AcademicAffairs, re-ceived the Dis-t i n g u i s h e dA l u m n u sAward fromBanaras HinduU n i v e r s i t y(BHU) duringa ceremony atBHU on De-cember 25,2009.

The award was presented by Dr. Karan Singh, BHUChancellor and former Ambassador of India to the UnitedStates; Justice G. Malaviya, grandson of the founder ofBHU; and Professor D. P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor of BHU.

Provost Tripathi (left) is presented with the award by D.P. Singh (far right), Karan Singh(second from right) and Justice G. Malaviya (third from right)

The ceremony was part ofthe university’s annual Inter-national Alumni Meet.Tripathi was honored for hisextensive contributions to hisfield, to BHU, and to societygenerally. Vice-Chancellor Singh,who was invited to UB byPresident Simpson and Pro-vost Tripathi during their visitto BHU in February 2009, vis-ited UB for the first time April24-26, 2010 to tour the uni-versity campuses and to meetwith senior faculty and ad-ministrators to discuss col-laborative activities under the

auspices of the exchange program between BHU and UBestablished in 2008. Accompanying Vice-ChancellorSingh on the visit to UB were his wife, Kalpana Singh,and Professor Alok Jha. �

By Robert Wetherhold

Pursuant to a decision of the Minister of the Vietnam-ese Ministry of Training and Education, Thai NguyenUniversity of Technology (TNUT) was chosen to pio-

neer a project tocreate an Interna-tional StandardTraining Programin English for train-ing undergradu-ates studying Me-chanical Engineer-ing.

This involvesboth the change toEnglish, as well asmajor curriculumrevisions to matchEuropean and U.S. models. In implementing this pro-gram, referred to as the “Advanced Program” (AP), pro-fessors and administrators from Vietnam visited the USand reviewed a number of Mechanical Engineering pro-grams to see which one would be suitable for the AP.

PROJECT STRENGTHENS ENGINEERING CURRICULUMOF VIETNAMESE UNIVERSITY

TNUT and the Ministry of Education have decided thatthe best way to advance their agenda is to follow thecriteria of the ME program at the University at Buffalo.

This decision was reached in 2008 after contacts andsite visits between TNUT personnel and UB personnel in-

cluding Prof. D. JosephMook, former AssistantDean for InternationalEducation for SEAS;Chairs of MAE Profes-sors Andres Soom andGary Dargush; andRobert Wetherhold, Di-rect of UndergraduateStudies for ME at UB. In 2009 four profes-sors from TNUT wereresident at UB for twomonths and worked

with Professors Wetherhold and Dargush to audit coursesand to get experience in how students, faculty, andTeaching Assistants can work together to accomplish thegoals of the AP program.

The Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Program

Gary Dargush (far left) and Robert Wetherhold (far right) with Vi Hoang, Son PhuNguyen, Cuong Duy Nguyen of TNUT

continued on page 14

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THREE UB FACULTY RECEIVE FULBRIGHT AWARDS

By Patricia Donovan

UB faculty members Sampson Lee Blair, RobertGranfield and Daniel Hess have received Fulbrightawards for the 2010-11 academic year.

Blair, associate professor in the Department of Sociol-ogy, College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded aFulbright Scholar grant to lecture and conduct researchat Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan) on the island ofMindanao, the Philippines.

Blair is a sociologist who specializes in family and childdevelopment and during his fellowship year will conductresearch on the relationship between Filipino parental in-

volvement and children’seducational perfor-mance. A popular professor atUB, Blair is the former di-rector of undergraduatestudies in the UB Sociol-ogy Department, andcurrently chairs theAmerican SociologicalAssociation’s Section onChildren and Youth. His research on familyissues (most recently,

risky adolescent behavior) is widely published and he hasserved as associate editor of several major sociologicaljournals, among them Social Justice Research, SociologicalInquiry, the Journal of Family Issues, and Marriage and Fam-ily Review.

Granfield, professor and chair of the Department ofSociology, has been named the Fulbright Visiting ResearchChair in International Humanitarian Law at the HumanRights Research and Education Center (HRREC), Univer-sity of Ottawa, Ontario. HRREC is a premier center of intel-lectual activity in the area of human rights and is the old-est national university-based human rights institute inCanada.

Hess, associate professor of urban and regional plan-ning in the School of Architecture and Planning, has re-ceived a Fulbright Scholar Award to teach and conductresearch at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia, theonly university of technology in that country and one ofthe three most important institutions of higher learningin Estonia. Founded in 1918, the university has 13,000 stu-dents, and campuses in Tartu, Kuressaare and Kohtla-Järve, as well as in the capital of Tallinn.

Granfield’s $25,000 Fulbright grant will fund his re-search during the fall 2010 semester into the evolvingrole of pro bono legal work in Canada, as well as in aglobal context.

Canada’s civil legal aid system is supported throughstate funding, but recently there has been an increase in

voluntary pro bono legal ser-vices by private attorneys.Granfield will study the impactthis development has had onthe Canadian legal professionand on access to justice for itscitizens. In addition, he will ex-plore the international implica-tions of the emerging globalpro bono movement. This research represents acontinuation of his previousscholarly work and publications.

In 2009, Granfield and co-editor Lynn Mather, UB politicalscientist and law professor, published Private Lawyers andthe Public Interest: The Evolving Role of Pro Bono in the LegalProfession (Oxford University Press). The book examinesthe history, conditions, organization and strategies of probono lawyering, interrogates the public interest ideals ofthe legal profession and places these ideals in a broadersocial, economic and ideological context.

Central to Hess’ research, writing and teachingagenda are the questions of how urban policies affecttravel choices and how urban spatial dynamics can bestbe analyzed methodologically. His work also focuses onaccess to employment for wel-fare recipients and low-incomepersons, and he has conductedevaluations of transportationpolicy and practice in Californiaand New York.

Hess also is interested intransit system performance andalternative transit funding ar-rangements, and has con-ducted evaluations of transit-pass programs. He serves as aconsultant to federal, state andlocal agencies, and recently was part of a team that ex-plored design concepts and programs for adding transit-oriented development along Buffalo’s Metro Rail corridor. A grant from the Mineta Transportation Institutefunded his investigation of barriers to older adults ridingtraditional fixed-route transit systems.

Another grant, from the Federal Transit Administra-tion, funded his investigation of how public involvementcan be used to expand alternative transportation financ-ing schemes. �

Patricia Donovan is a senior editor for University Communi-cations.

Blair Sampson

Robert Granfield

Daniel Hess

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formances. According to Qin, it was an event that helpedhomesick international students who couldn’t returnhome during the summer. She says it will be expanded toinclude other countries this summer and be called Tasteof the World.

To increase awareness of international student chal-lenges regarding mental health issues and decrease thestigma, Qin coordinated an International Student WellnessDay at the end of March in the Student Union. The eventincluded a photo contest for international students to ex-press themselves, a panel discussion and informationtables.

Qin is determined to continue breaking down the bar-riers of mental health for international students. She re-ally likes the campus environment and surrounding com-munity.

“People are talking about diversity and respect it. Thatreally makes me feel welcome,” she says Qin has a 14-month-old son, Jaden, born shortly after her arrival here.Her husband, also a native of Beijing, is in Boston andtrying to find an engineering job in this area so the familycan be together.

Qin was warmed by the reception she received at UBas a new employee—pregnant and alone. “There were alot of challenges for me, settling down and adjusting tothe new environment,” she says. “My colleagues gaveme a lot of support and the university as well. I’m verygrateful for that.”�

COUNSELING SERVICEScontinued from page 20

By Stephen C. Dunnett

Despite confronting one of themost difficult budget situationsin our history, UB is expanding

efforts to reach others around the worldin important and impactful ways.

This issue of UB International high-lights a number of these initiatives, in-cluding major endeavors in Haiti andZimbabwe, which leverage UB’s re-search and educational prowess to ef-fect positive and sustainable changeand the betterment of peoples’ lives.

I applaud the efforts of ProfessorAndre Filiatrault, Pierre Fouché andtheir colleagues in MCEER, formerly theMultidisciplinary Center for EarthquakeEngineering Research, in cooperationwith Quisqueya University in Port-au-Prince to share their expertise with counterparts in Haitithrough on-site collaborative training programs in earth-quake engineering.

I likewise congratulate Professor Eugene Morse, direc-tor of the new NIH-funded Fogarty AIDS InternationalTraining and Research Program, which builds on earlierefforts by the School of Pharmacy and PharmaceuticalSciences, in partnership with the University of Zimbabwe,to facilitate and support the delivery of anti-retroviralmedications to people living with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe,a country devastated by the disease.

Key to these efforts overseas are the vital institutionalpartnerships that sustain them. UB greatly benefits fromour diverse collaborations with partners like Quisqueya

University and the University of Zimbabwe. Moreover, thestrong institutional partnership UB enjoys with AmritaUniversity in India is highlighted in our cover story about

the honorary degree conferral. On the occasion of Chancellor Ammareceiving the honorary degree from theState University of New York, Amrita Uni-versity and UB announced theestabilshment of a joint research centerbased in Kerala, India that will addresscritical issues of mutual interest to the So-cial Work faculty of the two institutions. The areas of research include HIV/AIDS,trauma, extreme events and disastermanagement, community development,and mental health and substance abuse. The university’s efforts on the globalstage are consistent with UB2020 and ourstrategic plan for the comprehensive in-ternationalization of UB. Our initiatives inHaiti, Zimbabwe, and India illustrate thecreative integration of university research,

education and service to make a difference around theworld.

In my nearly forty years at UB, there have been manychallenging circumstances that our university has success-fully overcome through the collective talents and efforts ofthe exceptional people who make up our university com-munity.

I remain confident that our current challenges will alsobe transcended and that UB will emerge a stronger insti-tution as a result. I look forward to working with colleaguesacross the university toward that end. �

Stephen C. Dunnett is a professor of foreign language educa-tion and vice provost for international education.

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CRAVENS DONATES ARCHAEOLOGICAL, ETHNOLOGICAL COLLECTION TO UB

By Cynthia Leavell

Annette Cravens, MSW ’68, has donated her multi- million-dollar collection of archaeological and eth- nographic objects—dating as far back as 4,500

BC—to the College of Arts and Sciences.The collection has been orga-

nized as a world-class permanentinstallation in the UB AndersonGallery that will serve as a resourcefor the entire university commu-nity. The Cravens collection cre-ates a watershed moment for theuniversity, boosting its profile as acenter for world cultural heritageresearch and extends the vibrantrole the Anderson Gallery plays inthe education of students, both atthe university and elementary andhigh-school levels.

The 1,100-piece collection—which has nearly doubled theuniversity’s collection—wasamassed by Cravens during hermore than 40 years of engage-ment around the globe, oftenwith her husband. She also pro-vided funding so that the collec-tion will be accessible to UB stu-dents, Buffalo Public Schools stu-dents, scholars and the commu-nity.

Phase one of the Cravens project, in which two roomswere reconstructed for the collection, is complete. Thelargest and most impressive room is “Cravens World,”where objects from around the world are displayed intransparent, acrylic cubes shaped into a life-size globethat seemingly reaches to the sky. On this display, 126objects can be experienced from 360-degree views,which are organized into six thematic groups.

“We came up with the idea of the globe to reflectAnnette’s world travels and her unique way of viewingobjects and of seamlessly moving from culture to culturewithout borders or bias,” says Peter Biehl, associate pro-fessor of anthropology and director of the project. Wallcabinets and drawers house another 451 objects orga-nized by geographic location. These objects will serve asteaching tools for students to learn about other cultures.

“Outreach to school children from kindergarten tohigh school will be an integral part of the project, and is apiece of which we are proud,” Biehl adds. “Not only doesthis further the mission of UB in educating and reachingout to the Buffalo community, it speaks to Annette’s tireless

work to support Buffalo’s intellectual life via arts, theaterand the university.”

An interactive touch screen will allow visitors to accessdetails about the objects, and gain information about thecultures, countries, people and artists who created them.

Having a collection of this stat-ure “makes UB a center of ex-cellence in regards to materialculture studies and research,”Biehl says. “Students have thebenefit of access to a collectionthat can be used to teach themto study, draw, research andcurate objects. The experiencethey will have in regards to theCravens’ collection is invalu-able.”

The oldest objects in theexhibit are from Asia,Mesopotamia, South Americaand Europe. Cravens donatedher collection so that students,residents and visitors will havea chance to experience diversecultural traditions. She believesthat firsthand contact withthese artifacts provides a tan-gible connection to the aes-thetic sensibilities of otherpeople and creates a criticaldynamic that can teach others

to see, spark appreciation, inspiration and understand-ing.

“The collection complements and reinforces the mis-sion of UB Anderson Gallery to serve as a unique aca-demic center for interdisciplinary research focusing onlearning from objects,” says Sandra H. Olsen, director ofthe UB Art Galleries.

“It has also positively and dramatically altered the char-acter of the university’s collection. Formerly focused onEuropean and American modern and contemporary art,the Cravens collection extends the reach of the visual artsat UB Anderson Gallery from modern to ancient times,”Olsen says. “The collection affects a significant expansionof the university’s collection, nearly doubling its size andexponentially broadening its contents. The unique instal-lation of the objects in the collection advances immeasur-ably the UB Anderson Gallery’s mission of accessing itsunique academic resources as broadly as possible.”

In addition to the Cravens World open installation,modern works of art from the Cravens collection havebeen installed in the Anderson Gallery. Prints, paintings


The Cravens Collection exhibit at the UB Anderson Gallery

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and sculptures invite guests to consider aesthetics sharedby modern works and cultural objects in the CravensWorld.

In fall 2010, phase two of the Cravens’ collection projectwill begin, with construction of a seminar room, researchlaboratory and a repository and study room for thecollection’s archives. Biehl will teach a seminar in whichUB students will focus on objects from Europe and theNear East. Similar courses using objects from other conti-nents will follow over the next three years. At the end ofthe fall 2010 semester, students will collectively curate apublic exhibition of Cravens collection objects. The collec-tion will also open opportunities for internships in mu-seum studies, anthropology, classics, art history, oral his-tory, education and library science.

The Cravens Collection Project is funded by the Col-lege of Arts and Sciences with generous support fromCravens. It includes the assessment, research and man-agement of the donated collection of archaeological andethnographic objects; archives of written documents, oralhistories, photos and artwork from around the world; re-construction of two rooms in the UB Anderson Gallery andoutreach activities. The project also includes the creationof a virtual museum interfaced with an online multimediadatabase, as well as the production of an educationalvideo game.

As well as Biehl and Olsen, other UB faculty who col-laborated on this project include Mehrdad Hadighi, pro-fessor and chair, Department of Architecture, School ofArchitecture and Planning, responsible for the CravensWorld design; Stephen Dyson, Park Professor of Classics;Samuel Paley, professor of classics; Douglass Perrelli, ad-junct professor and director, Archaeological Survey, De-

CRAVENS COLLECTIONcontinued from page 13

partment of Anthropology; Phillip Stevens Jr., associateprofessor of anthropology; Roy Roussel, professor and act-ing chair, Department of Media Study; Alexander Reid,associate professor of English; Michael Frisch, professor ofAmerican studies; Sarah Robert, assistant professor ofeducation; and R. Nils Olsen, professor of law.

Robert, Frisch and Sandra Olsen are contributing tothe project “Open Knowledge and Digital Archives: Digi-tization, Curation and Dissemination of the Cravens Col-lection.” Reid, Roussel, Robert and Martin Danahay andKevin Kee from Brock University have contributed to theproject “Serious Play and the Cravens Collection: Design-ing an Educational Video Game for the Outreach Programof the Cravens Collection.” Both projects have receivedfunding from the Digital Humanities Initiative at Buffalo.

Annette Cravens continues a family philanthropic tra-dition at UB that began more than 75 years ago. Herfather, Dr. Edgar McGuire, succeeded Roswell Park as pro-fessor of surgery and medicine at UB until his death in1931. A few years later, Annette’s mother, Mildred, mar-ried Thomas B. Lockwood, who built the originalLockwood Library on the South Campus and later gavehis collection of rare books to the university.

In 1984 she contributed the original renderings ofLockwood Library to the university. She and her childrenworked with university administrators to establish a lec-ture series in the poetry collection in memory of hermother. She also donated a medical instruments collec-tion to UB —dating from the early Roman period to thelate 19th century—in memory of her father In 2007, theUB Alumni Association gave Cravens its highest award,the Samuel P. Capen Award, for her contributions to theuniversity. �

Cynthia Leavell is associate director of development commu-nications.

at TNUT will be taught completely in English by professorsfrom UB and other universities in the US, England, Austra-lia, as well as by experienced and highly qualified lectur-ers of TNUT.

In the first year of the course, AP students will studyEnglish. At the end of that year, they have to take a TOEFLexam and they have to get at least 500 scores in order tocontinue their study.

This program is intended to be advanced in manyways, including in: training goals, curricula, trainingmanuals, reference books, experimental laboratories,teaching and learning methods, ways of student evalua-tion and measurement, and education management.

The AP program at TNUT will be open to both Viet-namese and international students. Students in the APprogram will have opportunities to take part in culturalexchanges and an interactive study environment with for-eign students. September 2009 marked the second yearof the AP program in Mechanical Engineering, and about40 students have enrolled each year.

An application has been submitted to MOET to form asimilar Advanced Program in Electrical Engineering, alsobased on the UB curriculum. �

Robert Wetherhold is a professor in the Department of Me-chanical and Aerospace Engineering.

ENGINEERING CURRICULUMcontinued from page 10

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AN AMERICAN IN VAGNEY

By Danny Stone

I finished the last page of Le Petit Prince as the planebegan descending through the clouds toward the landof snails, strikes and social security. Just before touch-

ing down at Charles de Gaulle Airport, my ears poppedto adjust to the new altitude andsuddenly all my nebulousthoughts clarified into a veryfrank and simple truth: I wasmoving to France for ninemonths.

I had secured a job as an En-glish teaching assistant for ninemonths and so, after a three-hour train ride east, I stumbled,jetlagged into my new studioapartment and set up camp inthe tiny town of Vagney. The firstfew days were very difficult. I hadunderestimated the power ofreal language immersion.

For some reason, I was stillshocked to hear everyone speak-ing French, as if it was their firstlanguage. I quickly accepted andembraced the fact that I was liv-ing in a Vosges Mountain valleytown, a remote village de provinceon the border of Alsace and Lorraine. For the first timeever, having a functional knowledge of the French lan-guage had become essential in my day-to-day life.

Keeping in mind the town’s size, one might not besurprised that I quickly began seeing the same people,who seemed to take interest in introducing me to theirway of life. By the end of the first week, I had alreadyreceived a dinner invitation from a colleague at school,who wanted to cook something regional (which endedup being a lard-filled quiche with potatoes followed by adelicious pie topped with Mirabelle plums, which I wastold is a signature regional dessert).

People were quick to point out to me that there wasmuch more to France than Paris, despite what touristsmight think. I assured them that as a 22-year resident ofUpstate New York, I, too, had been faced with having toexplain that my state consisted of more than the BigApple. And so it started. How, I’m not exactly sure, giventhe fact that I was churning the gears of my brain to eekout noises and grammar with a frustratingly low level ofaccuracy, but I left that night feeling for the first time thatI was welcomed in my new place of residence.

This feeling was confirmed a week later when I re-ceived an e-mail from the mayor, telling me that she

would be honored if I would speak at the 65th anniversaryceremony of the town’s liberation from the Nazis, to takeplace in three days at the town center.

She continued, asking if I would read a few paragraphs(in French) about the D-Day invasion and subsequent lib-eration of France by Allied Forces. She stated that it wouldbe great for the townspeople to hear my “pleasant”American accent on this day in order to remember and

pay tribute to the soldiers respon-sible for Vagney’s liberation. Three days later, I was stand-ing in the town center listening tothe municipal band perform anout-of-tune version of the Star-Spangled Banner, followed by theMarseillaise. The mayor intro-duced me, emphasizing howgrateful she and the townspeoplewere that I had traveled to Vagneyin order to impart the English lan-guage and American culture totheir children. After the ceremony, an elderlyman approached and told methat he had been raised inVagney, but fled just before theNazis arrived. He noted that hehad made his way south to Spainand then to Morocco, where hethen hopped a boat to England tojoin the Free French.

He added that while training in London, he had fallenin love with a British nurse whom he then took with himback to Vagney, where they got married, built a houseand raised a family. He told me he was elated to make myacquaintance and handed me a stained RAF/Free Frenchpamphlet with his signature on it as a souvenir of the en-counter.

The last people to leave were members of the munici-pal band so I decided to walk over to the group and intro-duce myself, telling them that I used to play trombone.The conductor proceeded to tell me that he had an extratrombone and before I knew it, I was practicing with theVagney Municipal Band every Wednesday night at seventhirty.

A couple weeks later, I found myself standing oncemore in the town center for the commemoration cer-emony of Armistice Day, but this time wearing a goofygreen cap, gold-buttoned jacket and striped slacks with atrombone in hand. Now I was playing the Marseillaise outof tune.

The people in the band became my family and friendsand I was happy to have reclaimed some sense of routineand familiarity in my life. Instead of eating turkey andpumpkin pie at the end of November, I was with the band,

Danny plays with the Union Musicale Voinraude, Vagney’smunicipal band, Armistice Day 2009


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devouring frog’s legs and washing them down with whitewine at eight o’clock in the morn-ing, a longstanding tradition themusical group has adhered to inhonor of St. Cecile, the patronsaint of musicians.

After I joined the band, a localjournalist from the Vagney news-paper called me and asked if shecould write an article about myarrival. My photo was publishedwith the article the next day andfor the rest of the week I couldn’tbuy a baguette without someonetelling me that he had seen mein the paper.

This gained me small celebritystatus in the town and it was onlya couple weeks later that I got acall from the host of our region’sradio show asking me if I wouldcome into the studio for a live in-terview.

During the interview the hostbombarded me with questionsabout French versus Americanlifestyle, my political opinions andprofessional and personal hopes for the future. Needlessto say, it was a very good workout for my struggling

AMERICAN IN VAGNEYcontinued from page 15

Danny stands by the shore of the frozen Lac deGerardmer near Vagney

French, although the star treatment may not have beengood for my ego.

All the while, I was trying to adjust to life as a publicelementary school teacher and loving each day on the

job. During the school’s winterbreak, my family traveled to Paris.For my mother and sister, this tripwas a lifelong dream realized, and Iwas thrilled to see their faces as westood beneath the Eiffel Tower andtoured the City of Lights. Before I could do that, however, Ihad agreed to help my colleaguessell some calendars and homemadechocolates to raise money for thekids’ ski club. There were also twoband rehearsals that week becausethe group had its Christmas concertcoming up, and that was on top ofthe fact that I was headed toStrasbourg on Thursday for somemulled wine and outdoor marketshopping.

I would recommend an experi-ence like this to anyone, not becauseit will be exactly like mine, but be-cause it will be entirely different,and absolutely unique. �

Danny Stone, who recently graduatedfrom UB, spent the academic year 2009-2010 as a teachingassistant in Vagney, France.

Six UB students enrolled in the Dual Master's Degree Program in Cancer Systems Biology (CanSys) are received by Rolf Tarrach, the Rector of the University ofLuxembourg, one of UB's partners in the program, (7th from right), and Her Excellency Cynthia Stroum, the Ambassador of the United States to Luxembourg(6th from left). The CanSys Program is funded by the Atlantis Program, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and the European Union. Thestudents (from Roswell Park) spent the second semester of their program at the University of Luxembourg (See UB International, Fall 2009).

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17LAW STUDENTS HAVE FIRSTHAND LOOK AT THAI LEGAL SYSTEM


Twelve students traveled to the foothills of theHimalayas in Thailand from January 7 to 24, 2010.They were accompanied by Distinguished Service

Professor of Law David Engel, a specialist in interdiscipli-nary studies of “law and society” in Asia and the UnitedStates, and his spouse, Jaruwan Engel, a professionaltranslator, author, and Thai language instructor.

The Engels, who have studied Thai law for thirty-fiveyears, are the co-authors of a new book about Thai legalculture, Tort, Custom, andKarma: Globalization andLegal Consciousness inThailand, published byStanford University Press. “It helps students to un-derstand the unique fea-tures of the Americancommon law system ifthey can get exposure toa civil law system, which iswhat most of the worldhas,” Professor Engel said.

“When they see howThai law works in its cul-tural and social contextand see other possibilities,other ways of doingthings, it may inspire cre-ativity when they’re work-ing in our legal system.”

“No matter what ca-reer people pursue, welive in a globalized world and a globalized economy, andwe’re going to come into contact with people and orga-nizations that are not U.S.-based. It behooves us to under-stand how they work and how people from other coun-tries and cultures think. A trip like this changes people’sunderstanding of themselves. It makes them more confi-dent and more mature.”

The learning experience takes place during the LawSchool’s January “Bridge Period.” Engel first offered thecourse in January 2008. In addition to extensive pre-travelreading and study, and a post-trip writing requirement, akey component of the course is a two-and-a-half weekresidence in Chiangmai, Thailand, where students en-gage in structured “conversations” with village chiefs,Buddhist monks, court officials, Thai professors, students,attorneys and representatives of nongovernmental orga-nizations. Students visited important historical and legalsites in northern Thailand. The in-country experience wasarranged in cooperation with the Chiangmai UniversityLaw School, which is a longtime UB exchange partner.

“We try to tailor the course to the interests of the stu-

dents,” Engel said, “and this year we included somethings we did not do last time, such as a visit to a hill tribevillage; a meeting with Burmese refugees to highlight is-sues concerning refugees and migrant workers; and dis-cussions with the director of an agency that works on hu-man trafficking issues.” In addition, because some stu-dents brought an interest in international business, thecourse included a session on foreign direct investmenttaught by the representative of a multinational corpora-

tion who established afactory in Thailand. Participants in thebridge course were re-quired to keep a journalof their experiences andobservations. The fol-lowing are highlightsfrom the journal ofAmanda Carden, a sec-ond-year law student.January 10: “Today wevisited with the abbot [ina small village temple]—a generous man whokept reiterating the im-portance of ‘mindful-ness.’ He said that youwill go crazy if you don’tkeep your heart andmind still, and I supposehe’s right—if you loseyour mind, then you’re

crazy. I also liked how he used mind and heart inter-changeably. . . . Americans separate the two—‘use yourhead’ and ‘follow your heart’ are usually two distinctpieces of advice.”

January 12: “A lot of big ideas surfaced in today’s lec-tures and discussions. Does law create social change, ordoes social change create law? . . . Dr. Anan Ganjanapantalked about lawyers’ duty to ‘ring the bell’ about socialissues and fight against ignorance. He said that he wasan optimist, thinking that public pressure could changethe law, and to get this public pressure, people need toraise awareness and change myopic perceptions.Whether law changes culture or culture changes law, thechange itself is often a slow process.”

January 13: “Meeting with the paralegals in Lamphunand Lampang was very interesting. I was surprised tolearn that the women have the authority to decide howmuch compensation an injured party should receive. ..The cases the women handled were also interesting—afailed vasectomy, a kidney infection resulting in death,and a family raising a disabled baby. The women were

Jaruwan and David Engel (front row, 1st and 2nd from left) and UB students withthe Chief Judge and other officials at the new Administrative Court in Chiangmai

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UB STUDENTS EXCAVATE MINOAN TOWN

By L. Vance Watrous

In summer 2009 nine UB undergraduate and graduatestudents uncovered the harbor of a Minoan town inCrete dated to 1700 – 1400 B.C.The director, Art History Professor L. Vance Watrous,

took students from his classes – Matthew Buell, Kapua Iao,Laura Harrison, Veronica Ikesboji-Orlati, Matthew Lee,

Brian Hammer, Brian Devine, Janet Spiller and MariaPibboubny, to the archaeological site of Gournia on thenorth coast of Crete.

One of the most visited archaeological sites on Crete,the Bronze Age town of Gournia possesses a Minoan pal-ace, blocks of houses, cobbled streets, a central court, aharbor and a graveyard, all visible today. The townreached its peak as a major emporium on the Aegeancoast in the middle second millennium B.C. at time whenKnossos was ruled by the legendary King Minos.

Students excavated 7:00am – 1:00pm six days a week,studied ancient Minoan pottery and other finds, and wenton field trips to museums and ancient sites. The projectwas supported by a generous grant from the Institute forAegean Prehistory and by the Department of Classics.

At the end of four weeks’ work, the students had re-vealed the harbor complex of the Minoan town. First wecleared the brush and earth away from a monumental

structure on a promontory at the sea’s edge.Built of gigantic “cyclopean” blocks, two galleries

were meant to house Minoan ships. Behind it a two-storied house (with a staircase) may have been theresident of the harbor official. Next, tracing andcleaning the tops of four, long, barely visible wallsrevealed a system of fortifications that ran acrossthe entire coast. One wall was buttressed by a large semi-circulartower (approximately eight meters in diameter) onits seaward face. A second thick wall had a rectan-gular tower constructed of heavy boulders that over-looked the entire coast. In an opening betweenthese walls we cleared a double row of standingstones that marked a 4000-year-old cobbled streetrunning from the harbor up to the Minoan town. Further inland, we encountered parallel rows offield walls that formed an extensive system of agri-

cultural terraces. These terraces were planted in crops,probably grapes for making wine that Gournia wouldhave exported to other parts of the Aegean world.

At the end of our season we had uncovered and re-corded the first complete Late Bronze Age coastal fortifi-cation system known in the Aegean. In summer 2010 weplan to begin excavations within the town of Gournia. �

L. Vance Watrous is a professor of art history and director ofthe summer excavation program at Gournia

A view of the excavated site at Gournia, Crete

THAI BRIDGE COURSEcontinued from page 17

pretty remarkable—they’re more than paralegals—they’re counselors for the community at large.”

January 17: “During the question and answer session[of their interviews with Burmese refugee families], it wastough to interview the children and their parents withoutreceiving ‘prepared’ answers. . . . It reminds me of whatI learned in Trial Technique class—the best direct exami-nations are conducted with non-leading questions, so thatthe witness tells the story, not the lawyer. A jury morereadily believes a witness who sounds natural and experi-enced, not a witness who sounds too rehearsed.”

January 18: “Today we discussed the culture of busi-

ness transactions with Khun Prasert. I was most interestedin the notion of trust and respect as the foundation ofgood business. As Khun Prasert said, ‘Relationships drivebusiness.’ I was intrigued by the Thais’ reluctance towardwritten contracts, due to the sentiment that putting some-thing in writing signals distrust. . . .”

January 22: “We’ve had the privilege to meet a lot ofastute and prestigious scholars during this trip. But we’vealso had the honor to meet a lot of people without a for-mal education, who have so generously shared theirknowledge and taught me things I’d never know other-wise. Education entails more than a degree, and successmeans more than a paycheck. I think Thailand haschanged the index by which I measure my success.” �

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By Jim Bisco

Ever since her days as a youthful camp counselor and Sunday school teacher, Sue Winton wanted to be in education. Her career path subsequently led to

teaching elementary school in three countries and at uni-versities in Canada before becoming an assistant profes-sor in the Department of EducationalLeadership and Policy in UB’s GraduateSchool of Education last fall after spend-ing the previous year here in a visitingrole.

“People were great to work withand there were lots of opportunities andinterest in the kinds of things that I’minterested in. I felt like I fit in,” she says.

Winton has immersed herself inteaching and research in the effects ofeducational policy on democracy.

“Very early on, I was interested inissues around equity, equality and injus-tice,” she says. “I had been a teacherso I knew how policies have implicationsfor students, teachers, families andcommunities.”

Winton studied local, state or pro-vincial, national and international influ-ences on policy and how they affect stu-dents in regard to equity and diversity.“I’ve come to believe that every deci-sion you make is a policy decision. I didn’t think abouthow policies touched me or how I was involved in thecreation, re-creation or interpretation of it when I was ateacher. Now I see everything that way. There are manydifferent things to study at many different levels.”

Winton’s research aims to understand how policy bothsupports and undermines democracy in education. Herareas of study include character education (attempts toteach character through an emphasis on universal val-ues), safe schools policy, how new media may affect policyengagement and comparative policy analysis.

She is studying school districts in New York and Ontarioto understand what influences their policies and how theyplay out. “What I believe about policy now is that every-thing is related,” she says. “At the same time, democracyin my mind is who gets to participate in policy decisionsand in what way. How does policy change happen andhow can citizens become either more engaged or moreinfluential, depending on the situation, in policy decisionson various levels.”

Winton has worked with People for Education, an in-dependent, community-based organization in Ontario,hosting community dialogues around policy issues in edu-

CROSS-BORDER EDUCATORcation and exploring the impact for participants who be-come involved in these policy dialogues. She also uses thenotion of dialogue in her teaching, now gaining addededucational insights from Tanzanian and Korean students.

“Beyond the U.S. and Canada comparison, these stu-dents are bringing two more countries into the conversa-tion. It’s absolutely enriching for everybody,” she says.

Winton has found a conducive research environmenthere, citing a number of peopleat UB who have done much cross-border work in teaching and re-search. “I kind of expected it tobe more isolated, but I feel con-nected,” she observes. “Everyoneis very supportive about maintain-ing my research connections inCanada and at the same time in-troducing me to people and mak-ing it possible for me to becomeinvolved in American research.”

Born in New York City, Wintonmoved to Toronto with her familywhen she was 2. After graduat-ing from Queen’s University inOntario, she taught fifth grade forthree years in Monterrey, Mexico,including English as a second lan-guage.

Winton later taught fourth andfifth grades in Cincinnati and inToronto, subsequently earning

master’s and doctoral degrees in education administra-tion from the University of Toronto. Her expertise in policyanalysis and evaluation developed from her work atOntario’s Ministry of Education and with the CanadianCouncil on Learning. Prior to joining UB, she taught atthree universities in Toronto.

She continues to collaborate with colleagues at severaluniversities in Ontario, including Toronto and the Univer-sity of Western Ontario in London. Winton and her West-ern colleague, Katina Pollock, team-teach a course oneducational policy in which students from both institutionsvisit the other and cooperate on joint projects.

Winton commutes to UB from her home along LakeOntario in Toronto, which she shares with her husband,Rob, an executive for the Canadian Football League, andtheir children: Nicholas, 7, and five-year-old twins Adamand Danny.

Winton juggles her commute well and credits verysupportive family and friends on both sides of the border“who enable me to do the things that I hope to do as aprofessional, as a parent and as a person.” �

Jim Bisco is a senior writer for University Communications.

Sue Winton

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INTRODUCING COUNSELING SERVICES TO INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

By Jim Bisco

Psychology was still a foreign concept to many in Asiain the early 1990s. Mental health issues were mainlykept within the family or to oneself. So when Beijing

native Xuhua Qin wanted to pursue the study of psychol-ogy in college, her parents were mystified about whather future would bring.

More than a decade later, Qin is well ensconced in therole to which she aspired. She has been a counselor withUB Counseling Services for the past year and a half, spe-cializing in working with international students. She is fa-

miliar with many of their challenges because she was aninternational student herself not too long ago, havingcome to the U.S. in 2002 to pursue her doctorate. “Counseling is a big stigma for international students.Many countries do not have counseling,” she says. “I feltthat there wasn’t much focus on the challenges that in-ternational students face here. That’s when I decided todo something to help international students.”

While pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, she helped develop a mentoringprogram to assist international students in adjusting tothe new culture and the academic environment.

Shortly after she arrived at UB, Qin introduced her con-cept to administrators in the Office of International Stu-dent and Scholar Services, which led to the InternationalStudent Mentoring Program being adapted here last fall.The program has attracted a significant response fromstudent mentees and volunteer mentors. “I definitely seea big future for this,” says Qin.

“I’m hoping that with our success, we can share that

experience with other universities and build that into asolid module that others can follow.”Qin’s work in Counseling Services includes individual andgroup counseling and crisis services.

The mental health concerns she encounters rangefrom roommate issues to relationship concerns, depres-sion, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, adjustment, family of ori-gin concerns, multicultural issues, eating disorders, sexualorientation concerns, trauma, grief and psychotic disor-ders.

Qin sees an average of 18 clients (students) per weekin sessions ranging from 30 minutes to one hour.Students can meet with counselors for up to 14sessions each academic year. She has both short-term and long-term clients. Of all students who use Counseling Services,about 9 percent are international students. Mostof what brings international students into Coun-seling Services is academic concerns. If they’refailing a class or their grades are suffering, theirprofessors may refer them for counseling. “After we talk with the students, we notice thatbehind academic concerns there can be lots ofother issues that are going on—isolation, depres-sion, anxiety, panic attacks, cultural adjustment,eating and body image concerns, or even moresevere ones,” she explains. She says students also may be referred for coun-seling by Health Services after physical examina-tions. Whenever any difficulties, such as stress, arenoticed in an individual, a referral may be made.In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, says Qin,

more attention is being paid to any warning signs re-garding a student’s behavior.

Counseling Services has a variety of psychotherapycounseling groups that are open to all students. The onlyone specifically targeted to international students is theInternational Student Discussion Group that Qin nowleads. “Most students come from China, Korea, India,Iran, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. We talk abouttheir experience, adjustment and culture confusion. Intalking about those issues, people begin to bond with oneanother, sharing more about their personal issues. Theymay talk about their struggles with their parents, advisorsand issues like intercultural dating,” she says.

Qin also has developed outreach programs for inter-national students. She started Taste of Asia, celebrationsof Asian cultures that were held on successive Fridays lastJuly in Goodyear Hall. The focus was on the top four coun-tries represented at UB—India, Korea, China and Japan.More than 200 international and domestic students at-tended the weekly exhibition of cooking, crafts and per-

Xuhua Qin


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by Ann Whitcher-Gentzke

Mixing sardonic humor and whimsical optimism,celebrated Canadian author Margaret Atwoodregaled her audience with answers to frequently

asked questions about her life and art during her Distin-guished Speakers Series lecture at UB's Center for the Artsin March 2010.

Atwood also touched on diverse themesof literary preferences, Arctic travel and e-books during a wide-ranging question-and-answer session that followed her preparedremarks.

Atwood said she was making her first visitto UB since a 1980 Canadian poetry festivalorganized by the late Robert Creeley thattook place “before I was a blond,” she saidto audience laughter.

When she was a teenager, Buffalo wasdubbed “sin city” because of “girlie shows”and a younger drinking age than the more-staid Toronto society could offer at the time.“It was also a place where you could buy 14dresses and put them all on—and waddleback across the border. Those were more in-nocent days. These days you might be pat-ted down.”

Later, on bus trips from Toronto to Boston,Atwood experienced the cloud of White Owl cigar smokewafting from fellow passengers that gradually increasedas she preceded eastward. Passing through Buffalo in themiddle of the night, she observed “enormous snowdrifts.” Still, it was the only place where she wasn’t yetsick from the smoke.

Atwood poked fun at traditional Canadian reticence,especially in the wake of the Vancouver Winter OlympicGames. The idea promoted among Canadians of “own-ing the podium” is fundamentally an “un-Canadian” no-tion, she suggested. In Canadian terms, this newfoundbraggadocio might be better expressed as, “We kind oflike podiums” or “A podium might be nice.”

Turning to her literary achievements, Atwood notedwith amusement the queries she gets on why, for ex-ample, tins of sardines are frequently referenced in hernovels, or why so many glass jars, eggs or bathtubs?

Choosing the detail of sardine cans might have to dowith her viewing the tiny fish as a “fallback food,” shesaid, and one likely associated with her experiences inthe Canadian wilderness, “far away from the cornerdeli.”

Atwood went on to define “speculative fiction” as ap-plied to her 2009 novel “The Year of the Flood.” She saidher work differs from science fiction as it’s commonly un-

MARGARET ATWOOD AT UB derstood—replete with far-away galaxies, other planetsand Vulcan minefields. Because Atwood doesn’t offer suchfantastical elements in her books, she doesn’t want tomislead her readers who might be expecting otherwise. In this respect, her work is more a descendant of JulesVerne than of H. G. Wells and his “The War of the Worlds.”Verne, she said, based his books on actual inventions andthings people were really doing at the time. Moreover, his novels took place mostly on earth and

involved human beings “andnot people of green or bluehue with very visible ears andvery strange tails,” alludingto the blockbuster film “Ava-tar.” The author of more than35 books representing nu-merous genres remains “awild optimist.” In fact, opti-mism is a necessary conditionfor writers, she said, pointingout that they require a suc-cession of favorable events:to be able to finish the book,find a publisher and get it re-viewed. Then the writer musthope that readers will beable to obtain the book, andfurthermore, that they willlike and understand it.

“Hope is part of the human tool kit that we come with.…If you don’t have hope, there’s automatically a lot less ofit in the world because you’re not going to make an ef-fort. And if you do have hope, it’s a multiplier factor be-cause you will make the effort. And by hope, I don’t meanjust wishing. I mean acting in a hopeful way. And weneed that particularly right now [when we’re in] a crisismoment in our history. The more people who act hope-fully, the better chance we will have of coming through[this crisis].”

Asked during the Q&A session about her plans to goon another northern tour this summer as part of Adven-ture Canada’s Arctic cruises, Atwood gave haunting de-tails of the beauty she has observed in the coastal watersoff Greenland and the surrounding region. “You’ll seegeography in a way you’ve never seen before,” she re-marked. “You get an astonishing view of the bones of theearth.”

As for why she can and does write across so manygenres (poetry, short stories, essays, screenplays, librettiand children’s books, in addition to her 15 novels), themuch-honored Atwood responded that she’s “naturallyambidextrous." �

Ann Whitcher-Gentzke is editor of UB Today.

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SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNINGDepartment of ArchitectureThe department hosted a group of thirty-five students and fourfaculty from the Aarhus School of Architecture for a week in Septem-ber 2009. The group visited UB to study the City of Buffalo, its signifi-cant role in the history of modern architecture, and current urbanconditions.

Brian Carter, professor and dean, has been appointed to serve onthe Sustainable Development and Design panel for the City ofSheffield in the U.K. He is also an external examiner in architectureat the University of Strathclyde in Scotland.

The year 2009 marked the Centennial of the Boundary Waters Treatybetween the U.S. and Canada. Lynda Schneekloth, professor, wason the planning committee that organized the Boundary WatersTreaty Week in June and the Year of our Shared Waters, a programdesigned to educate the bi-national region on the importance of itswater resources. The project was sponsored by the Canadian andAmerican Consulates and the International Joint Commission. Schneekloth served on the Planning Committee for the IJC/UB spon-sored conference, Great Lakes Connecting Channels: Governance,Ecosystem Science and Management, held in Niagara Falls,Canada in June 2009. She was a participant in the Workshop onScience and Policy Linkages organized by the International Networkon Water, Environment and Health of the United Nations University,part of the Lake Twinning project between the Great Lakes in NorthAmerican and the Great Lakes in Africa. Schneekloth and RobertShibley, professor, attended the World Conservation Union Con-gress in Barcelona, Spain in October 2009.

Mark Shepard, assistant professor, delivered a keynote lecture onthe Open City and Connectivity at the InternationalArchitecture Biennale Rotterdam, the Netherlands in November2009. The Biennale embraced the theme of the Open City that isdiverse, lively and socially sustainable, and where people can pro-ductively relate to each other culturally, socially and economically. Healso conducted a workshop on the design of “sentient” urban infra-structures in conjunction with the opening of an exhibition of hiswork at the Biennale. Additionally, Shepard gave a lecture at theDesign Academy in Eindhoven as part of their Source Lecture series.

Edward Steinfeld, professor, and the IDEA Center hosted visitorsfrom Norway and Sweden in October 2009, including faculty fromthe Nordic Institute of Public Health, professionals from the DeltaCenter in Norway, and an urban planner from the City of Bergen,Sweden. The purpose of the visit was to share information and iden-tify potential collaborative opportunities. In December, Steinfeldwas in Sydney, Australia at the invitation of the University of NewSouth Wales, where he made presentations on universal design tofaculty from the Law School and the School of the Built Environmentand representatives of the Housing Ministry and the Human RightsCommission. In January, the IDEA Center hosted a visit by threefaculty from the Tsukuba University of Technology in Japan, andSteinfeld made an invited presentation to an international work-shop on Innovations in Accessible Transportation for DevelopingCountries, sponsored by the International Transportation Forum andheld at the World Bank in Washington D.C.

Despina Stratigakos, assistant professor, received the 2009 DAAD/GSA Book Prize for her book, A Women’s Berlin: Building the ModernCity (2008). Bestowed by the Deutsche AkademischeAustauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Agency) and the Ger-man Studies Association, the prize recognizes the best book in thelast two years in German history, political science, and other socialsciences.

Department of Urban PlanningJordana L. Maisel, Director of Outreach and Policy Studies at theIDEA Center, was the keynote speaker at Blueprint for the NextHousing Boom: The Mayor’s Roundtable for Accessible Housing &Universal Design in Edmonton, Alberta in October 2009. The pre-sentation focused on best practices for accessible/visitable housingand strategies to help Edmonton’s housing options become moreage-friendly by adopting universal design approaches. The feasibil-ity of creating a designation for buildings to be designed, built andrenovated to specific lifespan guidelines was also discussed. COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCESDepartment of American StudiesJosé F. Buscaglia, associate professor and director of CaribbeanStudies, spent part of the spring 2010 semester in Merida, Yucatan,Mexico with three students from the masters in Caribbean Studiesprogram, teaching a course on Caribbean Geography that includesa study tour of the Coast of Bacalar and Belize. Four advanced stu-dents from UB’s partner in Merida, the Autonomous University ofYucatan, are taking the course with the three UB students. On March11, 2010, Buscaglia delivered a paper, “Is Cuba Facing a Racial War,or Will the Next Republic Be (Finally) a Nation for All?” at the annualconference of the Afro-Caribbean studies journal Negritud in SantoDomingo, Dominican Republic.

Department of ChemistryMelyvn Churchill, professor, and his son, David G. Churchill, associ-ate professor of Chemistry at the Korean Institute for Science andTechnology, and two colleagues have authored a textbook in English(along with a Korean translation) entitled How to Prepare for GeneralChemistry Taught in English by David G. Churchill, Melvyn R. Churchill,Kwanhee Lee and Kibong Kim published by Darakwon (Korea). Thetextbook covers all topics that are normally taught at the freshmanlevel at UB (CHEM 101 and 102) and is targeted at high schoolseniors and university freshmen in Korea.

In November 2008 Philip Coppens, SUNY Distinguished Professor,received the ‘Pioneer of Science Award‘ from the Hauptman-Wood-ward Medical Institute. As part of the award ceremony, the recipi-ents of the award met with several hundred high school studentsand their teachers at the Buffalo Museum of Science. Coppenschaired an evaluation panel of the project ‘Molecular Movies’ at theUniversity of Copenhagen, Denmark in April 2009, while in May hewas a member of the evaluation panel of the ID-9 time-resolvedsynchrotron beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation facilityin Grenoble, France. He delivered a lecture entitled ‘Strategies forTime-Resolved X-Ray Diffraction, Monochromatic or Laue?’ at theNorfa Synchrotron Research Training Course, at the Sandbjerg Es-tate, Denmark on June 28, 2009 and gave a plenary lecture at theAnnual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association inToronto in July. In August he served as chair of the triennial interna-tional Sagamore Conference on Charge Spin and Momentum Den-sities, which for the first time since 1967 took place in the U.S., inSanta Fe, NM. In October 2009 Coppens visited the University ofWarsaw, Poland where he delivered two lectures in the ChemistryDepartment and discussed plans for a joint project in the comingyears. On the same trip he participated in the joint Japan-Europe-U.S. 3rd Advanced School on Molecular Switching and FunctionalMaterials at the University of Rennes, France at which he delivered alecture on ‘The Response of Molecular Crystals to Laser Illuminationon Timescales of Seconds to Microseconds and Beyond’. In Decem-ber he was invited to present a lecture on a related topic at theplanning workshop for the European Free Electron Laser Light Source(XFEL) in Budapest, Hungary. Students from the University of Aarhus,Denmark and the University of Warsaw are currently doing researchat UB's Crystallographic Laboratory.

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23Department of Comparative LiteratureRodolphe Gasché, SUNY Distinguished Professor and EugenioDonato Professor, visited Centro das Ciencias at the University ofLisbon, Portugal in late September 2009 to deliver a public lecture,“The Veil, the Fold, the Image: On Gustave Flaubert’s Salammbo,”and two seminars on “Heidegger on Theory.” In February 2010 hevisited Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung in Berlin to at-tend the Conference on “Grundordnungen. Wechselbeziehungenzwischen Geographie, Religion, Kultur und Gesetz.” He deliverd akeynote address: “Beyond the Nature/Culture Divide: On Europe’sNon-Identical Identity.” The lecture was followed by a public de-bate with Karlheinz Barck and Zaal Andronikashvili about Gasche’slatest book, “Europe, or Infinite Task.” During recent months Gaschealso published the following items: “Europa als Name, Europa alsBegriff,” trans. D. Naguschewski, Trajekte. Zeitschrift des Zentrumsfür Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin, Vol. 10, no. 19, 2009, pp.9-13; “Schematisieren ohne Begriff. Einbildungskraft und schöneForm,” trans. M. Coelen, in Form. Zwischen Ästhetik und künstlerischerPraxis, eds. A. Avanessian et al., Zurich: diaphanes, 2009, pp. 25-42;“Gespräch mit Rodolphe Gasché. Kants Ästhetik, denke ich, eröffneteine Möglichkeit noch die Experimente der zeitgenössischen Kunstzu beurteilen,” in Form. Zwischen Ästhetik und künstlerischer Praxis,eds. A. Avanessian et al., Zurich: diaphanes, 2009, pp. 285-298; and“Europe, or the Form of the Concept,” in Europa – Stier undSternenkranz. Von der Union mit Zeus zum Staatenverbund, eds. A.-B.Renger and R. A. Issler, Göttingen: V&R unipress, 2009, pp. 609-624.

Department of EconomicsAlex Anas, professor, was a keynote speaker at the Workshop onUrban Dynamics, held at Marbella, Chile, March 22-25, 2010. Histalk was titled “Sprawl, infrastructure lock-ins and transit-orienteddevelopment: What have we learned from urban economics?” Thetalk summarized the results of his research supported in part by theInternational Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and a re-search award from the United States Environmental ProtectionAgency, administered by the UB Research Foundation. In part, histalk also drew on “Discovering the efficiency of urban sprawl,” achapter Anas recently authored for the Handbook of Urban Economicsand Planning, to be published by the Oxford University Press. Department of LinguisticsMatthew Dryer, professor, spent most of his 2009 sabbatical outsidethe U.S. The two most important stints were (1) six months at theMax Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, as a recipient of aHumboldt Research Award; and (2) three months in Papua NewGuinea doing linguistic fieldwork on endangered languages there.Dryer was an invited speaker at two conferences overseas in May2009: 2009 “Noun-Modifier Order in Africa,” an invited talk at theconference A Geographical Typology of African Languages, Tokyo Uni-versity of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, 2009; and “The Order of Demon-strative, Numeral, Adjective and Noun: An Alternative to Cinque,”an invited talk at the conference Theoretical Approaches to Dishar-monic Word Orders, at Newcastle University, England.

David Zubin, associate professor, with his collaborator Klaus-Michael Köpcke of the University of Münster, Germany is author ofthe select article “Genus” (grammatical gender) in DeutscheMorphologie [German Morphology], Ed. by Hentschel, Elke & Vogel,Petra M., published by Degruyter, 2009. He is the only scholar froma non-German-speaking country invited to participate in this Hand-book.

Department of PhilosophyJames Beebe, assistant professor, presented a paper entitled “TheRelevance of Experimental Epistemology to Traditional Epistemol-ogy” at a conference on experimental philosophy and experimentaleconomics at Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan, March 27-28,2010. The title of the conference was "How and Why Economists andPhilosophers do Experiments: Dialogue Between Experimental Eco-

nomics and Experimental Philosophy."

David Braun, professor and Romanell Chair, presented a papertitled “Hob, Nob, and Mythical Witches” at the Sixth BarcelonaWorkshop on Issues in the Theory of Reference: Reference and Non-Existence,” held in Barcelona, Spain, June 17-19, 2009.

Dobin Choi, Ph.D. candidate, published an article, “The Paradox ofTragedy Revisited,” in the Journal of Aesthetics, Vol. 59, Fall, KoreanSociety of Aesthetics, Seoul, 2009. Choi gave a presentation: “Com-munication between Philosophy and Medical Science” in March2009 at the College of Medicine, Korea University in Seoul.

Patricia Diaz-Herrera, Ph.D. candidate, presented at three recentconferences in Mexico: “An application of Laura Benitez’s methodol-ogy: How modern is Suarez?” at the Symposium in honor of LauraBenitez, Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, September 7,2009, “Moral Dilemmas and Critical Thinking,” XII EncuentroInternacional de Didactica de la Logica in Queretaro, November 9,2009; and “Is Space discrete or continuous?” for the XV ConferenciaInternacional de Filosofia at UNAM in Mexico City, January 25, 2010.

John T. Kearns, professor and chair, published an article “UsingIllocutionary Logic to Understand Vagueness,” in the Belgian journalLogique & Analyse 207, (2009), pp. 219-238. Kearns made the fol-lowing presentations internationally: “Logic and Fiction,” Philoso-phy Department colloquium, Universidad Nacional, Bogotá, Co-lombia, November, 2009; “Natural and Unnatural Deduction,” FirstColombian Congress on Logic, Epistemology, and Philosophy of Sci-ence, November, 2009, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colom-bia.

Barry Smith, SUNY Distinguished Professor, contributed the follow-ing publications in International Journals: Stefan Schulz, HolgerStenzhorn, Martin Boekers and Barry Smith, “Strengths and Limita-tions of Formal Ontologies in the Biomedical Domain”, ElectronicJournal of Communication, Information and Innovation in Health(Special Issue on Ontologies, Semantic Web and Health), 2009.Portuguese translation as “Vantagens e limitações das ontologiasformais na área biomedical”, Reciis, March 2009, DOI: 10.3395/reciis.v3i1.241pt. Smith is a member of the Task Force on Represen-tation and Deployment of the Program on Ontologies of NeuralStructures (PONS) of the International Neuroinformatics Coordinat-ing Facility (INCF). He is a reviewer for Netherland Genomics Initia-tive. Smith was also appointed a member of Editorial Board ofLOGOS: Freie Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Philosophie. He wasawarded a grant from the European Commission as member of theARGOS Thematic Network on Quality and Certification of EHR sys-tems. He is an external member of the Ph.D. Committee, Universityof Melbourne, Australia. Smith co-organized the following interna-tional conferences: Signs, Symptoms and Findings: Towards an On-tology for Clinical Phenotypes, Italian National Research CouncilInstitute for Biomedical Technologies and University of Milan, Sep-tember 4-5, 2009; and the 3rd Interdisciplinary Ontology Confer-ence, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, February 26-28, 2010.

Mark Spencer, Ph.D. candidate, presented “Ethical Subjectivity inLevinas and Thomas Aquinas: Common Ground?” in Montreal,Canada, at the session of the North American Levinas Society, at theAmerican Academy of Religion conference, November 8, 2009.

Jiyuan Yu, professor, was elected as the vice-president of the Inter-national Society of Chinese Philosophy (ISCP). ISCP is a non-profitorganization founded at University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1975 tobring together scholars from all corners of the globe who share aninterest in Chinese philosophy. Yu was named Changjiang Scholarand Visiting Chair Professor at Shandong University in China. Hepresented a paper “Virtue and Happiness in the Republic and in theNichomachean Ethics” at the international conference “Happiness

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East and West,” Hong Kong University, Dec. 11, 2009. On behalf ofthe University at Buffalo, Yu attended the Directors Workshop for theNewly Founded Confucius Institute in Beijing, Dec. 13-16, 2009.

Department of PhysicsAs part of her research in the use of THz spectroscopy to characterizeprotein dynamics, Andrea Markelz, associate professor, gave a ple-nary lecture at the International IRMMW-THz Conference in Busan,Korea in September 2009 as well as an invited lecture at the SICAST(Shenzhen International Conferences on Advanced Science and Tech-nology) meeting in Shenzhen, China and at the USTC in Hefei,China. Markelz will be giving two invited international lectures inSpring 2010 as part of the kickoff meeting for the THz-Bio Workshopin Seoul, Korea and for the Leopoldina Symposium in Bochum, Ger-many.

Department of Theatre and DanceMelanie Aceto, assistant professor of dance, was in Guatemala Cityfor two weeks in July 2009 setting a dance piece on the MomentumDance Company, the resident professional company of theUniversidad Rafael Landívar, in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Acetoset the piece “Swarm...Drift,” danced to three sections of ”TightSweater” by composer Marc Mellits. The piece was performed inthe Brincos Festival, which took place at the Instituto GuatemaltecoAmericano, Guatemala City, Guatemala. She also performed twosolos, “Reach to a score” by Mark Olivieri, and “Dancer Mad” toBrahm’s Hungarian Dance #5, in the Brincos Festival. Aceto alsotaught modern dance technique classes during those two weeksat Arte Centro, a beautiful new arts center in the city. Theclasses were open to the dance community. Aceto received a Cana-dian-American Studies Grant grant to bring in world-renown Cana-dian choreographer David Earle to set a piece for the UB ZodiaqueDance Company. The piece involved ten dancers and was performedin the fall 2009 and spring 2010 University at Buffalo dance concerts. Department of Visual StudiesJonathan D. Katz, the newly appointed Director of the DoctoralProgram in Visual Studies, recently completed his term as the firstTerra Foundation Visiting Professor at the Courtauld Institute in Lon-don, UK. Katz also co-directs a major British research project fundedby the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council on the history ofsame-sex desire in global surrealism. As part of that project, Katz isco-organzing an international conference in Mexico, and a series ofprograms at the British Film Institute. He has lectured at elevendifferent universities in Europe thus far this year and is on the edito-rial board of the British journal Art History.

The work of Reinhard Reitzenstein, associate professor and directorof the Sculpture Program, will be included in a collaborative exhibi-tion opening in Montreal, Canada at the Maison de la Culture Pla-teau Mont-Royal, opening on February 25. The exhibition is entitledFragility and is in collaboration with composer Gayle Young andvideo artist Michel Depatie.I will be installing a public art project inToronto for Greatlands Corporation. The installation will take placemid-April and will be permanently on view. Two years in the mak-ing the project is entitled, Distant Bridge. During the week of June28, 2010, Reitzenstein will be installing another project in Montreal,Canada as part of the symposium Paysages Ephemeres. The eventopens on July 2 and runs until July 25. On June 2, a solo exhibition ofnew works based on my research trip to the Galapagos Islands lastyear opens at the Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, Canada.

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATIONDepartment of Educational Leadership and PolicyThe International Higher Education Finance project website hasbeen redesigned by Andreas Maroulis, an undergraduate studentat UB, and its content has been substantially updated. New countryprofiles are available for Argentina, China, Czech Republic, France,Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Germany, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, the Phil-

ippines, Portugal, Singapore, and Turkey and new information hasbeen added to our matrix of student loan programs around theworld. Several of our recent scholarly papers are now available onthe website. Over the past year, D. Bruce Johnstone, SUNY Distinguished Ser-vice Professor of Higher and Comparative Education Emeritus, hasparticipated in a number of international conferences and seminars.The most recent was the Human Development Seminar for theWorld Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Sector in Montenegro, whereJohnstone delivered a lecture on international trends in higher edu-cation finance and the impact on the Bank’s client countries in theregion. Earlier in the fall, Johnstone participated in a conference onhigher education finance in Lisbon, Portugal, speaking about theglobal economic downturn and its effect on higher education. Johnstone, together with project director Pamela N. Marcucciparticipated in the international conference entitled The White Pa-per and Beyond: Tertiary Education Reform in the Czech Republic orga-nized by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and theOECD Directorate for Education in October. Johnstone presented akeynote on Czech Republic White Paper: Comments on Tuition Fees andLoans, while Marcucci made a presentation on Student Finance andAccessibility in an International Perspective. Marcucci also participated in the Conference on the Financing ofHigher Education in Colombia and its Implications for Equity in Bogotá inMay organized by the Grupo de Investigación Economía PolíticasPúblicas y Ciudadania and the Centro de Investigación, Faculty ofEconomics, Universidad Nacional de Colombia where she delivereda presentation on cost sharing in higher education and access. Johnstone and Marcucci worked with the World Bank in the springto devise a student loan scheme in the United Arab Emirates, andwere part of a team of Kenyan and South African experts commis-sioned by the World Bank and the Kenyan Ministry to produce a planto reform university finance in Kenya. Marcucci also served as peerreviewer for technical assistance for a student loan program in Ro-mania, building on her and Johnstone’s 2008 work with the WorldBank in Romania. Johnstone and Marcucci were contributing authors to a WorldBank monograph on higher education finance in Africa, one of theWorld Bank’s principal contributions to the UNESCO World Confer-ence on Higher Education meeting in Paris in the summer of 2009.The monograph is being prepared for formal publication under thetitle, Financing Tertiary Education in Africa. In addition, Johnstone and Marcucci have completed a new bookon international comparative higher education finance that will bepublished by Johns Hopkins University press this spring. The book,Funding Higher Education Worldwide: Who Pays? Who Should Pay?examines the universal phenomenon of cost-sharing in higher edu-cation where financial responsibility shifts from near exclusive reli-ance on governments and taxpayers to being shared with studentsand families. Featuring comprehensive economic and policy data,the book’s international comparative approach shows how economi-cally diverse countries all face similar cost-sharing challenges.

Department of Learning and InstructionJames Hoot, professor and director of the Early Childhood ResearchCenter, was an invited guest of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah BintNasser Al Missned at the first World Innovation Summit in Educationheld in Qatar in November 16-18, 2009. This Forum drew leadersand decision-makers from governments, businesses, civil society,schools and universities, international institutions, NGOs, grassrootsmovements, top-tier media, multimedia, art and other creativecommunities around the globe. This Qatar Foundation sponsoredevent was designed to initiate the exchange of experiences andsuccess stories from around the world and attempted to identifynew education techniques, players and technologies most likely toenhance future human capacity. The theme of this event was “Glo-bal Education: Working Together for Sustainable Achievements”. Three days of highly interactive sessions among the 1,000 globaleducation leaders resulted in the identification of 10 strategic pri-

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orities for the 21st century. From January 2-14, 2010 Hoot met withMinistry of Education colleagues, NGO’s, and early childhood edu-cation leaders in Tanzania. In addition to seeking external fundingfor an Early Childhood Education Initiative in Tanzania, Hoot is rais-ing funds to build an exemplary preschool for girls in ruralTanzania. As in many African nations, only about half of the school-age children ever set foot in a school setting. Of that half, very feware females.

Xiufeng Liu, associate professor, traveled to Taiwan in January 2010as an invited speaker at the 6th International Conference on Science,Mathematics and Technology Education, which was held in Hualien,Taiwan, to conduct a workshop on Rasch modeling.

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCESDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringThai Nguyen University of Technology (TNUT) located in Thai Nguyen(near Hanoi), Vietnam, is a public university focused on engineeringeducation, with 11,000 full-time students. With funding from theVietnam government (Ministry of Education and Training), this uni-versity has chosen UB as a partner for developing an American-styleundergraduate program in mechanical engineering (see p. 10). Theprogram is known as the Advanced Program. The program copiesthe mechanical engineering curriculum of UB with the help of theUB faculty, which participates by curriculum transfer, teaching meth-odology transfer and initial teaching. English is the language ofinstruction in this program. The tuition is much higher for this pro-gram than the regular program, though it remains very low by U.S.standard. The program is currently in its second year – with one classin its sophomore year and another class in its freshman year. Eachclass has about 25 students. With travel funding from the Vietnam government through TNUT,Roger Mayne , SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, andDeborah Chung, National Grid Professor, visited TNUT on Jan 16-17, 2010 and gave lectures to a group of about 25 TNUT facultymembers concerning education and teaching methodology. In ad-dition, they lectured to both classes of students and spoke briefly toa group of parents of the students. In this trip, Chung and Mayne also attended a conference on“Building Partnerships in Higher Education” Opportunities and Chal-lenges for the U.S. and Vietnam” in Hanoi on Jan. 14-15, 2010. Theconference was organized by the U.S. Embassy (Hanoi), VietnamNational University (Hanoi) and the Ministry of Education and Train-ing of Vietnam. It was attended by over 600 people that repre-sented a large number of American and Vietnamese universities. Inthe conference, Professor Chung spoke on technology education,and Director General Tran Thi Ha of the Higher Education Depart-ment of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam spokeabout the plan for Vietnam to use loans from the World Bank to build4 new universities that teach in English, with the goal of beingamong the 200 best universities in the world in 20 years. Chung alsogave a series of talks in Hong Kong in January 2010: “My Walk withScience and Music”, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong,Jan. 28, 2010; “Science, Music and Life”, Ying Wa Girls’ School, HongKong, Jan. 29, 2010; “Multifunctional Cement-Based Materials,”Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Jan. 29, 2010.

Harvey Stenger, professor and dean, traveled to Spain, Turkey, andFrance in mid-December 2009 to discuss collaborative internationalprograms with three partner universities—University Carlos III inMadrid, Istanbul Technical University in Istanbul, and University ofTroyes.

THE GRADUATE SCHOOLMyron A. Thompson, III, Associate Provost and Executive Director,gave an invited talk at the annual conference of the National Asso-ciation of Graduate Admissions Professionals (NAGAP) in San Fran-cisco in late April 2010 on the topic of global university and programrankings and their credibility and impact on graduate admissions.

Thompson has been re-appointed to the Board of Governors of theWorld Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. He has served on theboard since 2003.

LAW SCHOOLDuring the 2008-09 academic year, the Jaeckle Center for State andLocal Democracy hosted Antoni Abad i Ninet, a visiting scholar fromthe University of Barcelona. During the year, Abad taught courses atthe law school on Comparative Constitutional Law and Ancient Con-stitutional Law. He and James Gardner, professor and vice dean foracademic affairs, also collaborated during the year in the researchand writing of an article comparing American and Spanish federal-ism. Gardner spent a week in Barcelona conducting research onSpanish federalism for the article.

On September 26, 2009 Irus Braverman, professor, gave a paperentitled “Civilized Borders: A Study of Israel’s New Crossing Admin-istration” at a conference at a conference called “Identifying thePerson: Past, Present, and Future,” at St Antony’s College, Universityof Oxford, United Kingdom.

In 2008, Vincent Del Buono joined the law school’s adjunct faculty.Del Buono, a Canadian lawyer and prominent international humanrights activist, teaches International Criminal Law.

David Engel, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor, presented apaper entitled “The Decline and Fall of Thai Customary Law” at aconference at the University of Victoria Law School (British Colum-bia, Canada) on “A Hundred Years of Legal Development in Thai-land.” He is also Co-Chair of Planning Committee for InternationalConference on Law and Society to be held in Honolulu, 2012, spon-sored by the Law and Society Association, Research Committee onthe Sociology of Law, and the Japanese Association for the Sociologyof Law. Engel is co-organizer of trans-national roundtable on “Narrative,Nation, and Identity” at Law & Society Association Annual Meetingin Denver, May 2009, which will lead to a publication featuringscholars from Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. He is Chair ofUB’s Council on International Studies and Programs, a university-wide body that advises the Provost and the Vice-Provost for Interna-tional Education. Engel is co-editor of a book, Fault Lines: Tort Law asCultural Practice (Stanford University Press, 2009), which examinestort law from a cross-cultural perspective and includes chapters onthe United States, Europe, and Asia.

As a co-founder and organizer of the Women’s Human Rights Insti-tute in Sofia, Bulgaria, Isabel Marcus, professor, assisted in the con-ducting of training of women’s human rights lawyers in April 2009;in May 2009 Professor Marcus lectured and conducted women’srights workshops in Azerbaijan for three weeks.

Martha McCluskey, professor, attended the Critical Legal Strate-gies conference in September 2008 at the University of Glasgow,Scotland, where she attended panels and gave two presentations:“Constitutionalizing Class Inequality in the U.S.: The ContinuingEconomic Substance of Due Process” and “Who’s Afraid of Theory’sPolitics? Reviving Left Critique in the Right-Wing U.S.”

In November 2008 Errol Meidinger, professor, was a keynote speakerat the International Workshop on Globalization, Global Governanceand Private Standards at the University of Leuven, Belgium. Theconference brought together researchers and policy makers work-ing on the role of private standards in global governance in Europe,Africa, Asia, South America and the U.S. In January, 2009, Meidingertaught an intensive three-week course on Environmental Law tostudents in the Masters in Environmental Governance program atthe University of Freiburg, Germany. The students were from manydifferent countries (only one was German). It was an intellectualchallenge and delight to formulate a course addressing essential

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26 issues in environmental law so as to be useful to students from coun-tries with a broad variety of legal systems. Meidinger gave presen-tations in a number of international venues: “Changing Futures?Science and International Law,” Private Import Safety Regulationand Transnational New Governance European and American Societ-ies of International Law (ESIL-ASIL) Research Forum, University ofHelsinki, Finland, October 2-3, 2009; “Critical Questions forTransnational Collaborative Governance”, Conference on Collabo-rative Governance: The Future of Regulation, An Interdisciplinaryand International Review, Washington, DC, April 2-3, 2008; “LegalPerspectives on Private Governance”, International Workshop onGlobalization, Global Governance and Private Standards, Universityof Leuven, Belgium, November 4-5, 2008; and “Competition andCooperation in Supra-Governmental Regulatory Networks: Impli-cations for Transnational Democracy”, Joint Meetings of the Law andSociety Association and the Canadian Law and Society Association,Montreal, Canada, June 1, 2008.

Makau Mutua, SUNY Distinguished Professor and dean, traveled toNairobi, Kenya and Entebbe, Uganda in February 2010. In Nairobi,Dean Mutua’s lecture took place at the University of Nairobi and wasentitled “Sexual Orientation and Human Rights: Putting Homopho-bia on Trial” this event was planned by Akiba Uhaki, a social justiceorganization. In Kampala, Mutua’s lecture took place at MakerereUniversity and was entitled “Sexual Orientation and Human Rights:Interrogating Homophobia.” Mutua met with individuals and orga-nizations working to protect gay rights in both countries. He indi-cates that these lectures come at a critical time in the history of bothcountries. Kenya is rewriting its constitution and there is pressure toaddress gay rights. In Uganda, a bill pending in Parliament pro-poses to impose the death penalty on gays. President Obama hascalled the Ugandan bill “odious” and Secretary of State Clintion hasdenounced it. Passions are high on both sides of the issue in bothcountries. Mutua’s lectures were sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Mutua was elected this year to the prestigious Council on ForeignRelations, a New York City-based think tank and membership orga-nization that studies major international issues and publishes theinfluential journal Foreign Affairs. With more than 4,300 members,the council’s ranks include top government officials, renowned schol-ars, business leaders, acclaimed journalists, prominent attorneys anddistinguished nonprofit professionals. Members participate in meet-ings, panel discussions, interviews, lectures, book clubs and filmscreenings to discuss and debate major foreign policy issues. In ad-dition, they enjoy broad access to world leaders, senior governmentofficials, members of Congress and prominent thinkers.

Judy Scales-Trent, professor emerita, has been conducting researchfor several years on an association of women lawyers in Senegal,West Africa. The resulting article, “Women Lawyers, Women’s Rightsin Senegal: the Association of Senegalese Women Lawyers” waspublished in February 2010 by the Human Rights Quarterly. The Asso-ciation is comprised of a small group of women who have beenworking to improve women’s lives since 1974. They have managedto get women’s issues on the political agenda, and have sometimeseven managed to get the state to protect those rights. Using talksand meetings, radio and television, publications and free legal ad-vice; working individually and with other groups, the Association hasparticipated in the development of a human rights consciousness inthat country.

Winnifred Sullivan, professor, was invited to a workshop on Interro-gating Religion at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, fromApril 17-19, 2009, where she gave a presentation entitled “Why NoDefinition?” She also gave a paper entitled “Religious Freedom andConversion.” at the “Rethinking Religion in India II” conference spon-sored by Research Centre Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap (GhentUniversity, Belgium), the Centre for the Study of Local Cultures(Kuvempu University, India) and the Karnataka Academy of SocialSciences and Humanities. Delhi, India, on January 13, 2009. Professor

Sullivan was invited to give a paper entitled “Spiritual Governance:Citizen as Pastoral Care Client” at a conference entitled “ReligiousFreedom, Pluralism, and Secularisms,” which was organized by theCenter for the Study of Religion and Conflict at ASU and funded bythe Ford Foundation. It took place in Neemrana, India, on January 5-7, 2009. Sullivan gave the keynote address, “Separation of religionand state? Privatized pluralism and public accommodation,” at aconference entitled “Defining Reasonable Accommodation” at theUniversity of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, on September 25-27, 2008.Sullivan delivered a lecture entitled “Spiritual Governance” for theCritical Thinkers in Religion, Law and Social Theory series at theUniversity of Ottawa on January 29, 2010. She presented a paperentitled “Naturalizing Religion: The New Establishment or, Religionand the Rule of Law” at The Category of “Religion”: Boundaries andtheir Consequences. Conference at the British Academy. London, UK14-16 January 2010.

In June 2008 Mateo Taussig-Rubbo, professor, presented a paper,“Sacred Property: Searching for Value in the 9/11 Rubble,” at theSeminario en Latinoamérica de Teoría Constitucional y Política, inBuenos Aires, Argentina. This is being published in Spanish in Argen-tina as a chapter in the conference proceedings. The conference is anannual gathering of law professors from throughout Latin America,and is co-sponsored by Yale Law School. In March 2008 Taussig-Rubio presented “The Labor of Private Military Contractors,” aninvited lecture, at the University of London, Goldsmiths College, intheUK. .

David Westbrook, professor, gave a presentation entitled “Rethink-ing Our Financial Markets” at various institutions in China in Febru-ary-March 2009: the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,; RenminUniversity of China,; Dongbei University of Finance and Economics,Dalian; Shanghai Institute for International Studies; Fudan Univer-sity, Shanghai; China-European International Business School, Shang-hai; U.S. Consulate, Shanghai, Public Affairs Section; Zhongshan(Sun Yat Sen) University, Guangzhou; China Development Institute,Shenzhen; American Chamber of Commerce, Shenzhen; SouthwestUniversity of Finance and Economics, Chengdu; and Sichuan Acad-emy of Social Science, Chengdu. In addition, Westbrook partici-pated in roundtable discussions on the financial crisis with the Presi-dent, Dalian Commodities Exchange and the leaders of various fi-nancial institutions, Shenzhen. These events were supported by aU.S. Speaker and Specialist Grant from the U.S. Department ofState. Through the grant, Westbrook also presented “Temptationsof Modern Finance: A Critical Yet Sympathetic Analysis of Recent USFinancial Policy” at several venues: the China Banking RegulatoryCommission, Beijing; Guanghua School of Management, Peking Uni-versity, Beijing; and the U.S. Consulate, Shanghai, Public Affairs Sec-tion. Through the U.S. Speaker and Specialist program, Westbrookgave a number of other international talks and presentations: “ThreeGlass Tragedy: Beginning to Rethink (U.S.) Financial Policy,” at theconference Regulatory Responses to the Financial Crisis, LondonSchool of Economics and Political Science, January 19, 2009; (Com-mentator Andy Haldane, Bank of England); “Remarks on Three GlassTragedy, Intellectuals, and Bureaucrats” at the Stockholm Center forOrganizational Research, Stockholm, Sweden, January 22, 2009;“Legal Safeguards for Stock Markets: Sarbanes-Oxley, the CreditCrisis, and Limitations on Transparency,” at the Damasio Prep Schoolfor Magistrates and Prosecutors Candidates, August 5, 2008; theBrazilian Bar – Chapter Sao Paulo, August 5, 2008; the Getulio VargasFoundation (FGV) Law School (EDESP), August 6, 2008; and the Pub-lic Diplomacy School (ESD), August 6, 2008. In addition, Westbrookpresented talks at a series of venues In Brazil in summer 2008: “Trans-parency, Complexity, and Trust: A U.S. View of the Sarbanes-OxleyAct and the Credit Crisis,” at the “International Symposium onTransparency in Business,” hosted by the Laboratorio de Tecnologia,Gestao de Negocios e Meio Ambiente – Latec-UFF (Laboratory ofTechnology, Business Management and Environment), Fluminense

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Office of the Vice Provost forInternational Education(716) 645-2368, 645-2528 (Fax)[email protected]://www.buffalo.edu/intledStephen C. Dunnett, Vice ProvostJohn J. Wood, Associate Vice ProvostPatricia Shyhalla

Director of Resource ManagementMarvis Robinson

Financial Resource Officer

International EnrollmentManagement(716) 645-2368, 645-2528 (Fax)[email protected] J. Hindrawan

Assistant Vice Provost and DirectorRaymond Lew, Assistant Director

International Admissions(716) 645-2368, 645-2528 (Fax)[email protected] L. Shaw, DirectorElizabeth A. White, Assistant DirectorAmy Matikosh, Admissions AdvisorSherene Cheah Milizia

Admissions AdvisorEllen Murphy, Admissions Advisor

International Student and ScholarServices(716) 645-2258, 645-6197 (Fax)[email protected] A. Dussourd, DirectorJessica Ereiz, Assistant DirectorDiane Hardy, SEVIS CoordinatorEric E. Comins

Coordinator for Student ProgramsChris Bragdon

International Student Advisor

Immigration Services(716) 645-2355, (716) 645-6197 (Fax)Oscar E. Budde, Esq., DirectorMary Jean Zajac, Paralegal

Study Abroad Programs(716) 645-3912, 645-6197 (Fax)[email protected] Polasik Rybarczyk, DirectorOlga Crombie, Study Abroad Advisor

Council on International Studiesand Programs(716) 645-2368, 645-2528 (Fax)Professor David M. Engel, Chair

Fulbright Program(716) 645-8420; 645-5954 (Fax)Sasha David Pack, Fulbright Advisor

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Federal University, at the Federation of In-dustries of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 1,2008; “Corporate Governance, the State,and Development: from Between Citizenand State to Working Together,” at the Pon-tifical Catholic University Law School, SaoPaulo, Brazil on August 4, 2008; theAssociacao Brasileira de Direito Financeiro(CESA) (young lawyers group of the Brazil-ian Association of Financial Law), at the lawfirm of Ulhoa Canto, Rezende e Guerra, Riode Janeiro, July 31, 2008;”Corporation Lawas Theater,” HEC, Paris, France, March 13,2008; “Deploying Ourselves: Islamist Vio-lence, Globalization, and the ResponsibleProjection of U.S. Force,” NATO, SupremeHeadquarters Allied Powers Europe, Mons,Belgium, March 12, 2008; “Corporate So-cial Responsibility,” Universite Catholiquede Louvain, Belgium, March 11, 2008;Roundtable on the European Response to theFinancial Crisis, Bureau of European PolicyAdvisers, Commission of the European Com-munities, Brussels, Belgium, on September18, 2009. In September 2009 and in December2009, Westbrook participated in two inter-nal “policy roundtable meetings of the Bu-reau of European Policy Advisers. Both fo-cused on policy responses to and conse-quences of the financial crisis. He was theonly lawyer and one of two or three Ameri-cans to participate.

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENTDepartment of FinanceKenneth Kim, professor, taught “CorporateGovernance” to graduate business studentsat Nanjing University in China from May 11-22, 2009. Kim gave lectures on (i) corporategovernance, (ii) behavioral finance, and (iii)market microstructure at Renmin Universityin Beijing, China from May 25-29, 2009.

SCHOOL OF NURSINGJanice Jones , cl inical professor, andMeredith Rissmiller, clinical instructor, pre-sented at the 20th International Nursing Re-search Congress Focusing on Evidence-BasedPractice in Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada last July 2009. The title of their pre-sentation was “Providing a PDA Orientationfor Baccalaureate Nursing Students: BestPractices.”

SCHOOL OF PHARMACYDepartment of Pharmaceutical SciencesDonald E. Mager, assistant professor, hasbeen an invited guest faculty member atthe University Paris Descartes, in France forthe past three years. Mager gives workshopsand lectures to Master of Pharmacy studentsin the areas of pharmacokinetic and phar-macodynamic modeling and data analysis. Since 2007, Mager has spent three weeksduring the month of January at the universityas an invited professor at the request of Dr.Jean-Michel Scherrmann, DepartmentChairman and Assistant Dean, University

Paris Descartes. Scherrmann first met Mageras a Ph.D. candidate in the late 1990’s. AfterMager joined the UB faculty in 2004,Scherrmann requested that he visit Paris tobring his expertise in PK/PD principles tothe French pharmacy students. Many ofScherrmann’s students join the global phar-maceutical industry so it is important theyunderstand basic PK/PD fundamentals andmodeling applications in the same manneras presented at home by UB faculty who areworld-recognized leaders in the field. Thetwo-year program consists of 8-14 pharmacystudents who attend three weeks of lectureand hands-on computer workshops. Throughout the program, students are ex-pected to give an oral presentation (in En-glish) as to what they learned during eachmodeling workshop. The English presenta-tion component of the course is very impor-tant as this helps to prepare students to pro-fessionally and scientifically communicate inEnglish. This aspect of the program can becritical to these students as they prepare togo on to participate in 6 month internshipstypically in a pharmaceutical company. The Department of Pharmaceutical Sci-ences at UB is recognized as one of the pre-mier institutes for PK/PD systems analysis,and educational outreach programs like thiscourse continue to highlight Buffalo’s com-mitment and role in providing advancedtraining of future scientists in this field. Thissummer, it will be UB’s chance to host asScherrmann is an invited guest speaker atthe Buffalo Pharmaceutics Symposia held inBuffalo in July 2010. This is the 30th Anniver-sary of this symposium hosted by the Univer-sity at Buffalo Department of Pharmaceuti-cal Sciences and will feature alumni andworld renowned experts from academia,the pharmaceutical industry, and the Foodand Drug Administration. Mager is chairingthe meeting, and Scherrmann will be a fea-tured speaker in a session on drug transport-ers as he is an expert on drug disposition atthe blood brain barrier.

OFFICE OF THE VICE PROVOST FOR IN-TERNATIONAL EDUCATIONStephen C. Dunnett, professor and vice pro-vost, gave several panel presentations at the2010 Conference of the Association of Inter-national Education Administrators in Wash-ington, DC in February 2010: “New Ap-proaches to Cooperation with Asia and Aus-tralia”; “Growing Globally Competent Stu-dents: How to Internationalize K-16 Educa-tion”; and “If You Don’t Know Where You’reGoing, Any Road Will Do: Developing a Na-tional Set of Internationalization Indicators.” Dunnett was recently appointed to serveon a national taskforce convened by NAFSA:Association of International Educators onComprehensive Campus Internationaliza-tion, which has been charged with draftinga white paper with recommendations onstrategic approaches to institutional inter-nationalization. �

UB INTERNATIONAL

Office of International Education

University at Buffalo

The State University of New York

411 Capen Hall

Buffalo, NY 14260-1604

U.S.A.

Non-Profit Org.U.S. PostagePAIDBuffalo, NYPermit No. 311

� UB INTERNATIONAL

is published twice yearly by the

Office of International Education

of the University at Buffalo,

The State University of New York.

John J. Wood, Editor

STEVEN SHAW TO RECEIVE CHANCELLOR'S AWARD

Steven L. Shaw, Directorof International Admis-sions, is to receive the

2010 SUNY Chancellor’sAward for Excellence in Pro-fessional Service. The awardhonors professional staff whoare models of service excel-lence and whose outstandingperformance in their positionshas a substantial positive im-pact on the university.

Shaw was honored at theannual Professional Staff Sen-ate Award Luncheon on May12, 2010. The award will beformally presented with theother Chancellor awards atUB’s next Celebration of Aca-demic Excellence.

The award honors Shaw’s effortsin establishing and developing theOffice of International Admissions atUB. The letter of nomination for theaward states the following, ”As thefirst Director of International Admis-sions at UB, Steven has essentially cre-ated the position ex nihilo and hasbuilt his office—which now numbersfive highly skilled professional staffand as many graduate assistants—from scratch. While we benefitedfrom the assistance of our colleagues

in the Office of Admissions in settingup International Admissions in 1999,it was Steven who was responsible fordeveloping and refining the office’shighly specialized credential-evalua-tion capacity, processing workflow, fil-ing system and procedures, andcommunications strategy and systemsfor both prospective students andacademic units—among many otherelements of his complex operation.”

Shaw’s exemplary efforts in sup-

porting a variety of interna-tional programs, including theSchool of Management’smaster’s degree program con-ducted in Bangalore, India,and the School of Engineeringand Applied Sciences pro-grams with Istanbul TechnicalUniversity were also cited.

Shaw began his internationalcareer as a Peace Corps volun-teer teaching English as a for-eign language in Thailand.

He joined UB in 1992 to di-rect the university’s EnglishLanguage Center in PhnomPenh, Cambodia. He subse-quently served as resident di-rector of UB’s American Stud-ies Degree Program at Stam-ford College, Malaysia. He was

appointed director of InternationalAdmissions in 1999. �

office of international education, university at buffalo...

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