Campus Currents
Silveiras’ Gift Continues Legacy of Support for Oswego Dr. Augustine “Gus” and Beverly Silveira have made a gift to SUNY Oswego that will identify a lecture hall in the Shineman Center with their names. Their gift honors President Deborah F. Stanley. “Deborah Stanley is my favorite of all time,” said Silveira, who served under five presidents in his 38 years in the chemistry department. “She and Michael [her husband] are faithful supporters of the college and constant advocates for students. When she announced her retirement, Beverly and I decided that instead of bequeathing the gift in our planned giving, we would release it now in recognition of her visionary leadership over the past quarter century.” The couple already supports a fund created by Tom Weil ’66 that honors Silveira with three components: a chemistry scholarship; a research award in chemistry; and a distinguished alumni lecture series. Their generosity stems from their early 20th-century childhoods. “After the Depression, my family had no funds for college. I held four jobs throughout my undergraduate years,” Silveira said. “I vowed that I would do everything possible so that the best students would not have to work as hard as I did while earning a degree.” Upon graduation from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth in 1957, Silveira earned a Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and was recruited by nine institutions. He chose Oswego’s fledgling chemistry department after meeting Dr. Richard Shineman, founding chair, and seeing potential for a strong organic chemistry program. Evidence supports his wisdom. Oswego was the first SUNY college to earn accreditation for chemistry programs from the American Chemical Society, and it was first to offer a master of science degree in chemistry. Silveira has won more than 50 grants and awards for the college and is largely responsible for its national and international reputation. Silveira’s success is due to his total focus on students, said Michael Plante M’75, a former graduate student who collaborated with Silveira and 2010 Nobel Chemistry Prize awardee Ei-ichi Negishi. Plante and Silveira were co-authors on papers that were part of the evidence put before the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. “We were proud to have a role in that award,” Plante said. “But what makes Gus unique is his brilliance as an educator—his high energy, magnetic personality and dedication to every class, lab and project. “As his graduate laboratory assistant, I’d sit in on some classes to hear Gus lecture. I was amazed at how many students gathered after class to continue discussions with their beloved professor,” Plante said. Silveira talks about former students as if he’s unfurling a scroll of celebrity names. Among them is Colleen Enwright O’Leary ’74, M.D., who credits Silveira with teaching her how to learn. “I’ve always had an excellent memory, so I relied on that to assimilate new material rather than approaching problems analytically,” O’Leary said. “Gus taught me to be a critical thinker.”
Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus Dr. Augustine Silveira and his wife, Beverly.
“
Gus, I know when you’re happy.
You’re happy when you come home after a day with students. — Beverly Silveira
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“That translates across the sciences and all fields of study,” O’Leary added. “It is integral to the study and practice of medicine.” O’Leary lauded Beverly’s warm, loving and caring ways: “She welcomed students into their home and nurtured us along with her own two daughters. Bev is the practical one, who holds Gus’s feet to the ground while his head is often in the clouds. Gus always seeks her wise counsel.” Oswego’s administrators, faculty members and students can be grateful for that counsel. Silveira, consistently recruited by other colleges, including the University of California at Irvine, where he lectured during sabbaticals, was offered several lucrative posts at private and public institutions. Accepting one offer, Silveira reconsidered after Beverly, realizing his days would be consumed with administrative tasks, said, “Gus, I know when you’re happy. You’re happy when you come home after a day with students.” Although he continued to lecture across America, Australia and Asia, Dr. Silveira remained at SUNY Oswego where, as O’Leary declared, “He is a legend.” Check out magazine.oswego.edu for “Top 10 Facts about Gus Silveira.”
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