Ubtoday fall 2013 full issue

All-female theater collective takes on the big city [ CELEBRATING PHILANTHROPY AT UB : A SPECIAL SECTION ] How to play cricket in a few easy lessons

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A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y AT B U F FA L O A L U M N I A S S O C I AT I O N

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As far as the eye can see Ticket-holders queued up Aug. 22 to hear

President Obama deliver his address in Alumni Arena. The line snaked easily a mile across campus, and it took an hour or more to approach the arena and clear security. But most people waited patiently, chatting with both friends and strangers, while advancing step by step. Happily, balmy weather prevailed during the slow march forward.

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A PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSIT Y AT BUFFALO

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

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16 Radium girls

UBtoday

Three young women improvise their creative identities as actors and performers in hypercompetitive New York

20 The forager’s art

Veteran naturalist leads an outdoor seminar on the forest, teaching about edible plants and herbal medicines—all in UB’s own backyard

24 Cricket 101

A lighthearted primer on the legendary British pastime now gaining traction among enthusiastic UB players from around the world ALUMNI PROFILES

28 Christopher Thornberg, BA ’89 Economic forecaster based in California 30 Rachel Lynn Sunley, MPH ’10 Trainer and nutrition consultant for

brides 32 Justin Marx, BS ’00 Culinary executive specializing in

exotic foods D E PA R T M E N T S

5 SHORTFORM 12 SEEN READ HEARD 14 SPORTFORM

A SPECIAL SECTION

Celebrating Philanthropy

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The university salutes donors whose gifts make possible a wide range of scholarships and fellowships, state-of-the-art facilities and more.

47 ALUMNI NEWS 50 CLASSNOTES 56 IN MY OPINION

UB WEBSITES www.buffalo.edu/UBT www.alumni.buffalo.edu www.buffalo.edu

ON THE COVER: Visit to UB’s Letchworth Woods yields a harvest of edible plants and botanical wonders, including river grapes, crab apples, red oak acorns and rose hips.

UB SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

www.buffalo.edu/home/ub-social-media

R EACHI NG OTHERS

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FALL 2013, VOL. 31, NO. 1 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Laura Silverman, silverma@buffalo.edu EDITOR Ann Whitcher-Gentzke, whitcher@buffalo.edu CREATIVE DIRECTOR Alan Kegler, akegler@buffalo.edu ART DIRECTOR Rebecca Farnham, farnham@buffalo.edu PHOTOGRAPHER Douglas Levere, BA ’89, dlevere@buffalo.edu PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Cynthia Todd, ctodd@buffalo.edu ALUMNI NEWS DIRECTOR Barbara A. Byers, babyers@buffalo.edu DEVELOPMENT NEWS DIRECTOR Ann R. Brown, annbrown@buffalo.edu CLASS NOTES EDITOR Tara Negar Jamali, BA ’13 DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Nancy L. Wells Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Jay R. Friedman, EdM ’00 & BA ’86 Associate Directors Nancy Battaglia, MBA ’96 & BS ’89; Barbara A. Byers; Michael L. Jankowski, Erin Lawless, Andrew Wilcox Assistant Directors Gina Cali-Misterkiewicz, MA ’05; Kristen M. Murphy, BA ’96; Patricia A. Starr UNIVERSITY LIFE AND SERVICES Vice President for University Life and Services Dennis R. Black, JD ’81 Associate Vice President for Marketing, Web and Creative Communications Jeffrey N. Smith Editorial offices are located at 330 Crofts Hall, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260.

Telephone: (716) 645-6969; Fax: (716) 645-3765; email: whitcher@buffalo.edu. UB Today welcomes inquiries, but accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, artwork or photographs.

UB ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President Carol A. Gloff, BS ’75 (Natick, Mass.); Immediate Past President Timothy P. Lafferty, BS ’86 (East Aurora, N.Y.); First Vice President Mary Garlick Roll, MS ’88 & BS ’84 (Williamsville, N.Y.) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Michael A. Anderson, BS ’97 (Hamburg, N.Y.); Carrie L. Boye, BFA ’97 (Amherst, N.Y.); Peter J. Grogan, BS ’81 (East Aurora, N.Y.); Paul R. Hammer, BA ’78 (Williamsville, N.Y.); Kenneth M. Jones, MA ’84 (Perry Hall, Md.); Ruth Kleinman, BA ’05 (New York, N.Y.); Wayne M. Nelligan, Attended (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) SPECIAL ADVISERS Willie R. Evans, EdB ’60 (Buffalo, N.Y.), Larry Zielinski, MBA ’77 & BA ’75 (Elma, N.Y.) BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rita M. Andolina, MSW ’88 & BA ’80 (West Seneca, N.Y.); Randy J. Asher, BS ’95 (Staten Island, N.Y.); Tyler A. Balentine, MUP ’06 & BA ’03 (Buffalo, N.Y.); Ronald Balter, BA ’80 (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Jason L. Bird, BA ’05 (Tonawanda, N.Y.); Robert W. Chapman, MSW ’03 & BA ’91 (Buffalo, N.Y.); Kimberly S. Conidi, JD ’05 & BA ’99 (West Seneca, N.Y.); Mark G. Farrell, JD ’72 & BA ’69 (Amherst, N.Y.); Edward J. Graber Jr., MBA ’93 & JD ’92 (Orchard Park, N.Y.); Jeffery D. Hazel, PMCert ’09, PMCert ’09, EdM’09, EdM ’03 & BA ’99 (Amherst, N.Y.); Mary Anne Heiser, BS ’77 (Tonawanda, N.Y.); Gary J. Jastrzab, BA ’76 & BA ’76 (Philadelphia, Pa.); S. Navpreet Jatana, BS ’03 (Amherst, N.Y.); Michael J. Kennuth, BA ’93 (Williamsville, N.Y.); Lisa M. Kirisits, MBA ’87 & BS ’85 (Lancaster, N.Y.); Matthew E. La Sota, BA ’04 (Buffalo, N.Y.); Ken Lam, EdM ’04 & BA ’01 (Somerset, N.J.); Christian Lovelace, JD ’06 (Buffalo, N.Y.); Richard J. Lynch, DDS ’83 & BA ’79 (Williamsville, N.Y.); Donna M. Manion, BA ’94 (New York, N.Y.); Patrick J.S. Mathews, BS ’03 (Williamsville, N.Y.); David T. Merrell, MBA ’96 & BS ’91 (Lancaster, N.Y.); Timothy F. Murphy, MBA ’96 & BA ’94 (Williamsville, N.Y.); Mark W. Nusbaum, MArch ’85 & BPS ’83 (New York, N.Y.); Thomas A. Palmer, JD ’75 & MBA ’71 (East Amherst, N.Y.); Peter A. Petrella Jr., BA ’00 (Lancaster, N.Y.); Jennifer Piccone, MBA ’99 & BS ’95 (Webster, N.Y.); Jennifer L. Shalik, BA ’07 (Buffalo, N.Y.); Ezra J. Staley, JD ’09 & MBA ’09 (Grand Island, N.Y.); David J. Stinner, BA ’98 (Kenmore, N.Y.); Mark J. Stramaglia, MBA ’86 & BS ’81 (Williamsville, N.Y.); Kristin Vento, MBA ’00 (Orchard Park, N.Y.); Gene E. Verel, BS ’73 (Buffalo, N.Y.); John Warren IV, BA ’01 (Ashburn, Va.); Ann Wegrzyn, MBA ’90 & BS ’85 (Orchard Park, N.Y.); Sylvia Williams Ferguson, BA ’98 (Buffalo, N.Y.) CHAPTER REPRESENTATIVES Kevin M. Ruchlin, MS ’98 & BA ’95 (Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas); Jennifer Wozniak, MBA ’96 & BA ’95 (Denver, Colo.); Raymond L. Poltorak, MBA ’68 & BA ’65 (Houston, Texas); Vince LoRusso, BS ’07 (Los Angeles, Calif.); Ruth Kleinman, BA ’05 (New York, N.Y.); Edward F. Ryczek, BS ’71 (Phoenix, Ariz.); Martha S. Rodgers, BA ’90, Rebecca E. Kelley, BA ’03 (San Diego, Calif.); Maria Tomaino, BA ’04, Al Royston, BS ’73 (South Florida) AFFILIATE REPRESENTATIVES Dean Seneca, BA ’90 (Atlanta, Ga.); Tim Bush, JD ’08, Molly Timko, BA ’02 (Baltimore, Md.); Arielle Larmondra, BS ’06 (Charlotte, N.C.); Jeff Kless, BS ’90 (Detroit, Mich.); Joshua Ramos, BA ’06 (Orlando, Fla.); Jeffrey Marshall, BS ’93 (Raleigh, N.C.); Kourtney Gagliano, BS ’02 (Rochester, N.Y.); Christa M. Bishop, BA ’06, Douglas G. Johnston, JD ’09, MA ’06 & BA ’04, Aditya Krishnan, BS ’12, Yotam Levine, BS ’01 (San Francisco, Calif.); Christa Peck, BA ’09 & BS ’09 (Seattle, Wash.); Eric Bartholomew, BS ’03 (Tampa, Fla.) CONSTITUENT ALUMNI REPRESENTATIVES College of Arts & Sciences Katie Kaney, MBA ’96 & BA ’94 (Charlotte, N.C.); Dental Medicine Kevin J. Hanley, DDS ’78 & BA ’74 (East Amherst, N.Y.); Engineering and Applied Sciences James D. Boyle, BS ’78 (West Seneca, N.Y.); Graduate School of Education Mark Marino, EdM ’05 (Depew, N.Y.); Law Terrence M. Gilbride, JD ’88 & BA ’85 (Eggertsville, N.Y.); Management Dan Liebel BS ’85 (Williamsville, N.Y.); Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Michael Zionts, MD ’98 (Buffalo, N.Y.); Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Dean P. Trzewieczynski, BS ’98 (Williamsville, N.Y.) 13-ALR-004

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from the

president

President Tripathi greets Zhou Ji, PhD ’85 & MS ’82, head of China’s Academy of Engineering, in Beijing, March 2012.

t

1,700 alumni, 22 cities, 20 months, and 100,000 miles later HIS MAY, in New York City, we celebrated the grand finale of the UB 2020 alumni tour. This tour has been an incredible experience for my wife Kamlesh and me.

Over a span of 20 months, we covered nearly 100,000 miles, meeting more than 1,700 alumni in 22 cities across the United States and overseas. I wanted to share just a few examples of what I’ve discovered about our UB alumni throughout our travels.

My first observation: No matter how far away our UB alumni may live, there is a part of them that thinks of Buffalo as home.

This was evident again and again—from Los Angeles, where I was greeted with the latest Bills score and that day’s Buffalo News headlines, to an alumni reception To watch a video on the tour and see in Kuala Lumpur, where I overheard two groups of Malaysian alumni in a event photos, go to www.buffalo. heated debate over which are better: edu/president/2020tour.

Anchor Bar wings or Duff’s wings?

And while a piece of Buffalo remains in the heart of every UB alum, UB graduates clearly are also deeply connected to the world. Over the past 20 months, I’ve talked with Buffalo alumni working with Latin American refugees; alumni expanding Chinese language education in Western New York; and industry

leaders whose global expertise prepared them to lead enterprises in Puerto Rico, Shanghai and Singapore. All these graduates told me it was their experiences at UB that equipped them for leadership in a global world.

Finally, we witnessed how deeply our alumni care about putting their UB education to work for the public good. Again and again, our alumni told me how they use their UB education to “give back.” In Chicago, I heard that phrase from a bilingual educator telling me about her work with young people in the city. In Florida, I heard it from a nursing alumna who has spent over half a century devoted to patient care. In Seoul, one of our alumni used the same expression to talk about her work translating Korean literature and preserving her cultural heritage.

Every time I hear our alumni proudly talking about the unique and meaningful ways they give back, I am struck by how many different ways there are to achieve our one core mission as a public research university— to make the world around us a better place.

The tour may be over, but the acquaintances we made are just the beginning of what I hope will be long and lasting relationships. To all of our alumni, thank you for all that you do, every day, to strengthen and inspire our UB community around the world.

Satish K. Tripathi, President www.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY Fall 2013

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from the UBAA

President

Doing it better for our readers HAVE ALL BEEN THERE BEFORE. We do the things we do in the same way we’ve always done them, and we become lulled by the routine and the satisfaction that comes from getting something done. Every once in a while, though, something happens that forces you to break out of the rut.

That’s exactly what the UB Today magazine team was facing last December.

The group was given an opportunity by Provost Charles F. Zukoski to prove that this magazine, though entirely serviceable, could be better, much better, for its readers. Since that challenge was presented, the team has been meeting weekly— and sometimes more often—to produce a publication that is not only more visually appealing, but also more approachable and reader-centric in both content and tone. Moreover, a decision was made to increase the number of issues from two to four annually.

Beginning with the next issue of UB Today, in winter ’14, you will receive a publication that is significantly different from the one you’re reading now. Among other things, you’ll find a deeper dive into campus life, featuring students, faculty and staff; clever, more relatable ways of presenting research concepts and their applications; and more opportunities for multiple sides of current cultural issues to be hashed out. Traditional columns from institutional representatives—like me— will be set aside in favor of more conversational essays or other points of entry to connect with our readers. Who knows, I may weigh in on the top 10 spring break locations (or places to avoid during spring break, depending on your perspective).

But you get the point. We are looking to talk with you, not at you. I, for one, am very excited about this new and creative way to connect with UB’s nearly 230,000 alumni. And the new quarterly schedule means the content will be fresher when you retrieve the magazine from your mailbox.

In the meantime, like other UBAA presidents before me (BTW, I was elected to a two-year term in May of this year), I am always interested in hearing from you on anything UBrelated. I am here to serve, and I am thrilled to be president during this very exciting time.

Carol Gloff, BS ’75 President, UB Alumni Association Cagloffubalumni@comcast.net

Carol Gloff is founder and principal of Carol Gloff & Associates in Natick, Mass., a consulting firm that assists the medical products industry. In addition to her BS in pharmacy from UB, she holds a PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of California, San Francisco.

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The ideal beer pour | Solar research to empower outdoorsmen | Excavating 19th-century Hull House

RESEARCH NEWS

Up close with Kali & Luna For several months, Jackie Heatwole, a UB master’s student in biological sciences, has been observing the Buffalo Zoo’s fluffy white cubs. One morning, she stood outside the polar bear exhibit taking notes while the cubs, named Kali and Luna, wrestled with floating toys in their swimming hole. They emerged back onto land, smudging their bright white coats with mud, chasing each other around. As Heatwole kept watch, a school kid standing nearby made his own observation.

“They’re playing tag!” he shouted.

Luna is a female born at the zoo, while Kali is a male who came to Buffalo in May after a hunter shot his mom in the Alaskan wilderness. Heatwole has been tracking their behavior to better understand polar bear development, as well as how the two bears differ from one

>>

Luna greets her visitors at Buffalo Zoo. (Inset) Graduate student Jackie Heatwole records Luna’s behavior as well as that of fellow cub Kali.

another, given their divergent histories.

“Luna has really brought Kali out of his shell,” Heatwole says.

“Compared to when he first came, he’s a different animal. And Luna was raised by humans, so she has to learn how to be a bear and socialize with bears, and Kali is helping her with that.”

To have a wild bear and a zoo-born bear of the same age in the same place is a rare occurrence, says Charlotte Lindqvist, Heatwole’s adviser and assistant professor of biological sciences. So Lindqvist was thrilled when a colleague forwarded her a message from zoo curator Jerry Aquilina asking if any local researchers had students interested in conducting observations. “This is a very unique opportunity,” Lindqvist says. “It doesn’t happen very often.”

The average amount of debt for UB students who incur debt is $17,449, and more than half of UB students graduate without debt, according to U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” guide. The magazine ranked UB among the top 10 universities nationwide for graduating students with the least debt. At national universities with the “most debt,” students graduate with a debt range of $35,228 to $43,727.

ACADEMIC NEWS

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that can be sewn into clothing, backpacks and other materials.

“They work like conventional solar cells but, because they are flexible, like paper, we can affix them to many surfaces,” says Qiaoqiang Gan, assistant professor of electrical engineering. “With flexible solar cells, we can provide soldiers, hikers and other people on-the-go with a means to power their electronic devices.”

Before that happens, researchers must find a way to make flexible solar cells more efficient and less expensive to manufacture. Gan is tackling the problem with the help from a team of UB researchers and graduate students.

Thin-film solar cells now used in industry are easy to install and lightweight, and they can be rolled onto rooftops like a carpet is rolled onto a floor. Made of silicon and other inorganic materials, they’re generally more costly to manufacture than conventional solar panels. On the other hand, liquid-based solar cells—the type Gan is working on—are a kind of thin-film solar cell. But because they come in liquid form, they can be affixed to a greater variety of surfaces.

ERIC HANSON

“Unlike what’s available today, liquid-based solar cells are not rigid. They’re flexible, like paper,” Gan

RESEARCH NEWS

Solar cells may offer power on the go Imagine hiking an isolated stretch of the Appalachian Trail. You fear you’re lost. The trail map isn’t helping. And the battery in your smartphone, with its GPS unit, is dead. “Man,” you nervously say to yourself, “I wish I could charge my phone.”

Being stuck in a remote area with limited or no access to electricity is more common than you might think. Just ask a soldier, a lumberjack or an angler. It’ll soon be less common, however, because researchers are developing energy-harvesting solar cells

reiterates. “As a result, they can be fabricated over large areas, potentially becoming as inexpensive as paint.” The reference to paint does not include a price point but rather the idea that liquid solar cells could one day be applied to surfaces as easily as paint is to walls.

The main reason liquid-based solar cells aren’t yet for sale is that they don’t produce enough power to make them competitive with other solar panels. Gan is working to change that, using an assortment of high-powered computers, lasers and other gadgets to devise ways to incorporate tiny bits of metal into solar cells. The metal, when placed next to the solar cells, should help them convert more sunlight into electricity.

So far, he has conducted computer simulations that suggest the nanostructure will significantly boost the solar cell’s power conversion. Gan will work with Alexander N. Cartwright, UB professor of electrical engineering and biomedical engineering, and vice president for research and economic development, to combine the metal and the solar cell. The results, he says with a grin, should be electrifying.

UNIVERSITY NEWS

Shake, rattle and not much roll Early results from an earthquake simulation test suggest that cold-formed-steel buildings may be able to withstand major earthquakes. Researchers from The Johns Hopkins University, who led the experiment Aug. 16 at UB’s Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory, programmed the shake tables to mimic ground forces felt during 1994’s catastrophic earthquake in Northridge, Calif. During the test, the shake tables violently jolted the building back and forth, causing cracks to interior and exterior walls. But the building, based on preliminary analysis, withstood the quake’s forces.

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RESEARCH NEWS

The Perfect Pour

Before the installation, Phil Stevens sits with HRM Oba Yakubu Babalola, the traditional ruler of Esie (left) and the traditional ruler of a neighboring town, one of many invited for the event.

UB PEOPLE

Professor honored as Nigerian chief Being installed as a Nigerian chief in an elaborate ceremony in December in the Yoruba town of Esie was a high point of his career, says UB anthropologist Phillips Stevens Jr. But that was just the beginning: Stevens learned after the installation ceremony that a research center will be built in the town and named for him. “This is a double honor,” Stevens said not long after he returned from Nigeria. “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.”

Both honors recognize Stevens’ work in the 1960s preserving the stone images of Esie, Africa’s largest and most mysterious collection of stone carvings. His work, part of his duties during a stint with the Peace Corps, put Esie on the map and sparked an economic boon for the town.

Stevens, associate professor of anthropology, was one of 17 people installed as chiefs by the traditional ruler of the town, HRM Oba Yakubu Babalola, as part of his 25th anniversary celebration. Stevens received the chieftaincy title “The Erewumi of Esie Kingdom”; Erewumi roughly translates to “the images and I get along well.” “Erewumi” is inscribed in gold beads on his chieftain cap.

The Phillips Stevens Jr. Center for Esie Studies will be the center of further research on the soapstone figures he helped repair and document.

Hong Luo doesn’t drink beer himself—he’s allergic to alcohol. But Luo, chair of the physics department, knows all about the secrets of pouring a smooth brew. That’s because it’s just basic physics.

Cans with significantly wider mouths or two holes— which some brands are newly marketing—really do cut down on foam and awkward glugging, Luo says. The first concept to understand is atmospheric pressure.

In a nutshell, the atmosphere of the Earth—all the air molecules floating around us—exerts a force that pushes on objects.

What does this have to do with drinking beer? As liquid exits a can, it leaves behind a vacuum—a totally empty space in which you won’t find anything, not even air molecules.“Once you create this vacuum, the atmospheric pressure is going to push air in,” Luo says. “It’s a dramatic effect: Each time you drink, you create a small vacuum, and the atmosphere responds by pushing air in.”

A super-wide hole or a second hole placed some distance away from the first enables this pressure equalization to occur without obstructing the beer leaving the can.

As such, when it comes to getting an unbubbly pour, today’s single-hole, pop-top beer cans may be inferior to old-time counterparts that required consumers to punch a hole on each side of a smooth lid—one for drinking, the other for taking in air.

For the latest in campus news reports go to

UB broke ground www.buffalo.edu/news for its downtown medical school on Oct. 15, ushering in a new era of medical education, treatment and discovery. More at medicine.buffalo. edu/new-medical-school.

ACADEMIC NEWS

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CAMPUS NEWS

A sudsy start to the new school year

STEVE MORSE

Students try out their improvised moves in a foam dance pit designed for maximum fun during opening weekend held in August. This year’s Welcome Back Bash also offered music, food, prizes and a “Texas hold ’em” poker game.

Late Night UB, which offers alcohol-free entertainment such as tie-dye bingo and “cosmic golf” during the semester, was the event sponsor.

UB PEOPLE

Fresh food focus Tyler Manley, BA ’10, grew up on a sheep farm, worked as a cook HARRY SCULL JR,/BUFFALO NEWS

and urban farmer, and studied philosophy at UB. Today he is mobile market director for the nonprofit Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) in Buffalo. “Not only are we creating a local food system, growing food right in the city, we’re changing how people think about food,” Manley says. The farm—the equivalent of 11½ city lots—is home to a rain-catching system and 41 hens. More than 75 varieties of fruits and vegetables are grown on the grounds and in a pair of greenhouse sheds, one of which is aquaponic and contains 25,000 tilapia. “We sell the fish to the community, alive and whole,” Manley says. “Because we can’t sell on public property, we sell on private property and make partnerships with these sites.”

Tyler Manley, mobile market director for MAP.

MAP’s farm, the equivalent of 11½ city lots and situated across the street from a park and alongside a vacant house, is home to:

A garden growing over 75 varieties of fruits and vegetables

41 hens An aquaponic system containing 25,000 tilapia

Happy 100th anniversary to the College of Arts and Sciences. Events are planned throughout the fall, including lectures by cosmologist Rocky Kolb and psychologist Daniel Schacter.

More at www.cas.buffalo.edu.

ACADEMIC NEWS

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RESEARCH NEWS

Rediscovering an area landmark One of Western New York’s most significant historic sites was the setting for excavations undertaken this summer by the Department of Anthropology’s Archaeological Survey. The work was part of an ongoing search for outbuildings at the Hull Family Home and Farmstead (c. 1810) in Lancaster. As part of the effort by the Hull House Foundation to restore the farmstead to its original composition, archaeologists led by Ryan Austin, research analyst with the Archaeological Survey, are working to locate the remains of the property’s outbuildings, which are expected to include a threshing barn, well, animal pens, privy and possibly an outside oven and smoke house. A room that may have served as a root cellar recently was unearthed.

The archaeologists are assisted by a professional landscape architect and a historical research consultant who are studying other homes and farms of the period to determine the type, size and approximate location of the buildings.

“We’ve found fragments of brick, nails, early pottery and ceramics, early glass, and recently a bone-handled fork and a portion of a teapot handle,” says Douglas Perrelli, director of the Archaeological Survey.

Hull House, on Genesee Street in Lancaster, N.Y., is the oldest substantial stone dwelling in Erie County.

“With additional land and restoration of the farm buildings, the Hull Farmstead will represent life on the early Niagara Frontier in a manner that is accurate and can offer visitors the opportunity to get a feel for the experience of the Hull family,” says Gary Costello, Hull House Foundation president.

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CAMPUS NEWS

Hello, Mr. President!

Obama speaks on campus, making UB history

IN A DAY OF FIRSTS, President Barack Obama took the occasion of his historic UB visit on Aug. 22, 2013, to announce a plan he said would “shake up the system” and make college more affordable for middle-class students, including those who attend UB. Obama said tuition at the average four-year public university has increased by more than 250 percent in the past three decades, while the typical family income has risen just 16 percent, a disparity that has forced many students and their parents to take out loans to finance college. “We understand that in the face of greater and greater global competition in a knowledge-based economy, a great education is more important than ever,” Obama told a packed crowd of 7,200 in Alumni Arena. Many families are struggling to pay back those loans, the president noted, adding that the average student borrower owes more than $26,000 after graduating. Obama presented his plan to counter this trend that would include, among other measures, a new rating system that rewards colleges and universities for performance. The president’s highly anticipated visit marked the first time a sitting U.S. president spoke on campus since Millard Fillmore did so in 1853, at which time Fillmore was also UB’s chancellor.

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Past Presidential Visits Since the Fillmore era, UB has hosted four other speakers who once held the office of President of the United States.

1847 CHANCELLOR’S ADDRESS

Millard Fillmore 1850-1853 “The time has come when such an institution is indispensable to the wants and honor of our city. I appeal to every father who has a son to educate.”

1988 UB DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS SERIES

Gerald R. Ford 1974-1977 “These encroachments on presidential power must be removed if we want better fiscal responsibility.”

1989 UB DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS SERIES

Jimmy Carter 1977-1981

One student’s shining moment Until Barack Obama’s visit to campus, Silvana C. D’Ettorre of Grand Island, N.Y., had never given a public speech. That changed in a big way as the UB sophomore stood before thousands of people in Alumni Arena and welcomed the president to Western New York.

In a headline, the Buffalo News called her “UB’s most famous student.”

“Of all the opportunities I’ve had as a University at Buffalo student, the opportunity I had [during the president’s visit] is by far the most amazing,” says D’Ettorre, an exercise science major who plans to enroll in UB’s School of Dental Medicine.

D’Ettorre, who stayed up until 4 a.m. preparing her

NANCY J PARISI

speech, admits that she was extremely nervous to speak in front of the estimated 7,200 people in attendance. Beforehand, she briefly met Obama in the heart of Alumni Arena. “It was like meeting a cool dad,” says D’Ettorre, who received a hug from the president as he walked onstage.

During her speech, D’Ettorre said UB is a prime example of a “low-cost, high-quality” education. She praised the university’s Silvana D’Ettorre introduces Obama.

Finish in 4 program, in which students pledge to graduate in four years and UB commits to providing them the resources they need. “Personally, knowing that I have guaranteed graduation after four years makes me completely comfortable that I will not have any additional unexpected loans, especially during a time of increased college costs.”

D’Ettorre found out she had been selected to introduce the president when she received a call from the White House. Earlier, campus officials had submitted her name along with other nominations for this distinct honor. Watching from the audience while she gave her address were her parents, Alan and Rachelle; her brother, Nikolas, a UB senior; and sister Sierra, a high school senior.

“Regardless of how different presidents are one from another, there’s no reason why our leaders should not have at least three simple characteristics: Our presidents should be competent, compassionate and tell the truth. That’s not asking too much.”

1999 UB DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS SERIES

George H. W. Bush 1989-1993 “One thing I have learned is that time truly flies by. I wish I were a student. I wish I were 20 instead of 75. I wish I were just starting, because I am an unabashed optimist about the kind of world you’re inheriting.”

2002 UB DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS SERIES

Bill Clinton 1993-2001 “Which is more important to you when looking at people around you—your interesting differences or your common humanity? You have very different notions about the nature of truth, the value of life, the use of power and the content of community, depending on how you answer that first question.” www.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY Fall 2013

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Recalling that peak lifetime experience, the bitter legacy of Love Canal, the pros and cons of statins

Books My Basmati Bat Mitzvah PAULA J. FREEDMAN, BA ’92

“My Basmati Bat Mitzvah” is a lighthearted, multicultural novel for young readers set in New York City. Heroine Tara Feinstein experiences both delight and confusion in her Jewish-Indian-American family life leading up to her bat mitzvah.

She can’t help but wonder: Will taking this step toward Jewish adulthood make her any less Indian? Or can she somehow honor both cultures without having to choose? “As Tara learns in this skillful exploration, an important source of her special strengths—questioning spirit, empathy and strong ethical compass— is her mixed heritage,” writes Kirkus Reviews. AMULET BOOKS, 2013

Love Canal (Images of America) PENELOPE PLOUGHMAN, JD ’89, PHD ’84, MA ’78 & BA ’76

The Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, N.Y., became one of the biggest environmental disasters in American history in the late 1970s, after tons of toxic industrial waste buried by a chemical company at mid-century began to leak in what was by then a residential area with a school. Sociologist and attorney Penelope Ploughman traces the neighborhood’s beginnings as part of a power canal and a model-city dream through the environmental infamy. The book concludes with a review of the 30-year effort to revitalize Love Canal. ARCADIA PUBLISHING, 2013

Chamber Music LISA WILEY, EDM ’97

This debut poetry collection explores and appreciates the musical world of the heart. Drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as Facebook and Starbucks to motherhood and a ride down the Erie Canal, the poems includes 21 modern villanelles, a French form (from the Italian villanella) that likes to repeat itself.

FINISHING LINE PRESS, 2013

Take It From the Top: What to Do With a Peak Experience EDWARD M. O’KEEFE, PHD ’74

Retired college teacher and administrator Edward M. O’Keefe presents 75 “peak experiences” as recounted by individuals both famous and lesser known. These “mountaintop moments,” in turn, testify to the capabilities and possibilities of the human mind and heart. TOPKNOT, 2012

The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy SHELDON KAMIENIECKI, PHD ’78, MA ’76 & BA ’74; AND MICHAEL KRAFT

“The Oxford Handbook” traces the evolution of U.S. environmental policy over the past 50 years. While the U.S. has been the world’s leading emitter of global warming gases, the explosive growth of China and India means that U.S. environmental policy needs to be coordinated at the international level, the editors contend.

Co-editor Sheldon Kamieniecki is professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. OXFORD

Sound-Rage: A Primer of the Neurobiology and Psychology of a Little Known Anger Disorder JUDITH T. KRAUTHAMER, BA ’73

This book explores the little-known disorder of misophonia, which is characterized by an emotional, angry response to everyday, auditory stimuli, such as gum-chewing or pen-clicking. JUDITH KRAUTHAMER, 2013

The Dash to Significance: A Guide to Living a Fulfilling Life ROBERT A. MELONE SR., EDD ’87, EDM ’67, EDM ’64 & BA ’60

Retired educator Robert Melone argues that forgiveness and service to others are among the factors ultimately leading individuals to a fulfilling life, beyond one solely devoted to career or personal accomplishments. His guidebook challenges readers to choose between a life of success and one of significance, therefore preparing a legacy that will reverberate in the lives of others. ROBERT A. MELONE, 2013

Bipolar Buffalo: A Mosaic of Minds Journey ANTHONY ANTEK (ANTHONY RUDNICKI), BA ’65

This book offers Anthony Antek’s story of growing up Polish, Catholic and having bipolar disorder in mid-20th-century working-class Buffalo and nearby Lackawanna. “Bipolar Buffalo” is an exploration of the underdog, “and in this way, it is universal,” Antek writes. He worked as a janitor to pay his way at UB, later earning his MA from the University of Denver. BIPOLAR BUFFALO PUBLISHING, 2013

UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2012

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What’s UB reading this semester?

Each fall, students, faculty and staff explore a single book, and this year’s selection is “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” by Malcolm Gladwell, who appears in the Distinguished Speakers Series Nov. 13.

Merrill (Images of America) ROBIN L. COMEAU, MLS ’03 & BA ’00

“Merrill” recounts the story of this Wisconsin city whose origins lie with 1840s speculators, lumbermen and businessmen, and today is the site of numerous historic buildings and places.

Robin Comeau, curator of the George W. Ferry Dental Museum in the UB dental school, grew up in Lincoln County, where Merrill is located. ARCADIA PUBLISHING, 2013

How to Age in Place: Planning for a Happy, Independent and Financially Secure Retirement MARY A. LANGUIRAND, PHD ’87, AND ROBERT F. BORNSTEIN, PHD ’86

This book offers a comprehensive guide to “aging in place,” a growing movement for older Americans who don’t want to rely on assisted living or nursing home care. The book’s practical roadmap for making proactive decisions about one’s senior years covers such issues as home modifications for safety, transportation, and strategies for dealing with illness and injury. Mary A. Languirand and Robert F. Bornstein have appeared in the national media addressing the needs of senior adults. TEN SPEED PRESS, 2013

Statins: Miraculous or Misguided?

MARK J. ESTREN, PHD ’78 & MA ’73

“Statins: Miraculous or Misguided” discusses the pros and cons of these cholesterol-lowering medications.

With a notable absence of jargon, the book offers commentary from people

on all sides of the statin issue, including researchers and prescribers. It also suggests questions patients can ask practitioners about statins. RONIN PUBLISHING, 2013

Translation: The Bass Accompaniment—Selected Poems DEBORAH MEADOWS, BA ’77

The experimental poetry in this work is presented in dialogue with such authors as logician Willard Van Orman Quine, novelist Herman Melville, and philosophers Luce Irigaray and Gilles Deleuze.

The poet, an emerita faculty member at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, engages the syntax of exploratory thought from her earlier books and ends with a poem hinting at a version of tomorrow. SHEARSMAN BOOKS, UK, 2013

The Music of World War II: War Songs and Their Stories SHELDON WINKLER, PMCRT ’70

Some of the most memorable popular music of the 20th century came about during World War II, and many of these tunes remain popular today. Sheldon Winkler, emeritus professor at Temple University and former faculty member in the UB dental school, says songwriters of this period gradually became more innovative in their attempts to weave wartime sentiments into popular lyrics. The former band leader writes that “war songs were sentimental, poignant, patriotic, morale-building and somber.”

A Jewish Professor’s Political Punditry: Fifty-Plus Years of Published Commentary by Ron Rubin PERI DEVANEY, BA ’72

This anthology of commentary by political scientist Ron Rubin, edited by Peri Devaney, focuses on Israel, Judaism, the American Jewish community, world politics and the personalities who have influenced world Jewry. SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2013

Music Five of Hearts LAURA KLEIN, BA ’74

This is one of three recordings jazz pianist and composer Laura Klein has released with FivePlay Jazz Quintet. Four of these tracks were recorded in 2008, the other seven in 2010. During the intervening years, Klein was diagnosed with breast cancer and lost her mother. “Throughout all the turbulence and struggles, playing and composing music kept me going,” she writes, “and aided my return to joy and health.” Klein is associate professor at the Jazz Institute in Berkeley, Calif.

AURALINE RECORDS, 2011

For more books and submission guidelines go to www.buffalo.edu/ubt.

MERRIAM PRESS, 2013

www.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY Fall 2013

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form

sport

T H E L AT E S T AT H L E T I C N E W S F R O M T H E B U L L S

Hansen Conquers Ironman

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Chances are, whatever you were doing on July 28, 2013, was not nearly as grueling a physical experience as the one Jennie Donofrio Hansen, DPT ’09 & BS ’06, conquered. Hansen spent more than a third of that day pushing her physical limits en route to becoming the first female winner of the Ironman Lake Placid.

What exactly is an Ironman competition? It’s an event that puts the casual 5K to shame, simply put. Ironman triathlons consist of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle ride and finish with a full 26.2-mile marathon. All told, participants cover 140 miles. Hansen finished all that in a mere 9 hours, 35 minutes and 6 seconds. The victory helped her qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, scheduled for Oct. 12. It also was sweet coming off of two second-place finishes in Ironman competition.

At Ironman Lake Placid, Hansen was 11 minutes behind the frontrunner after the swim portion, but gained valuable ground by posting the fastest time on the bike. She passed the women’s leader at the 12-mile mark of the marathon, finishing that in 3:05.04.

Hansen hails from Irondequoit, N.Y., near Rochester, where she works as a physical therapist. Hansen was a member of the cross country team at UB, which she attended as an Honors student and recipient of the School of Public Health and Health Professions’ Alfred T. Caffiero Scholarship.

NILS NILSEN/IRONMAN

TRACK AND FIELD ALUMNI

www.buffalo.edu/ubt

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White won the 2013 Weight Throw at the MAC Indoor Championships, breaking the school record in the process. She would later finish 15th in the event at the NCAA championships, earning her second team All-American status.

She was one of four women’s college athletes to be named a finalist for the Giant Steps award, given to those who use sport to make positive social change, and who help student-athletes succeed in all aspects of their lives.

PAUL HOKANSON

MACK

WRESTLING ALUMNI

FOOTBALL

Mack shines on national stage The Bulls didn’t win their football season opener at Ohio State on Aug. 31, but at least one member of the team came out on top. Senior linebacker Khalil Mack was named the MAC East Division Defensive Player of the Week after recording a game-high nine tackles, 2.5 sacks and an interception for a touchdown. The game was broadcast nationally on ESPN2, and plenty of NFL draft insiders took notice of Mack’s performance. So did Buckeyes’ coach Urban Meyer, who said Mack’s “stock in the draft just went up a little bit after playing against us.”

Mack, who entered the season on four national award watch lists, is expected to be a first-round pick in the 2014 NFL draft in May. Mack’s teammates Branden Oliver and Alex Neutz also were named to preseason award watch lists.

BASEBALL/TRACK AND FIELD

Kanzler, White are athletes of the year Recent graduates Jason Kanzler of the baseball team and Shante White of the track and field team were named the 2012-13 UB Athletes of the Year. The baseball team was also honored as UB team of the year.

Kanzler was named the 2013 MAC Player of the Year and earned his second Rawlings Gold Glove Award in June, becoming the first player in the seven-year history of the award to be recognized KANZLER twice, after he won in 2012 as well.

In the June Major League Baseball draft, he was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 20th round, and he is currently ending his first professional season as a member of the Gulf Coast League Twins.

Graber named to USA weightlifting board UB’s own Mike Graber, MBA ’08 & BS ’04, was elected to a four-year term on the USA Weightlifting national board of directors. The Lancaster, N.Y., native was a member of the wrestling team at UB before taking an interest in Olympic weightlifting in 2002.

GRABER

SOFTBALL

Peel named head coach A proven winner at every level of competitive softball, Trena Peel was announced over the summer as the eighth coach in the history of Buffalo softball. Peel served as head coach at Hampton University, where she led the team to its first MEAC Championship and PEEL NCAA Tournament berth since 1996.

Peel spent three seasons at Hampton, improving the team’s win total each season.

A 2003 graduate of LSU with a bachelor of science in kinesiology, Peel played at LSU from 1999 to 2002, where she earned NFCA Second-Team All-American accolades and was a semifinalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year as a senior.

She was named SEC Athlete of the Year in 2002 and also was a three-time All-SEC honoree, selected twice to the All-South Regional Team.

Peel was a 1999 USA Junior Olympic softball team member and played For updates on all team on the 2001 USA National schedules, news and Red Team. She also was tickets go to selected to the USA Elite Team in 2002 and 2003, and she played in the National Pro Fastpitch League.

www.buffalobulls.com

WHITE

www.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY Fall 2013

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RA DI U M

the

girls

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(From top) Kelsey Mathes, Jacqueline Raymond and Amanda McDowall, photographed in New York City by John Emerson.

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Theater grads in New York pursue their dreams with grit and creativity, determined to succeed on their own terms

O

BY LAURA BARLAMENT

On a Saturday morning in August, Kelsey Mathes, BFA ’09, and three other members of the musical theater improv group Big D and the Closers are rehearsing in a small, stuffy room—a typical Manhattan rent-by-the-hour studio space. Musical theater improv is what Mathes does. She also acts professionally, on stage and on screen; writes plays, one of which was produced this spring; studies to become a health coach; works 40 to 50 hours per week at a West Village bar; and runs a theater production company, which she founded late last year with fellow UB theater alumnae Jacqueline Raymond, BFA ’08, and Amanda McDowall, BFA ’10.

For now, though, Mathes is fully immersed in an “invocation”—an improvisational form. “How does the invocation start? ‘I am’?” inquires Frank Spitznagel, the pianist accompanying the group today.

A chorus of voices blurts, “It is, you are, thou art, I am.” “IIIIII am,” Mathes sings dramatically, echoed by teammate William Kean in baritone. “Let’s cut the ‘I am’ segment,” objects Miles Lindahl, another team member.

After a few more quick words of discussion, Kean calls out, “Let’s just do it, let’s go!” “Yeah, all right,” says Lindahl. He turns to the reporter in the room: “We need an object, please.” “Ball,” she offers. “Ball? Ball,” echoes around the room.

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One second of silence, and then Spitznagel plays two dramatic minor chords.

“It is spherical!” Lindahl declares, followed by two more suspensefully modulating chords.

“It is globular,” Mathes emphasizes.

Chord, chord …

“It is the plaything of children,” Kean cries. Chord, chord …

“It is cooovered in muuuud,” intones the final team member, Patrick Reidy.

After a few more rounds of invocation, the pianist begins a jaunty tune, and Lindahl starts singing along: “We’re having a great day … We’re haaaving a great day. … And things look sooo optimistic … We’re haaaving a great day!” Mathes and the others join in for another round, harmonizing as if they were reading off a sheet of music and building to a grand finale of, “We’re haaaaving a great day!”

For young actors in New York City, “having a great day” does not come easily, but Mathes, Raymond and McDowall are improvising their own creative identities and careers with tenacity and commitment.

Last fall, the three close friends who met at UB decided they weren’t going to wait around to be cast in their dream roles.

Instead, they launched their own theatrical venture: The Radium Girls, a company dedicated to promoting women’s roles and women’s voices.

Act One:

School Girls Ever since she can remember, Raymond has wanted to be on stage. She dates her conscious decision to become an actor to age 7, when she performed in the musical “Annie” and cried all the way home after the last show, because she didn’t want it to end. “It’s a strange thing that kind of picks you,” she muses. From her home in Saratoga Springs, she followed her older sister, Monique Raymond Cohen, BA ’05, to UB. There was no question that she would major in theater.

One year later, Mathes arrived at UB from the Rochester suburb of Fairport, where she had fallen under the spell of Midge Marshall, Fairport High School’s beloved drama program director. (Claim to fame: Philip Seymour Hoffmann was a Marshall protégé.) As a high school sophomore, Mathes had seen a touring production of “Rent.” Her face soaked in tears as

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Scene from The Radium Girls’ recent production of “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress.”

Mimi and Roger confessed their love, she decided, “I wanna give people that feeling.

Not crying,” she clarifies, “but feeling.” A few days later, her father asked what she was planning to do in college. “Theater,” she said. And that decision never changed.

Meanwhile, in Queens, McDowall was following a similar track. The deal was sealed for her when she won admission to one of New York City’s performing arts-focused public high schools, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. She, too, came to Buffalo to be a theater major, one year after Mathes.

The three women got to know each other well in the very selective and intimate theater program. Faculty like Maria S. Horne, an internationally known master teacher, became powerful role models for them. “We had kick-ass female professors in our department,” says McDowall.

One of Mathes’ favorite roles at UB was Juliet in a Shakespeare adaptation that she, Raymond and other UB students staged at a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) theater festival in Romania. Raymond, meanwhile, enjoyed meaty roles like the headstrong Lydia Bennet in a stage version of “Pride and Prejudice.” McDowall ran the annual student review, “From the Wings” (good preparation, it turned out, for running a theater company), and starred in the boundary-breaking play “Tattoo Girl” by contemporary playwright Naomi Iizuka.

The three women worked with enormous dedication, balancing heavy course-

loads, rehearsals, work and classes. After graduation, they all moved to New York City—trained, confident and ready for anything.

Act Two:

City Girls

“In school, they told you, ‘You can play every role you want, and that you have the potential to book any role,’” says McDowall one recent day in her Harlem apartment, which she shares with Kevin Zak, BFA ’10, a fellow Buffalo theater alum.

“But I’m at this audition, and there’s 300 of me,” she says. “What do I have to do to make myself stand out of the crowd?”

That, the three women have all found, is the essential challenge of making it as an actor. Talent, training, energy, passion— they simply aren’t enough. Among the reasons they cite for not getting a part are: 1 inch too short; 1 inch too tall; didn’t like the shirt you were wearing; wearing the wrong perfume; hair the wrong color. “I’ve had so many moments where I’ve been sitting in a casting office and been so close,” says Raymond, “but ultimately didn’t get it.

It feels tangible yet so far away.

“In school,” she adds, “you learn technique and craft. You watch all of the great performers, and you read all of the great plays. When you get out, you have to learn how to market yourself. You only learn that by jumping in.”

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“It’s a business,” Mathes chimes in.

That’s not to say the three haven’t won parts. At the same time, they have learned how stereotyped women’s roles can be.

McDowall, for example: With her curly brown hair, curvy figure and husky voice, she’s usually cast as “funny, or bitchy or the sidekick.” “Some roles have been good,” she says—she especially enjoyed a short, independent comedy film she appeared in this year, “Future Assassin.” “And some I just chalk up to experience,” she adds.

Although Mathes has struggled to distinguish herself from (in her words) “all the other girls with brown hair and blue eyes,” she has started to find her niche.

She enjoyed her work with “School Spirits” for the Syfy network, for example, which reenacts reports of on-campus paranormal events. “It was an amazing experience of what being on set is like,” she says. She spent about six hours in a swimming pool for one episode, doing laps to the point of exhaustion. Is she a swimmer? “Not really,” she says. “That’s why I’m an actor.

To experience life from different points of view, to live another life for a few minutes.”

Raymond is represented by two agencies, which is a huge step for an actor. She’s in the adult and youth departments—and because of her small frame and highpitched vocal range, she is almost always cast in teenage roles. “I’ve been cast as a character named Minnie,” she laments, and she recently voiced Sally Brown for a “Peanuts” animation. But she has also played Tricia in the play “Dog Sees God,” which reimagines the Peanuts characters (Tricia = Peppermint Patty) as troubled teenagers, at an off-Broadway theater.

One reviewer called her “the perfect ‘Mean Girl.’”

At the same time, the reality is they also have to have “survival jobs,” as Raymond calls them: McDowall is a wardrobe supervisor—she regularly works for Juilliard and picks up work for organizations like the Joffrey Ballet. She is also a teaching artist at the Harlem School of the Arts, an afterschool program. Mathes works full time at a bar, and Raymond is a maître d’ for a

Why Radium Girls?

restaurant and sells skin-care products.

“You need to be able to sit in the middle of this teeter-totter,” says Mathes, holding out her hands like the scales of justice.

“And keep them in balance. You are your own enterprise, and you have to treat it as such in order to survive—for your own sanity, and to get in front of the right people.”

“You never have a day where you’re not doing something,” says Raymond. “You’re always running, running, running.”

Then, they decided to start setting their own pace.

Act Three:

Radium Girls One day late last year, Raymond and Mathes took a scene study class together.

It’s the kind of thing motivated actors do to keep themselves sharp. While rehearsing, they got to talking—and dreaming.

“We said, you know, let’s do something we can be in control of,” recalls Raymond.

McDowall joined in the conversation about roles they’d like to take on, books they had read and plays that had inspired them, in particular, plays in which female characters were not just talking about shopping or men.

Within a month, they had held a launch party for their new company, The Radium Girls (TRG), named in honor of an inspiring group of women from the early 20th century (see sidebar). “The great thing about TRG is that each girl brings something interesting and necessary to the spectrum,” says Kashana Young, one of the company’s major backers. “There is nothing these girls can’t do. If there is, thankfully for us, they know their limitations.

TRG are grounded and realistic and do not waste time with fanciful dreams.”

There was no time for “fanciful dreams” between TRG’s launch party in December 2012 and the May 22, 2013, opening of their first show, Alan Ball’s comedy “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress,” at Manhattan’s Bridge Theatre. The three pulled together and did everything from securing

a theater to learning their parts to casting the other roles to selling tickets.

“Our professors always told us about this,” says Raymond. “‘You’re going to be doing theater in the smallest spaces. You’re going to be sweeping the floors yourself, doing your own hair.’ For this show, I was hanging wallpaper, sweeping floors, acting and producing. I was like, ‘Wow, this is exactly what they were talking about!’”

They swept up quite a few talented collaborators along the way and inspired them to donate their time and talents—people like Jaime Torres, a friend of McDowall from her wardrobing work, who did the costume design. It’s a key position in a play that revolves around five bridesmaids for a Southern summer wedding. “[The dresses are] supposed to be tacky without actually looking terrible,” Torres explains. He located peach-colored readymade dresses and added lace and beads to fit the part, and created hats for them as well. “I logged a lot of hours,” he says with a laugh. “It was a lot of hand-sewing. But I had a very personal connection to the show and wanted to give them the best they could get.”

The work paid off. Two among the attendees of their sold-out audiences were Henry and Jo Strouss, who got to know Mathes from her “survival job” as a bartender and have become her patrons. “It is easy in New York just to go to performances on Broadway,” says Henry, “but it is critical for young performers to enter the profession for the art to survive. Working on a shoestring budget, these young women put on a highly enjoyable show.”

For The Radium Girls, though, the biggest triumph lies in the opportunity they took to define themselves. “When your vision, your point of view is clear, everything falls into place. That’s what they don’t teach you in school,” Mathes says. “Cultivating your own importance, your own way of doing things, is when you hit gold.”

Laura Barlament is a New York-based freelance writer and editor of Wagner Magazine at Wagner College in Staten Island.

While Jacqueline Raymond, Kelsey Mathes and Amanda McDowall were mulling over a name

for their new venture, Mathes heard a podcast and McDowall read the book “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” by Siddhartha Mukherjee, which includes the story of the early-20th-century female factory workers known as the Radium Girls. These young women worked for the United States Radium Corporation in Orange, N.J., painting watch dials with radium-laced paint—a substance the company deceitfully told them was harmless. After they contracted cancers, some of the women fought back in the courts and won. Their efforts led to groundbreaking worker-protection laws. www.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY Fall 2013

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Sandy Geffner (left) and Nick Peterson explore the flora of Letchworth Woods on UB’s North Campus.

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On a clear September morning, Sandy Geffner, environmental studies faculty member, and Nick Peterson, Geffner’s student and a UB staff member, treaded through Letchworth Woods on the North Campus. The two share an interest in the natural world and eagerly identified many edible plants and herbal medicines. As they walked beneath sunspeckled trees, the conversation turned philosophical. What does it mean to connect with a forest? What are the naturalist’s responsibilities to keep intact what Geffner calls “the neighborhood”?

INTO THE

SANDY GEFFNER Before we venture into this world, it is important to have a clear sense for precautions.

Because just as this world will feed us, heal us, this world can do harm to us. So we need to separate the herbs from the grass, separate the trees and shrubs from one another and get a sense of who’s in the neighborhood. Then there are certain factors we need to be aware of before we take the leap and begin to collect and utilize.

No. 1, we positively identify. No. 2, we need to focus on purpose.

Is this plant a food, a medicine, a poison or all of the above, which is sometimes the case? We also have to know what time of year is it best to harvest the plant for food, medicine and the like. Then we need to know how do we prepare? Do we eat fresh? Do we have to apply heat to relieve that plant of toxins? Then we have to know if our environment is clean and unpolluted. And finally, if we’re harvesting, we have to make sure that we’re not completely removing a stand of plant from its environment. We need also to know if that plant is protected by law. So there’s a lot to know before we start to take that plunge into this world.

NICK PETERSON And to always be thankful.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DOUGLAS LEVERE, BA ’89 www.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY Fall 2013

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GEFFNER Thankful indeed, and this is something that we share in all of our work and all of our programs.

These plants are all alive; these plants work really hard to make their fruits, the seeds and their leaves. In our minds, we always say “thank you”— it’s a healthy way of interacting with the plants.

PETERSON A lot of times, we humans consider ourselves to be the top of every food chain. There’s plenty of other animals that we feel above. We gather fiddleheads for the sake of gourmet restaurants. The attitude is “the leeks and the fiddleheads are good, so let’s just take them all.”

GEFFNER It’s the all-for-us mentality, which is harsh.

You bring up a good point regarding the animals.

There are clues right out in the field. Especially with edibles, if we see animals feeding upon plants in the field, we have to say, “Maybe,” because their bodies are actually designed to tolerate those materials that we cannot.

PETERSON Here we have dogbane which is absolutely poisonous but utilitarian.

GEFFNER The dogbanes that we’re seeing here contain a compound that speeds up the heart and is very dangerous. Most creatures when they see dogbane stay away as a result. They’re not heavily fed upon at all. But we do use dogbane to make cordage. It’s very fibrous, like milkweed, and they make very good rope. Nick, it looks like you’ve got the beginnings of a nice rope there?

PETERSON It’s a little bit thin but I was starting to get the idea.

(From top) Nick Peterson and Sandy Geffner make cordage from dogbane fibers found in the UB forest. Peterson holds, then savors garlic found in the field, and digs at the root of the false Solomon seal (Maianthemum racemosum), a wild edible that is also used medicinally.

In addition to his faculty role at UB, Sandy Geffner is director of Earth Spirit Educational Services, a nonprofit organization that offers programs on foraging throughout the year. For more information, go to earthspiritedu.org.

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GEFFNER Here you’re looking at the brambles and this as you can see is a rather four-sided stem.

There are three brambles that are commonly found in our area. With this one, do you feel angles in the stems?

PETERSON Yes. GEFFNER Ok, so this would be a blackberry. If you have thorns with a rounded stem, it’s probably a black raspberry. And when you have prickles rather than thorns that would be the red raspberry. So we have red raspberry, black raspberry and blackberry as the common brambles. They are all in the genus rubus.

Do you recognize this tree?

PETERSON I do not. Well, I’ve seen it but I cannot identify it, let me say that.

GEFFNER If you’re ever in doubt with this individual [plant], you see the leaves are elliptical, pointed.

On the underside, can you see the orange fluff at the base of the main vein? What you smell is prussic acid. And no matter how you look at it or how you describe it, when prussic acid is taken internally, it is a form of cyanide. This is a wild black cherry. If you really want to make sure, you take a little branch and take off the leaves and you can actually take your fingernail, give it a scratch and

smell. This is one example of an individual who will feed you with edible cherries, heal you as a cough medicine or kill you if you ingest too much.

Be careful—this is poison ivy here. Do you see?

PETERSON Poison ivy and the false Solomon seal.

GEFFNER The false Solomon seal and the mayapple offer a good lesson. We should look at the poison ivy first. Because when it comes to plants, animals, all aspects of nature, there’s no good or bad out here from the naturalist’s point of view. If we break a leaf or stem, the sap gets on our skin that can cause an outbreak of dermatitis. But poison ivy produces fruit in the fall, which is heavily used by many small animals and a wide range of birds.

They depend on the poison ivy for food, and the poison ivy wants them to eat the berries. That’s why plants make good-tasting fruits. The fruits get eaten and digested and the seeds are dispersed.

This is the most functional way of spreading seed, using animals to do that in that way.

PETERSON That’s interesting. Something you might think about when you see a particular plant in the middle of a human landscape and wonder how did this plant grow up here?

GEFFNER Oh my goodness! These are really old, but look at the size of this crop [of mushrooms]. This looks like Hen of the Woods, what’s left of it. This is one of the edible fungi. Keeping in mind how careful we have to be in harvesting the herbs, it’s doubly so with the fungus. I do a lot of mushroom harvesting. My record is 80 pounds in one year!

PETERSON That’s a lot of mushrooms. How can we be conscientious collectors when it comes to mushrooms like these?

GEFFNER I wouldn’t take them all. When I harvest clumps of these Hen of the Woods, I’d want them to reproduce. You harvest them close to the ground. If we harvest them properly, we will encourage the reharvesting of these fruits. And they may come up year after year in the same place.

PETERSON For someone who’s completely new to foraging, what would you suggest to them about wild edibles?

GEFFNER No. 1, the best place to begin is always with someone who’s connected to that field. That gives you a good introduction. No. 2, you get a good field guide that will help you identify, then [obtain] the field guides that take you into your area of interest. The first thing is to learn to recognize. You go from there to careful experimentation, then you’re ok. But I don’t recommend that you experiment with mushrooms! Seriously, that’s something you should always do with someone who knows.

PETERSON So what is to be gained through this knowledge or these interests in these wild foods?

GEFFNER These pursuits keep us in touch with the rhythms and bounty of nature.

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9/25/13 2:24 PM

(A) Black mustard Brassica nigra EDIBLE Young shoots and leaves in spring. Young fruits and flowers added to salads. Seeds crushed as spice.

(B)

(A)

(B) Crab apples Malus species EDIBLE Mature fruits in fall.

(C) Evening primrose

(C)

Oenothera biennis EDIBLE Taproot of basal rosette in spring, late summer, fall.

(D) Rose hips

(D)

Rosa canina EDIBLE Mature fruit in late fall through winter. Very high vitamin C (40-60x citrus fruits).

(E)

(G)

(E) Red oak acorns Quercus rubra EDIBLE Mature in fall.

(F) River grapes Vitis riparia EDIBLE Mature fruits and late summer through fall.

(G) Spotted touch me not/jewel weed

(F)

Impatiens capensis EDIBLE/MEDICINAL Crushed stems, rubbed on skin to prevent/ deactivate poison ivy (used prior to irritation).

Spring shoots and leaves edible.

(H) False Solomon’s seal

(H)

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Maianthemum racemosum EDIBLE/MEDICINAL Mature fruits in fall. Rhizome (root).

Rhizome, dried and powdered, used medicinally as an analgesic, antiseptic and wound dressing.

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UB Cricket Club president Parth Parikh is an all-rounder—meaning he performs well at batting and bowling.

Most cricketers are skilled in only one of the two disciplines.

All sorts of colorful descriptions are used for a bad performance on the field. Didn’t score any runs while up to bat? That’s said to be out for a duck. It’s a golden duck if it is a player’s first time up at bat in the game. Poor batsman? Be prepared to call the player a rabbit.

Even worse batsman? That player is a ferret.

It’s a zoo out there!

By Julie Wesolowski

There’s a ball and a bat, but put down your peanuts and crackerjack. UB’s Cricket Club brings the beloved British pastime across the pond and onto the Western New York campus.

Jiminy Cricket!

UB club members and quarterfinal finishers in the 2013 American College Cricket National Championship.

White balls (left) and red leather balls (right) are used for specific types of professional cricket. Red synthetic (top) and yellow tennis balls (bottom) are for practice and street play, respectively.

with white balls during games of One Day International (ODI), players wear brightly colored uniforms. The game of Test Cricket uses a red ball and uniforms are plain white.

Fashion on the field. When playing

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batter is the wicket. It comprises three stumps (wooden posts) topped by a pair of bails (wooden crosspieces that sit atop the stumps).

Rhymes with cricket... Behind the

Stumped yet? So are the players.

When a batsman misses the ball and steps out of his crease in play, the wicket-keeper can grab the ball and break the wicket before the batsman gets back into his crease. Being stumped is just one of 10 ways of getting out in the game.

Sobab Bhatti is team wicketkeeper. The wicket-keeper is the only member of the fielding side permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards.

There’s bowling too? Move over pitchers and catchers. In cricket, these positions on the fielding team are called bowlers and wicket-keepers.

200 members.

club now boasts approximately

bership of 15 to 20 players, the

Beginning with modest mem-

State, Texas A&M and Harvard.

club beat teams from Penn

National Championship, the

2013 American College Cricket

during the quarterfinals of the

itself. Finishing in the top eight

is already making a name for

plex. And yet the young team

lot at UB’s Governor’s Com-

empty residence hall parking

Most of the time they play in an

without much of a playing field.

its games with little fanfare and

2011, the UB Cricket Club plays

play cricket. Formed officially in

you never heard of. And they

They might be the best UB team

From Jersey Boy to Cricket Expert: A Chat with UB Prof Patrick McDevitt Patrick McDevitt, associate professor of history, teaches a course on the history of sport, and authored the book “May the Best Man Win: Sport, Masculinity, and Nationalism in Great Britain and the Empire, 1880-1935” that features two chapters on cricket. He also contributed a book chapter in “The Cambridge Companion to Cricket.” McDevitt serves as the faculty adviser for the UB Cricket Club Association.

How long have you been a fan of cricket?

“For imperial Britain, cricket was more than just a game; it was a code of conduct and the expression of a British and imperial sense of right and wrong.”

Excerpt from “The Cambridge Companion to Cricket” —Patrick McDevitt

I first learned the nuances of cricket when I moved to New Zealand as a graduate student in 1993. A lifelong baseball fan, it was an easy transition to make for me.

While obviously different games, the two sports share many traits (pace of play, basic movements and objectives, a fascination of statistics, etc.). I think many Americans are intimidated by cricket, which in some varieties can last for five days. The game that is most often played is called Twenty20 and takes the same length of time as a baseball game.

Is there a quick and dirty way of understanding the game?

The best way for an American to be introduced to the game is to have it explained by someone who grew

up playing baseball. The translation process runs more smoothly that way.

Do you play cricket?

I do not play cricket well, although I have certainly played enough of the driveway and backyard variety over the years.

I wouldn’t have the skills to play with the UB Cricket Team.

Have you been able to convert any Americans into becoming fans?

I have only passed along my love of cricket to one baseballloving American, and that is Professor Kristin Stapleton of the history department when we were delayed in the New Delhi airport for six or seven hours and it was on TV. For those of us who are unfamiliar with the game, can you talk about the meaning of the saying “It’s not just cricket”? Do you use that saying at all?

While I wouldn’t use “not cricket” in my vocabulary very much—I’m just a guy from New Jersey after all—Englishspeaking people from around the former British Empire certainly would. The common usage of the phrase that something was “not cricket” meant simply and succinctly that it was not morally right.

Why do you think cricket hasn’t caught on in a big way in the U.S.?

Cricket didn’t originally catch on in the U.S. because the organizers of cricket highlighted its exclusivity and its Anglophilia, while baseball’s early promoters sought a wider audience and promoted its “Americanness.” The game is gaining popularity in the States. The New York City Public Schools now have a cricket championship with more teams being added every year. Increasingly, native-born Americans, not just West Indian and South Asian students, are playing too.

Lost in translation: Even for fans of the game, cricket terminology is constantly changing. In this cartoon featured in Punch magazine from 1920, communication woes between generations of fans were just as common as today. hit the ball

top of the bat near the handle (an area of little power)

“Yes, I cocked one off the splice in the gully and the blighter gathered it.”

YOUNG CRICKETER

fielding position slightly behind the off-side of the the batter

‘newish’ slang for a detestable person (possibly unfamiliar to an older man in 1920)

FATHER “Yes, but how did you get out? Were you caught, stumped or bowled, or what?” all ways to be caught out—on the fly, stumps knocked over by hand or stumps knocked over by the bowler

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The Playing Field A cricket field is a large circular or oval shaped grassy ground.

There are no fixed dimensions for the field but its diameter varies between 449 ft. and 492 ft., in the center of which is a flat strip of ground called a pitch.

It takes two. Each team of 11 players

takes turns batting and fielding. When a team is batting, two players come to the field together on opposite sides of the pitch—as a striker and non-striker. Once the ball is hit by the striker, they run to the opposite side of the pitch, scoring runs along the way.

How long does a game last?

A formal game of cricket can range from a few hours to many days. The UB club, with limitations such as schoolwork, plays a game called Twenty20, which lasts three to four hours. Got time to kill? Test Cricket is played for the duration of five days.

BATSMEN (STRIKER AND NON-STRIKER) BOWLER WICKET-KEEPER FIELDSMEN (IN A TYPICAL DEFENSIVE FORMATION)

Fielding positions are not fixed, and fielders can be placed in positions that differ from the basic positions. Most of the positions are named roughly according to a system of polar coordinates—one word (leg, cover, mid-wicket) specifies the angle from the batsman, and is optionally preceded by an adjective describing the distance from the batsman (silly, short, deep or long). Words such as “backward,” “forward” or “square” can further indicate the angle.

Spirit of the Game There’s a saying “it’s not just cricket” that has found its way into common language of cricket players and spectators alike. The phrase, or variations thereof, evokes a code of ethics and behavior that has inspired camaraderie between Pakistani and Indian members of UB Cricket Club.

While there is intense competition between the nations when playing cricket on an international level, UB club members play together in a truly sportsmanlike manner otherwise known as the “spirit of cricket.” “We play as a team and try to win as a team. There are no differences made, no matter what our nationality,” says Parth Parikh, president of the UB Cricket Club.

Then and now: Students may change but the game is still the same. UB student cricketers in 1970s (bottom) and members of today’s UB Cricket Club (top).

sa num quiatibus ntro goes hereGentur? Nos sa num quiatibus www.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY Spring 2013

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Christopher Thornberg photographed at his offices in Los Angeles, Calif.

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profile

alumni

Christopher Thornberg, BA ’89 : Economic forecaster offers a no-nonsense

approach and a track record for calling it correctly

DURING THE MID-2000S, as home prices were jumping in much of the country and unemployment numbers were an afterthought, Christopher Thornberg, BA ’89, realized something wasn’t right.

Home values and new-home construction trends didn’t match fundamental historic income levels and population growth figures, the economist noticed.

Not many agreed with him. Today, many do.

Thornberg is widely cited as one of the earliest and most accurate predictors of the sub-prime mortgage market crash that began in 2007 and the global recession that followed.

“There is an old saying in finance that the trend is your friend. Unfortunately, this is very dangerous advice in practice. We focus on the fundamentals—and when the trends don’t match the fundamentals, you can bet that something is really wrong,” he says.

Thornberg’s success today is due in part to the attention he has received since calling the economic downturn. In 2007, he co-founded Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles-based economics research, consulting and forecasting firm. Its staff has since grown from two to 15.

Between 2008 and 2012, he was a chief economic adviser to the California State Controller’s Office and chaired the state controller’s Council of Economic Advisors—the body that advises the state’s chief fiscal officer about emerging economic issues.

He gives more than 80 speeches a year to everyone from local and state officials to hedge fund managers to university leaders, mainly in California, but increasingly in other parts of the nation and the world. And he has become a regular media commentator, appearing everywhere from NBC’s “Today” show to ABC’s “Nightline” to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. A

RIGHT ON THE MONEY

Thornberg on wading through economic news

recent Los Angeles Times profile of him was headlined “Housing bubble hero.”

Thornberg, who grew up in Rochester, N.Y., studied business at UB with a focus on marketing.

After graduating, he spent two years traveling the world before enrolling at UCLA for graduate school.

He earned his PhD in 1997 and then accepted a job as an economics professor at Clemson University in South Carolina.

In 2000, he faced a decision: Stay at Clemson and climb the academic ladder or take a job offered by his former adviser at UCLA at the university’s economic forecasting center. He opted for UCLA. Thirteen years later, he is convinced he made the right move.

Thornberg believes the bridge economic forecasting provides between academic work and the business community better suits his personality than does the slower-paced, more isolated world of universities.

His firm’s blog is called “No Nonsense Economics: Economic Insights Without The Hype,” a motto partly influenced by Thornberg’s don’thold-back personality (he doesn’t worry about dropping a salty word into an interview), and partly by the firm’s commitment to its business model of delivering objective, accurate research as opposed to “selling” answers clients may want to hear.

For Thornberg, there are two keys to economic forecasting: trends and fundamentals. Trends mean the latest unemployment rates, home price numbers, etc. Fundamentals mean that you have to understand past economic swings and relate to current ones.

Despite his accurate prediction about the recent economic downturn, Thornberg concedes forecasting is an inexact science.

“No forecast is right,” he says. “Some forecasts are less wrong than other forecasts. I just think I’m pretty good at being less wrong than the others.”

Story by Sean Nealon, BA ’01, with photo by Max S. Gerber

> Pay attention to the source. Too much of what we hear is junk—people shouting opinions not facts.

Look for content based on actual data and unbiased analysis. > One month is not a trend. You need to look at multiple periods to perceive a change in trend. > A lot of conventional wisdom is wrong. For example, the ideas that raising taxes hurts economic growth and that interest tax deductions increase homeownership, while popular with the politicians, have little support in the data.

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Rachel Sunley photographed at Alfred Angelo Salon in Tonawanda, N.Y.

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profile

alumni

Rachel Lynn Sunley, MPH ’10: Personal trainer’s prewedding drill blends positivity

and scientific principles to help women prepare for the big day

RACHEL LYNN SUNLEY, MPH ’10, upbeat, easygoing, ambitious, is an ideal personal fitness trainer.

She’s lived it: As a preteen, she put on weight and found her self-esteem suffering. Lessons from each of her parents on exercise and eating right helped her to drop weight. And along the way, she realized a deepseated passion.

These days, Sunley is happily helping others learn the same lessons—adding in science and savvy.

During the process of earning her master’s in public health, her integrative project focused on weight-loss maintenance among American adults. She learned that about 50 percent of those who successfully lose weight gain it back in fewer than six months. She decided that she wanted to address this discouraging statistic.

“Immediately after earning my master’s, I got my personal-training certification and was working part time at a fitness club. I developed a comprehensive fitness program. Then I thought, ‘What would make this different?’ I love instructing boot camp-style workouts; weddings, fashion, nutrition/eating healthy and cooking are some of my favorite things. I realized that bridal boot camps were exactly what Buffalo was missing! Some of the most motivated clients are women who want to feel beautiful and confident on their wedding day.” Her Buffalobased business, Bridezilla Boot Camps, was born in 2011.

With her scientific knowledge and positive attitude (plus her undergrad degree in psychology), Sunley provides her clients with the tools to get and stay fit. It’s not a new idea—Google “bridal fitness” and you get about 48 million results—but her melded, science-based philosophy is innovative.

Her two closest advisors at UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions were Gary Giovino, chair of the community health and health behavior

BRIDAL BOOT CAMP

Starting small can lead to big results

department, and Marc Kiviniemi, assistant professor in the same department who focuses on health-related behaviors. “Dr. Giovino and I frequently talked about eating the way our grandparents did,” Sunley says. “Mostly ‘real’ food, prepared from scratch.”

Sunley says consulting with Kiviniemi helped her to realize how much she wanted to apply her knowledge to the needs of real people. Now she’s deeply connecting with real people and real food on a daily basis—so much so that she recently gave up her job as a corporate wellness specialist to focus on her business full time. Her six- and 12-week bridal boot camps encompass multiple sessions in groups of six or fewer women—often a bride and her attendants, sister and/or mother. Sunley’s approach offers a 50/50 split between physical training and nutritional education. She rents space at a local gym, though some training is conducted at area parks and trails.

While she plans to experiment with couples boot camp, right now, it’s a female thing, Sunley says.

“Including men changes the dynamic. In a gym or other co-ed environment, women can be intimidated or self-conscious. I want them to feel comfortable—in a private and intimate environment.”

The biggest challenges in Sunley’s business are clients with unrealistic expectations. “Everybody wants quick weight loss,” she says. “We educate them on healthy and realistic goals. Whether they want to lose weight, tighten and tone, or take their fitness to the next level, I help them establish ‘S.M.A.R.T.’ goals— those that are specific, measurable, action-based, realistic and time-constrained.”

As for the “b” word? “Most people find the ‘bridezilla’ name fun, like I do,” Sunley says. “Actual ‘bridezillas’ probably won’t come to me! Once they meet me, and see my personality, and sense of humor, they get it.”

Story by Jana Eisenberg, with photos by Douglas Levere, BA ’89

To keep weight off, people need to make lifestyle changes, Sunley says. Start small and these modest, incremental changes can add up to big results. Here are some of her tips:

> Set realistic goals—and hold yourself accountable. > Eat properly. This means minimally processed foods along with vegetables, fruits, lean proteins,

complex carbs and healthy fats.

> Add more activity to your lifestyle. Take the stairs. Park farther away. Avoid sitting for long periods of time. > Exercise regularly. Find something you love. Change it if you get bored. Aside from gym workouts,

Sunley practices power yoga.

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Justin Marx photographed at Marx Foods retail shop in Seattle, Wash.

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profile

alumni

Justin Marx, BS ’00: Culinary entrepreneur hunts down unusual flavors to satisfy

both restaurant chefs and creative home cooks

JUSTIN MARX, BS ’00, starts picking through the latest ingredients, liquors and foods waiting on the shelves of his Seattle store. His fingers brush across rhubarb sauce, orange blossom champagne, pepper jelly and barbecue bitters. It’s not your typical assortment of culinary accoutrements.

“For this retail shop, we’re focusing on two main areas—one is finding new and interesting flavor profiles and ingredients, things that surprise even jaded chefs,” Marx explains. “And then also, for the more mainstream items, we’re trying to find the best of everything. The best pasta, the best ketchup, the best oils and vinegars.”

To that end, Marx travels from Seattle farmers markets to green pastures in New Zealand, expanding the items on the shelves of his tiny, modern loft on a busy street between downtown Seattle and Fishermen’s Terminal to the north.

The items he looks over on this day are headed to an eight-person tasting panel that will give a thumbs-up, thumbs-down or neutral. The verdict must be a near-unanimous positive review for the product to make it into the inventory of ingredients. “Somewhere around 5 percent ends up passing,” Marx says.

Marx’s foray into bringing rare ingredients to the masses is the culmination of a family food-importing business, Marx Imports, based out of New Jersey that dates back to 1895. Marx himself started out working at the family slaughterhouse at age 11.

Since then, through his own business, Marx Foods, the family business has exploded online, and in the last year, expanded into supplying your home kitchen, where those barbecue bitters may someday end up. “It’s changed, obviously, so much over the years.”

Marx’s part of the family journey—and the westward expansion—involved a slight detour to Washington, D.C., for law school. A business law class at UB inspired the industry jump. (“The pro-

EXOTIC FOOD FINDER

Elderflower Cordial For more recipes incorporating unusual ingredients go to Marxfood.com

40 elderflower heads 4 lemons 6 cups of sugar 6 cups of boiling water 1 ½ oz of citric acid

fessor blew our minds,” he recalls.) But then love led him to the west coast and eventually back into food.

Marx Foods began with a desk and computer in his apartment. He challenged chefs: “Give me your mission-impossible sourcing,” a food item they just couldn’t seem to find. Requests came in for rare oregano, Colombian chilies and anchovy oil.

Marx confesses that most of the time getting those items means tapping into his family’s vast network of import connections—a good business move, if not quite as romantic as donning a fedora and heading to the jungle to track down a rare spice.

In addition to expanding his family’s business online and getting into unusual foods like wild boar, Marx is trying to make importing foods eco-friendly.

“One of my biggest pet peeves is green-washing,” he says of the practice of feigning eco-friendliness while pursuing actions that can be environmentally destructive.

Shipping beef from as far away as New Zealand hardly passes muster in locavore-minded Seattle, as Marx readily acknowledges. “That is a line we’ve definitely had a hard time navigating.”

Take the New Zealand beef—yes it travels far, but “they are the best,” he says. He reconciles the conflict in part by the condition of the cows: “[New Zealanders] love their animals and they also really love the land,” he says. And to top it off Marx Foods buys carbon offsets for shipping the meat home.

“We have a lot of local products and we’re working really hard at finding them,” Marx says. “But they have to pass the panel.”

Never one to rest, Marx is expanding the company’s domain to include monthly subscriptions and gifts. But the secret to his success, Marx says, isn’t rapid growth, it’s growing the business right: “It’s all about the little nuts-and-bolts things.”

Well that, and perfect flavor.

Story by Laura Onstot, with photo by Ryan Clark of MarxFood.com

Cut flowers off flower heads. Then add flowers to a metal container. Wash the lemons and cut in very thin slices. Add the lemon slices to the container. Then add sugar and citric acid on top and pour over nearly boiling water. Cover the container with a clean kitchen towel or lid and put in a cool place for three-four days. Stir once in a while to ensure sugar is mixed with the liquid. Add a piece of cheese cloth to a sieve and pour liquid through. Then add to thoroughly cleaned and sterilized bottles and keep refrigerated. The finished elderflower cordial is served mixed 1 to 6 with sparkling water. The cordial can also be frozen.

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news

F R O M T H E U B A L U M N I A S S O C I AT I O N

>>

alumni

The Main Event

Bits of blue in a sea of red Bulls fans held their own with equally passionate partisans of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Aug. 31, at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. The Bulls rallied from a 23-0 deficit after the first quarter to outscore the Buckeyes in the next two quarters before falling 40-20 to the nation’s number two ranked team before a crowd of 103,980.

At a crossroad: chapter reorganization Not surprisingly, many UB alumni live in Western New York. But did you know that 155,000 other alums live elsewhere, including 7,500 who reside outside the U.S.? Despite this widely scattered membership, the UB Office of Alumni Relations devotes much time, energy and resources toward keeping the family together.

Alumni chapters—typically in regions with a significant population of alumni (1,000 or more within a 50-mile radius)—are one way for UB grads outside Western New York to stay in touch with each other and with the university. They offer a structure for activities and events to help build UB pride, support professional networking and foster camaraderie. They also serve to remind alumni of all the great things UB is doing.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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news

alumni

Affliliates

“The vast majority of universities have chapter programs in order to strengthen the bond with alums,” says Mike Jankowski, associate director in the UB Office of Alumni Relations.

Even so, chapters are also challenging to maintain, especially for a university of UB’s size. Spurred on by a variety of factors from budgets to volunteer leadership changes, the alumni office and the UB Alumni Association board of directors recently conducted an audit of chapter programs. The result was a reorganization. “We studied the whole program to figure out what was working and also what wasn’t,” Jankowski explains. “While everyone agreed that chapters are a positive, we also wanted to focus on those regions that had committed volunteer leadership and were able to consistently provide quality programming.”

As a result, the program now has two tiers: chapters and affiliates. Regions that met the criteria set forth during the audit retained their chapter status; those that didn’t have been reclassified as affiliates.

Among other qualities, those designated as chapters have a hisAnyone interested in tory of solid and engaged leaderbecoming involved with a ship, as well as successful event chapter or affiliate should planning and implementation. contact Mike Jankowski at Furthermore, chapters are of stramjankow@buffalo.edu or tegic importance to the university 716-645-8713. because of their alumni population or other factors. Affiliates, on the other hand, may be new or in a rebuilding phase.

Or they may need time to recruit volunteer leadership and establish the presence required to be a fullfledged chapter. “Volunteers in affiliate areas need to prove that they have skin in the game. Bringing alums together in their area has to be as important to them as it is to us for it to work,” Jankowski says.

“We’ll continue to work with each chapter and affiliate to assist with alumni outreach and events,” Jankowski says. The intent, he adds, is to help chapters keep their status and for affiliates to elevate to chapter status.

Albany

Rochester

Chapters

Atlanta

San Francisco

Dallas/Ft. Worth

Baltimore

Seattle

Denver

Boston

Tampa

Houston

Charlotte

Los Angeles

Chicago

UB Employee Alumni group

New York

Cleveland

Phoenix

Detroit

San Diego

Orlando

South Florida

Philadelphia

Washington, D.C.

Raleigh

Western New York

Philadelphia: on the way to chapter status One affiliate that has gained major traction in regaining its chapter status is Philadelphia. Gary Jastrzab, BA ’76 & BA ’76, executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, had been ruminating about how to get more involved with UB and fellow alumni in the Philly area. “Over the years, I would occasionally run into other former Buffalonians and UB graduates in Philadelphia, and always enjoyed comparing stories with them,” Jastrzab says. “It seemed to me that, through the UBAA, there was a good opportunity to establish a more permanent Buffalo-Philadelphia connection here.”

Erin Zack, UBAA associate director of affiliate programs and liaison to the Philadelphia chapter, struck up a friendship with Jastrzab and invited him to participate on the UBAA board. “I got to know Gary because he often came to our events, and he always told me how much UB meant to him. I knew that

he would be great for the board and to help move Philly back to [being] a chapter,” Zack says. Jastrzab now sits on the board and is also a volunteer leader for the new Philadelphia affiliate.

With Jastrzab’s involvement, the Philadelphia group has steadily increased engagement with area alumni, holding several events that range from dinner and networking to baseball games and winetastings. Meanwhile, Jastrzab has been joined by three other alumni volunteers to continue the group’s momentum. They are Jay Schwartzkopf, BS ’97, Amy Weiss, MA ’89, and Gene Trybulski, PhD ’74.

“I’ve reached the point in my career where I have the motivation and opportunity to give something back to those who helped me get started on my life path,” says Jastrzab. “My UB experience meant so much to me, and I’d like to support and give back to the institution in some way.”

A call for keepsakes!

Have you kept mementos of your time as a UB student? Your eight-track player, a Fall Fest ticket stub, a favorite T-shirt? “Keepsakes” is the name of a new feature that we’ll run in subsequent issues. Send us a photo of your item with a brief explanation of what it means to you. If we select it, we’ll contact you. Send photos and descriptions to lmaynard@buffalo.edu.

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Association Billboard UB Downtown lecture series

Sportswear and clean waterways Pro athletes, celebrities, fans and fashionistas alike are the target market for UB alumnus Pete Augustine, BS ’87, president of New Era Cap Company headquartered in Buffalo, who spoke to fellow graduates during a lunchtime UB Downtown session April 10. Augustine highlighted the company’s 90+-year history, including how it became the official onfield cap for Major League Baseball and the NFL.

On May 1, the importance of water as a natural resource became abundantly clear when UB alumna Jill Jedlicka, MBA ’00 & BA ’96, executive director and riverkeeper for Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, addressed a crowd of 75. She discussed her organization’s ecological efforts toward preserving the quality of Western New York waterways and ensuring access to fishable, swimmable and drinkable water for future generations.

Sound interesting? From Dracula to the zombie craze to economic development, fashion and politics, we leave no topic unexplored in our various speakers series. Keep an eye out for UB alumni events in Western New York or where you live at www.alumni.buffalo.edu/events.

Career Conversations Event Students tap alumni networks Student boredom during semester break? Not if the UB Alumni Association and the Office of Career Services have anything to say about it. Together they presented a series of Career Conversations events in Albany, Buffalo, New York City and Rochester during winter break last January. Collectively, 118 alumni from myriad industries met with and advised 199 students and recent grads. Unlike a job fair, Career Conversations gives attendees access to alumni, plus the luxury of time, to have in-depth discussions on all manner of career-related topics. Students can use these events to begin building their UB network—one they may tap into throughout their careers for advancement and professional know-how.

UB at Noon lunchtime lecture series A veteran’s valor The heroic actions of a UB alumnus serving in Afghanistan riveted an audience of nearly 100 on April 9 as Christopher Safulko, JD ’13, shared his firsthand experiences serving as an executive officer and scout platoon leader in the Nuristan province of Afghanistan.

Safulko’s notable service was chronicled by Jake Tapper, former senior White House correspondent for ABC News, in his bestselling book, “The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor,” published in November 2012.

Burstein took a show-of-hands poll asking the audience—the majority of whom graduated at least several decades ago—if they had been vaccinated for serious afflictions, such as hepatitis A and B, influenza, rubella and shingles. The results showed that most of the guests needed to call their doctors.

Burstein, also an associate clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is a member of a number of professional organizations and has been published in various scientific journals, including JAMA and Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Vaccinations needed!

Scout platoon leader Christopher S. Safulko, JD ‘13, (left) with his senior scout, Sgt. Samuel Alter.

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The myth that vaccinations, like Trix cereal, are just for kids, was dispelled by Gale Burstein, MD ’90, Erie County health commissioner, during her presentation to alumni on Feb. 6, 2013.

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Look for the little blue asterisk, which denotes an Alumni Association member!

U P D AT E S F R O M G R A D S B Y T H E D E C A D E Schweitzerlives in Norwich, Vt. Peter Kadzik, BA 1974, has been nominated by President Obama to be assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, U.S. Department of Justice. He has been serving as the principal deputy attorney general, also in the Office of Legislative Affairs. Kadzik was previously in private practice at Dickstein Shapiro LLP in Washington, D.C. He resides in Washington.

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Robert Attea, BA 1966, was inducted into the St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute’s Signum Fidei Society for his professional achievements. He is executive chairman of the board for Sovran Company, one of the largest public companies in Western New York.

Attea lives in Buffalo, N.Y. Walter Fierson, BA 1967, is a pediatric ophthalmologist in Arcadia, Calif. He is also lead author of the policy statement on retinopathy of prematurity for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Fierson resides in Arcadia. Gerald Ross, BA 1968, was a visiting artist/scholar at the American Academy in Rome in March 2013. He recently exhibited his oil paintings at the Bijou Theatre in Eugene, Ore. His artwork can be purchased from the “Daily Paintworks” website.

Ross resides in Eugene, Ore.

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Gerard * Mazurkiewicz, BS 1969, has

been named to a twoMAZURKIEWICZ year term on the Hilbert College board of trustees. He is a partner at Dopkins & Company LLP, and resides in West Seneca, N.Y. Edward Ostrowski, BS 1969, was elected a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in October 2012 and received the ASME distinguished service award in October 2010. He is now retired after 42 years working in the power-generation industry. Ostrowski lives in Simpsonville, S.C.

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Ronald Uva, BA 1970, received

the distinguished service award from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He lives in Oswego, N.Y. Mark Katz, BA 1971, an attorney for Ulmer & Berne LLP, was named an Ohio Super Lawyer.

KATZ Ohio Super Lawyers showcases outstanding lawyers in the state who are recognized by their peers for professional accomplishments. Katz resides in Bay City, Ohio. Francis Meyer, MS 1971, was nominated by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to the Missouri Quality Home Care Council. He lives in St. Louis, Mo. Gina Hammond, MS 1973, was recognized by Continental Who’s Who as Woman of the Year 2013 in the field of fedHAMMOND eral government contracting. Hammond received a distinguished alumni award from the UB Alumni Association in 2011.

She lives in Warrenton, Va. Ivy Schweitzer, BA 1973, professor of English at Dartmouth College, received a lifetime achievement award from the Modern Language Association’s Division for American Literature Before 1800. She was recognized for her mentorship, scholarship and teaching and becomes only the third female winner of this prestigious honor.

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Daniel Ricigliano, MS 1974 & BA 1971, was elected president of the Community Charter School’s board of RICIGLIANO trustees. An assistant professor at SUNY Buffalo State and a practicing CPA, he formerly served as board treasurer. He lives in Amherst, N.Y. Edward Carmines, PhD 1975, was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious learned societies. Carmines is professor of political science at Indiana University.

He lives in Bloomington, Ind. Richard Futyma, BA 1975, is an environmental scientist for The Chazen Companies, a firm specializing in engineering, environmental and landscape architecture services.

He resides in Ballston Lake, N.Y. Kim Gerard Santos, BA 1975, received the Edward Guilbert Award for professional GERARD SANTOS achievement from the Data Interchange Standards Association at its October 2012 meeting in Rochester, N.Y. The Guilbert Award is the highest level of recognition bestowed upon e-business professionals.

Santos resides in Alexandria, Va. Nancy

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BLASCHAK

Blaschak, BS

1976, is regional chief executive officer of the American Red Cross of Western New York. She resides in Eden, N.Y. Deborah Goodrich, BS 1977, is interim vice president for administration and enrollment at Alfred State University, where she began her GOODRICH career in 1978. Recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service, Goodrich is an active member of the National Association of College Admissions Counseling.

She lives in Alfred Station, N.Y. Jeffrey Reed, BA 1977, is president of Mount Calvary Cemetery Group. He has more than 25 years’ experience in administration, sales and marketing, and resides in Buffalo, N.Y. Arnold Drucker, BA 1978, was appointed to the Nassau Community College board of trustees by New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

With almost 30 years’ experience in law and real estate, Drucker is a member of the American Judges and Arbitrators Association and the American Bar Association.

He lives in Plainview, N.Y. Paul

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Summergrad, MD 1978 & BA 1971, serves as the Dr. Frances S. Arkin professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center. He is also president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association, and resides in Newton, Mass. Ellen Grant, PhD 1979, is deputy mayor for the City of Buffalo. She is Mayor Byron W. Brown’s GRANT liaison to the Board of Education and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. She also collabo-

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rates with the Buffalo Police Department on such programs as Say Yes to Education and Buffalo Promise Neighborhood.

Grant resides in Grand Island, N.Y. Gregory Hiczewski, BS 1979, is chief financial officer at UBMD Internal Medicine.

He resides in West Falls, N.Y.

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Mark Hoeplinger, MBA 1979 & MD 1979, was inducted into St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute’s Signum Fidei Society for his professional achievements.

Named one of “America’s Top Doctors” in 2012, Hoeplinger is an otolaryngologist who founded Western New York Ear, Nose and Throat in 1987.

He lives in Orchard Park, N.Y. Terrie Benson Murray, JD 1979, is president of the Philanthropic Education Organization’s local chapter. A partner at Cohen & Lombardo, Murray is a founding member of the chapter. She resides in Orchard Park, N.Y.

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Mary Horbachewski, BS 1982, was

promoted to principal at HORBACHEWSKI Chiampou Travis Besaw and Kershner LLP. She specializes in tax accounting and tax consulting services for businesses.

Horbachewski resides in Hamburg, N.Y. Sean McHale, BA 1983, is city president at the Sarasota branch of SunTrust Banks Inc. He will also continue to be managing director for SunTrust’s private wealth division, a position he has held for the past five years. McHale lives in Brandon, Fla. Robert

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Adamski, BA 1984, has been a clinical psychologist in private practice in the Washington, D.C., area for the past 25 years.

He treats individuals, groups and couples with a combination of insight-oriented and behavioral psychotherapy focused on real-life outcomes.

Adamski resides in Washington D.C. Andrew Anderson, BS 1984, joined the law firm of Harter Secrest & Emery LLP as counsel in the ANDERSON Rochester, N.Y., office. He has more than 20 years of intellectual property practice experience, and he is concerned with various domestic and foreign patent laws and practices. He resides in Penfield, N.Y. Sandra Anzalone, BA 1984, was named superintendent of Eden (N.Y.) Central Schools. In addition to being the principal at Grand Island High School for seven years, Anzalone was named 2009 Woman Administrator of the Year by Western New York Women in Education Leadership. She

lives in Lawtons, N.Y. Patricia Clabeaux, BS 1984, is senior vice president of human resources and organizational develCLABEAUX opment at Independent Health. Previously a senior director of human resources at Kaleida Health, Clabeaux also serves as chair of the board of directors for the Elizabeth Pierce Olmsted Center for Sight. She resides in East Amherst, N.Y. Robert

Pollard, PhD 1984 & MA 1983, was honored with the 2012 Lyon Founder’s Award POLLARD from the Rochester School for the Deaf in recognition of his professional contributions to the education of deaf persons. In addition to writing and lecturing on health care topics affecting deaf professionals, Pollard has produced 15 films in American Sign Language for deaf audiences. He lives in Rochester, N.Y. Chi Sham,

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PhD 1984 & MA 1980, is recipient of the 2013 Water Resource Sustainability Division’s OASIS award, which recognizes an individual’s contributions to advancing sustainable water resources. Sham lives in Needham, Mass. Blackford Middleton, MD 1985, was named assistant vice chancellor for health affairs and chief informatics officer for health systems at Vanderbilt University.

Previously, Middleton was corporate director of clinical informatics research at Partners Healthcare in Boston.

He resides in Nashville, Tenn.

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Timothy Lafferty, BS 1986, * joined the board of directors of

the Crisis Services Foundation.

An information technology sales and marketing professional, Lafferty is immediate past president of the UB Alumni Association. He resides in East Aurora, N.Y. Richard Frappa, MA 1987 & BA 1985, has been named senior consultant at GEI Consultants Inc., one of the nation’s leading geotechnical and environmental firms.

A published author, Frappa is a consultant to numerous

electric power generation companies throughout North America. He lives in Orchard Park, N.Y. Gary Cohn, BA 1988, is director of vendor management at Independent Health. He was previously assisCOHN tant vice president of strategic sourcing at M&T Bank. Cohn lives in East Aurora, N.Y. Thomas Knab, JD 1988 & BA 1982, is vice president of the board of directors of Neighborhood Legal Services Inc. Recognized as one of the top attorneys in the KNAB region, Knab has worked in New York State and federal courts for more than 20 years, handling both jury and non-jury trials. He lives in Williamsville, N.Y.

Barbara “Babs” Reingold, MFA 1988, mounted an art installation called “The Last Tree” in May 2013 in New York’s Soho District under the auspices of the New York Foundation for

the Arts. The installation focuses on environmental indifference. She divides her time between New York City and St. Petersburg, Fla. Lisa Foti, BS 1989, is chief financial officer at Summit Educational Resources, where she manages FOTI accounting, budgeting and financial reporting activities. With more than 20 years of accounting experience, Foti was named Business First’s CFO of the year in 2009.

She resides in Williamsville, N.Y. Thomas Ostrowski, BA 1989, an attorney for Ulmer & Berne LLP, was named an Ohio OSTROWSKI 2013 Super Lawyer. He lives in Strongsville, Ohio. Jennifer Schuster, BA 1989, was promoted to partner at Applied Management Systems, a full-service health care SCHUSTER manage-

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eventcalendar

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Distinguished Speakers Series

UB Scholarship Gala

10.23.13

Edward Wright Practice Facility, North Campus

Alumni Arena, North Campus

“Late Night with Leonard Bernstein”

10.25.13 Slee Hall, North Campus

Ira Glass

10.26.13 Center for the Arts, North Campus

11.08.13 Malcolm Gladwell, Distinguished Speakers Series

11.13.13 Alumni Arena, North Campus

11.13.13 Student Union Lobby, North Campus

Career Conversations NYC

11.07.13

01.15.14

Center for the Arts, North Campus

Union League Club

11.07.13 Student Union, North Campus

ment consulting firm. With more than 25 years’ experience as a registered nurse, nursing director and emergency department expert, Schuster is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives. She resides in Sharon, Mass.

Hump Day Hangout After Hours

Career Conversations, College of Arts and Sciences

REALM Leadership Mentoring Program

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Career Conversations Buffalo

02.12.14 Center for the Arts, North Campus

All dates and times subject to change.

Visit www.alumni.buffalo.edu/events for updates.

MALCOLM GLADWELL

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James Gottstine, BA 1990, is chief operating officer at Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation, where he oversees day-to-day operations of the company, as well as assisting in its short- and long-term strategic planning. Previously, he served as vice president of finance at the same company.

Gottstine lives in Orchard Park, N.Y. Paul Mayer, BS 1992, has been promoted from manager to principal at The Bonadio Group, upstate New York’s largest provider of accounting, consulting and financial services. Mayer resides in Penfield, N.Y. Jeffrey Mendola, BA 1992, was recognized by FundRaising Success as one of the magazine’s rising stars for his successful fundraising campaigns for Mercy Flight Western New York, his former employer.

Most recently, Mendola developed a major fundraising campaign for New Directions Youth and Family Services. He lives in Cheektowaga, N.Y. Anthony Moore, BA 1992, was named a top 10 finalist in the 2012 American Zoetrope Screenplay contest. He lives in Carlisle, Pa. Nick Kompare, MBA 1993, was promoted to vice president of strategic planning at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.

He resides in Pittsford, N.Y.

Ge Wang, PhD 1993 & MS 1991, joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as the John A. Clark

and Edward T. Crossan Professor of Engineering, an endowed WANG chair in the School of Engineering. Wang’s innovations over the past 25 years have helped advance the field of medical imaging.

He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and lives in Troy, N.Y. Timothy Zuber, BS 1993, was named associate principal at Wendel, an architectural and engineering firm. A civil engineer with more than 19 ZUBER years’ experience in land development and stormwater system design and evaluation, Zuber serves as town engineer for the town of Wheatfield, N.Y. He resides in Williamsville, N.Y. Jacqueline Hollins, BS 1994, joined the Oracle Charter High School board of trustees. She is assistant vice provost and director HOLLINS of undergraduate academic student advisement at UB. Hollins resides in Buffalo, N.Y. Michael Reilly, MBA 1994 & BS 1993, is president of the pharmacy benefit dimensions division at Independent Health, where he brings nearly 20 years of experiREILLY ence and leadership to health care and pharmacy management. He is also former president of the UB School of Pharmacy Alumni Association. Reilly lives in Hamburg, N.Y. Bryan Roth, BA 1994, was appointed business development manager at Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

He was previously politicaleconomic relations and public affairs officer with the Consulate General of Canada.

Roth resides in East Amherst, N.Y. Ram Kumar Krishnamurthy, MS 1995, received the 2012

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European Solid State Circuits Conference best paper award.

He is a senior principal engineer and director of high performance circuits research at Intel Labs in Hillsboro, Ore., and lives in Portland, Ore.

Donald Leo, PhD 1995 & MS 1992, has been named dean of the University of Georgia College of Engineering. Previously associate dean for research and graduate studies at Virginia Tech College of Engineering, Leo is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In 2004, he was named outstanding recent alumnus of the University of Illinois. He lives in Blacksburg, Va. Kasey Nye, BA 1996, is chair of Tucson (Ariz.) Metro Chamber’s budget, finance and legal committee.

He practices bankruptcy law, repreNYE senting large and small business and nonprofit entities as creditors and debtors throughout the nation.

He lives in Tucson. Michael J. Ball, BS 1997, became deputy regional director for Western New York for Empire State Development. He was recently employed at Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus as director of planning and implementation. Ball resides in Buffalo, N.Y. Natalie Miovski, BPS 1997, was named among the 10 Most Influential designers in the nation by Healthcare Design MIOVSKI Magazine.

As director of health care at EwingCole, one of the nation’s foremost health care architecture firms, Miovski has led the planning of complex, highly specialized health care facilities. She resides in Philadelphia, Pa. Scott Rybarczyk, BS 1997, was appointed associate principal at Wendel, an architectural and engineering firm. He is a civil and environmental engineer who has assisted in the design of various modeling projects throughout RYBARCZYK

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the U.S. He is also active in green design. Rybarczyk lives in Buffalo, N.Y. Sean Beachy, BPS 1998, is the associate principal at Wendel, an architectural and engineering firm.

A registered architect in both Virginia and New York State, Beachy is renowned for his work on the awardwinning BEACHY Kalamazoo, Mich., Transportation Center.

He resides in Arlington, Va.

John Koeppel, JD 1998, MBA 1995 & BS 1995, was recognized as an international leader in the 2013 edition of Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

A partner at Buffalobased Nixon KOEPPEL Peabody LLP, Koeppel leads the company’s nationally recognized private equity funds practice.

He lives in Hamburg, N.Y. Frank Sparacino, JD 1998, formed Sparacino & Sparacino PLLC in August 2012 with his wife, Jessica Sparacino. Located in Northport, N.Y., the general practice firm concentrates in matrimonial and family law mediation, as well as real estate transactions. He resides in Northport. Kevin Lembke, BA 1999, is vice president of merchandise at Busch Gardens.

Lembke has 13 years’ experience at Sea World parks and entertainment as merchandise manager. He resides in Williamsburg, Fla. Eric Pettee, BS 1999, joined the Gunlocke Company as a division finance controller, where he will provide leadership to all financial aspects of the company.

Previously, Pettee worked for General Motors and Electronic Data Systems. He resides in Lima, N.Y.

Moved recently?

Have you moved or updated your email?

Manage your profile at www.ub-connect.org.

00

Andrew Fiorella, BA 2000, an

attorney at Ulmer & FIORELLA Berne LLP, was named an Ohio Super Lawyer Rising Star. Fiorella resides in Bay City, Ohio. Krista Glenn, BS 2000, was named director of marketing at ABCAmega, a global commercial receivable management firm.

Previously, she was marketing manager at Buffalo Lodging Associates for 10 years. Glenn resides in Amherst, N.Y. James Dwyer, MD 2001, is medical director of the emergency department at Northern Westchester Medical Center in DWYER Mount Kisco, N.Y. Most recently, he was associate director of emergency services for Nyack, N.Y. Dwyer resides in New City, N.Y. Robert Hambrecht, BS 2001, is senior project manager at AVCON Inc. in Orlando, Fla., where he specializes in airport design and construction. Hambrecht resides in Orlando. Markus Messer, MS 2001, is a research engineer at Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG in Germany, where he specializes in structural dynamics. He also teaches a dynamics class at Technische MESSER Hochschule Mittelhessen (University of Applied Sciences) in Freidberg, Germany. Messer lives in Bad Nauheim, Germany. Keith

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Parwulski, BS 2001 & AAS 1995, joined the Buffalo branch of Summit Federal Credit Union as senior manager. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the banking and

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management field. Parwulski resides in Clarence Center, N.Y. Kristy Berner, JD 2002 & MBA 2002, is senior vice president and general counsel at BERNER First Niagara Financial Group Inc. She resides in Hamburg, N.Y. Timothy Dietrich, BS 2002, is associate principal at Wendel, an architectural and DIETRICH engineering firm. He is a certified energy manager with more than 12 years’ experience in energy performance contracting.

Dietrich lives in Henrietta, N.Y.

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Kevin Majchrowicz, BS 2002, earned his designation as a certified valuation analyst at Brock, Schechter & Polakoff LLP. He is also a certified information technology professional. Majchrowicz resides in Lancaster, N.Y. S. Philip Unwin, JD 2002, was designated as a Medicare set-aside certified consultant at Goldberg Segalla LLP. Unwin is also a speUNWIN cial counsel for the firm and a member of its workers’ compensation practice group. He lives in Rochester, N.Y. Ilana Lane, PhD 2003 & EdM 1994, is president-elect of the New York State Association of Teacher Educators. She is employed at Medaille College as an associate professor and dean of the School of Education. Lane lives in Buffalo, N.Y. Jason Bird, BA 2004, is a certified financial planner at the Williamsville, N.Y., office of New England Financial.

A member of the BIRD UB Alumni Association board of directors and assistant basketball coach for The Park School of Buffalo, Bird has worked in financial services for more than seven

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54 UBTODAY Fall 2013 Classnotes.indd 54

years. He lives in Tonawanda, N.Y. Felix Castro, BS 2004, is a realtor for Citi Habitats in New York, N.Y., where he resides. Todd Kashdan, PhD 2004 & MA 2000, is recipient of the 2013 American Psychological Association’s distinguished scientific award for early career contributions to psychology in the area of individual differences. He lives in Centreville, Va. Michael Klanac Jr., BS 2004, is team leader for GripeO, a website and mobile application available to consumers and businesses. He resides in League City, Texas. Wendy Manhardt, BS 2004, has joined the architectural group at Foit-Albert Associates, Architecture, Engineering and Surveying PC. With more than nine years of professional experience in the architectural MANHARDT design field, Manhardt will work on concept designs at Erie County Medical Center. She lives in Buffalo.

N.Y. Norris Poleon, MBA 2004 & BS 2002, is vice president at Engineered Facility Solutions in Buffalo, N.Y. and lives in East Amherst, N.Y. Timothy McCorry, PhD 2005, is president of the New York State Sociological Association. He is assistant professor of social sciences at Medaille College. McCorry resides in Buffalo, N.Y. Kara Rafferty, BFA 2006, is creative services associate at Carolee Jewelry, where she recently designed the firm’s signature textile pattern for tote bags, cosmetic bags and umbrellas sold at Bloomingdale’s.

She resides in Fairfield, Conn.

Geanne Blazkow, JD 2007, is an associate at the Buffalo office of Phillips Lytle law firm. She resides in Buffalo, N.Y. Siobhan

Counihan-McGee, BA 2007, received the Rising Star Award from the Advertising Research Foundation during the foundation’s 2013 Re:think conference. Counihan-McGee was recently promoted to account manager at Keller Fay Group, where she has been working

for the past four years. She resides in New Brunswick, N.J. Gavin Fulmer, PhD 2007, is assistant professor of curriculum, teaching and learning at Singapore’s National Institute of Education. Previously, he served as associate program director of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s division of research on learning. Fulmer lives in Singapore. Sean Janis, BS 2007, was promoted to studio architect on FarmVille 2 at Zynga Inc., where he works across engineering, art, and product and design disciplines.

FarmVille 2 is Zynga’s first 3D social game and is played by 50 million monthly active users. He resides in Lafayette, Calif. David P. Marcoux, MArch ’07 & BS ’05, joined Foit-Albert Associates architectural group. He specializes in modern design within historically significant buildings. He lives in Buffalo, N.Y. Joseph Salamon, DDS 2007, was named the Nashville Area Dental Provider of the Year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Indian Health Service. Salamon serves as the chief dental officer based at the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation Health Center. He resides in Buffalo, N.Y. Mark Adler, CEL

2008, MA 1983, MBA 1982 & BA 1979, is founder and president of Why Not Marketing LLC in Williamsville, N.Y. He lives in Williamsville. Jeremy Blecha, BS 2008, is a supervising senior accountant at Tronconi Segarra & Associates. He lives in Buffalo, N.Y. Lisa DeLucia, DDS 2008, was winner of the Golisano Foundation 2012 Healthcare Leadership Award.

In addition to her private practice in Webster, N.Y., she teaches pediatric dentistry residents at University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center’s Eastman Institute for Oral Health.

DeLucia resides in Rochester.

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Dawn Odrzywolski, PMBA 2008 & BA 2004, was promoted to chief compliance officer at Independent ODRZYWOLSKI

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Health. She has more than nine years’ experience in the health insurance industry, and resides in West Seneca, N.Y. Tyler Case, BS 2009, is manager at The Bonadio Group, upstate New York’s largest provider of accounting, consulting and financial services. He resides in Gasport, N.Y. Mary Curr, BS 2009, is an accountant at The Bonadio Group. She lives in Buffalo, N.Y. Abbey Hendrickson, MFA 2009, is the new executive director of the Tioga County Council of the Arts. Previously, Hendrickson was an instructor in the art department at Mansfield University, as well as program director at Western New York Book Arts Collaborative in Buffalo, N.Y. She lives in Owego, N.Y. James O’Shea, JD 2009, was named a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Empire State O’SHEA Council list. An associate at Hancock Estabrook LLP, O’Shea is licensed to practice law in the U.S. District Court. He lives in Syracuse, N.Y. Michael Reyen, JD 2009 & MA 2009, joined the real estate and finance practice group in the Buffalo office of Hodgson Russ LLP. His prior experiREYEN ence includes national law firm associate and bank officer and senior auditor. Reyen lives in Kenmore, N.Y. Kevin Wolfe, BS 2009, joined the Dallas, Texas, office of SmartWatt Energy as a project engineer. He will be responsible for multi-measure energyefficiency projects. Previously, he was electrical process engineer at Lockheed Martin. Wolfe resides in Dallas.

10

Megan Anderson, MS 2010, was promoted to accountant at The Bonadio Group, upstate New York’s largest provider of accounting, consulting and financial services. She lives in Fairport, N.Y. Scott Donnelly, BS 2010, has been named experienced assistant at The Bonadio Group. He lives in Amherst, N.Y. Joshua Gardner, MArch 2010 & BS 2008, joined Foit-Albert Associates, Architecture, Engineering and Surveying, GARDNER PC. He will begin work with the architectural design team on the new UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Science building to be constructed in downtown Buffalo. Gardner resides in Brooklyn, N.Y. Kristin Kimball, BS 2010, has been promoted from experienced assistant to accountant at The Bonadio Group. She lives in Buffalo, N.Y. Peter Winkelstein, EMBA 2010 & MD 1990, was appointed executive director of the UB School of WINKELSTEIN Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

Winkelstein is also UB professor of pediatrics, chief medical informatics officer for UBMD and former chief of the division of general pediatrics. He lives in Buffalo, N.Y. Jay Jerose, BS 2011, staff accountant at Testone, Marshall & Discenza LLP, earned his certified pubJEROSE lic accountant license. He resides in Liverpool, N.Y. Michael Klemens, MS 2011, is a certified public accountant at Brock, Schechter & Polakoff LLP, where he

*

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Find fellow alumni in the online directory at www.ub-connect.org.

works on a variety of attestation and taxation engagements.

He resides in Canandaigua, N.Y. Harshal Prakash Patankar, MS 2011, received a master of engineering degree in acoustics from Pennsylvania State University. He resides in State College, Pa. A. Peter Snodgrass, JD 2011, was named managing attorney at Collins & Collins Attorneys.

SNODGRASS He lives in Buffalo, N.Y. Joseph Emminger, JD 2012 & BA 2009, is an associate at Walsh, Roberts & Grace.

He resides in Buffalo, N.Y.

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Lauren Fish, JD 2012 & MBA 2012, was named an associate at Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel FISH LLP, a fullservice corporate law firm. She will be involved in business, corporate governance, health care, tax and not-for-profit matters. Fish is also on the board of directors for Lawyers for Learning, a volunteer program aimed at partnering members of the legal community with at-risk students. She lives in Amherst, N.Y. Michael

Logan, JD 2012 & MBA 2012, is an associate attorney at Hodgson Russ’s real estate and finance practice group in the firm’s Albany, N.Y., office. He focuses his practice on financings for municipalities, school districts and for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Logan lives in Niskayuna, N.Y. Jake Thorsen, BA 2012, is serving a 10-month term in the National Civilian Community Corps, an AmeriCorps program. Thorsen resides in Pequea, Pa. Evan Wopperer, MS 2012, is assistant for the commercial team within The Bonadio Group at its Buffalo location. Previously, he was accounting assistant for Paul D. Voytovich, CPA, CFP. Wopperer resides in Hamburg, N.Y. Karlie Beil, BS 2013, was named traffic coordinator at Travers Collins, a Buffalo marketing communications agency. She will manage the agency’s work within the creative department. Beil resides in Buffalo, N.Y.

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inmy

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ALUMNI SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS

Skydiving anyone? UB’s 31 official club sports run the gamut from Kendo (a Japanese form of fencing)

MICHAEL GELEN, JD ’88

to Ultimate Frisbee and even skydiving. Did you play a club sport or participate in intramurals while at UB? I joined the Gymnastics Club.

We had to commute to a local gym for practice a few times a week and pay our own way for most competitions, which led to a lot of carpooling, team dinners and fun trips.

We competed mostly within the Northeast, and each year qualified a team for the NAIGC (National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs) Nationals. It was the best of both worlds to be a student-athlete without the pressure and lack of time/ sleep that comes with a Division 1 schedule. It was also great to have a group of friends with a common interest, and to meet and mentor those who were just starting out in the sport. I even met my now-husband through the club, and our teammates were well represented at our wedding.

Mary Busch, EdM ’10 & BA ’08 Amherst, N.Y.

I played intramural volleyball for a few semesters. I think the most memorable things about it were our team name, the “Funky Beaners,” and that our team color was tiedye. We lost quite a lot but we still had a lot of fun playing.

Tom Trinchera, MLS ’96 & BA ’94 Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

It was the summer of ’75, and my roommate Bob Flaum, BS ’77, and I played on a summer intramural softball team with School

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were from Europe and South America. There was even one American!

Chris Behnke, BS ’00 Whiteland, Ind.

of Management Dean Joseph Alutto [now interim president at Ohio State] and Professors Howard Foster, Jerry Newman, Sandy Gunn and others. It was a really incredible experience spending time with the faculty outside the classroom and Crosby Hall, and we actually won the League Championship.

Ken Nussbaum, MBA ’81 & BS ’77 Edgemont, N.Y.

I played on the rugby team, a club sport, in 1967 and 1968. As I recall, our club played in the “Ontario Rugby Union.” My most uncomfortable memory is being kicked by an opposing player and then lying on that cold winter ground trying to regain my breath (I think

we used injured players as sideline markers). On the other hand, I have many fond memories of playing various Canadian teams and enjoying the tradition of attending very rowdy after-game parties. A keg of beer and singing old rugby songs were requirements.

Allyn Gemerek, BA ’68 West Point, Va.

During the summer semester, the international students in the engineering school would get together for a weekly game of football (“soccer” for those who don’t know any better) out by the tennis courts next to Legoland [as some then dubbed the Ellicott Complex]. It was some of the best football I have played. We had players from Africa, the Middle East and Asia; most

As a freshman in the fall of 1957, I notified the track coach that I was a sprinter in high school and would like to join the team. Despite my being a sprinter, he entered me in my first competition, a five-mile cross-country “meet” against Army at West Point. I was taking so much time to finish the race that the cadets had to rescue me from the hills with a U.S. Army jeep, much to the applause of my teammates as we crossed the finish line.

David Greenholz, BA ’61 Lake Worth, Fla.

I had taken bowling as a gym course and really enjoyed it. So when there was an opportunity to join a league in the Student Union bowling center, I jumped at the chance. My friends also joined, making it a lot of fun. It is a social sport and I continue to bowl on a league, as do members of my family.

My son is bowling for his university!

Sue DiGiacomo, BA ’74 Brick, N.J.

The question for In My Opinion derives from the monthly electronic newsletter @UB. To read previous issues, go to www.alumni.buffalo.edu/news.

www.buffalo.edu/ubt

9/20/13 11:40 AM

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