UB employs an army of well-qualified professionals who are experts in their fields, many of whom have made essential contributions to their profession in non-academic settings.
All are willing to provide their students with inside information to make UB students more real-world savvy and knowledgeable than their competitors.
For anyone who has spent a summer in Buffalo, the free theater festival Shakespeare in Delaware Park is probably familiar. Saul Elkin, its founder and artistic director, has been a UB professor since 1969.
"I've always felt I needed to practice what I preach," said Elkin, who has acted in or directed over 250 productions. "Maintaining an active professional life as a director and actor gives me a credibility with my students that only enhances my role as professor, and keeps me sharp and current."
Paul Schifferle, a UB professor and a mechanical and aerospace engineer at General Dynamics' Flight and Aerospace Research Group, agrees that having authentic industry experience is invaluable as an instructor, especially in engineering classes.
"One of my goals as a teacher is to give those theories and equations a personality of their own, to give students a feel for what they're learning," said Schifferle, who graduated from UB in 1988. "Every class I attempt to inject real word anecdotes that illustrate and bring the subject I am teaching to life."
The effort is not lost on his students.
"He's real down to earth," said Rob Bouza, a senior mechanical engineer who is a student of Schifferle's this semester. "He always makes an effort to bridge the gap between books and the real world."
"Teaching will always be part of what I do as a musician," said Fackelman. "It is a wonderful opportunity to learn from students and well as provide information and guidance to them."
All agreed that a large part of their job as instructos is to use their intimate knowledge of the business to give their students every advantage possible. They also said watching a student of theirs succeed is one of the most fulfilling experiences as a teacher.
"Many former students have gone on to very successful careers in performance, teaching, and conducting," said Fackelman. "I feel a sense of pride and happiness for them because I know how hard they worked to achieve their goals. It's very rewarding."
Elkin, the Shakespeare in Delaware Park director, considers it an obligation to do all he can to give his students a leg up.
"Keeping connected to the professional word provides my students with a connection through me to the working world of theatre," said Elkin. "If I don't give them that boost I'm not doing my job."
"Part of teaching, according to Schifferle, is stripping away the fake from the real in the industry.
"As engineers, we are frequently a means to an end in a business. As much as we technical-types would like to believe that it's 'science for the sake of science,' in many cases it's not - it's 'science for the sake of business,'" said Schifferle. "To that end we are forced to deal with work situations that aren't taught in engineering classes and are subsequently learned on the job."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
