Members of the UB community celebrated community learning and research accomplishments on last Thursday at UB's fourth annual Celebration of Academic Excellence in the Center for the Arts (CFA).
The event began at 1 p.m. with the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Display in the atrium of the CFA. Students stood by their posters to answer questions from the public about their research projects.
Students were nominated by the deans of their schools to present at this event, according to Tim Tryjankowski, the director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities.
One of the students at the research display was Quratulain Majoka, a senior anthropology and pre-medicine major, who made a poster reflecting her research, which focuses on cultural barriers on reproductive health. She used surveys of women in Western New York to reflect the sexual taboos in South Asian countries.
"The main mission was to raise awareness of the taboos and observe how students of South Asian origin view the lack of open sexuality in their culture. I am a South Asian woman, so this was a very personal project for me," Majoka said.
Sarah Elder, a professor of media study, was acknowledged for her highly acclaimed film on native Alaskans called Drums of Winter during the event. A special screening of the film, included on the prestigious 2007 National Film Registry, was shown before the awards ceremony.
President John B. Simpson announced how excited he was to see the Celebration of Academic Excellence in its fourth year.
"Our celebration acknowledges not just the hard and hard and inspiring work surely is the necessary first step that goes into getting our work ready to go on to the shelf," he said. "It rewards us for all those who take the next step by moving their ideas into action in ways that improve peoples lives."
Eight SUNY Distinguished Awards were given to UB professors and deans. The SUNY Board of Trustees granted the awards to professors who have had outstanding academic careers that included a focus on the university, according to the Celebration of Academic Excellence Web site.
Those awarded this prestigious award include: Makau W. Mutua, the dean of the UB Law School; Frederick Sachs, a professor of physiology and biophysics and George C. Lee, a professor of engineering, among recipients.
"Excellence, in fact involves both creation and application and those kinds of things are what we are here to honor today," Simpson said.
The 2008 SUNY Honorary Doctorate Degree of Humane Letters went to Jean Malaurie, the founder and director of the Center for Arctic Studies, of the Paris School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in France.
Another award given out at the ceremony was the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. UB professors received this award after demonstrated teaching ability in the classroom, according the Celebrations of Academic Excellence Web site.
Rajan Batta, a professor of industrial systems and engineering, David Schmid, an English professor, Hong Luo, a physics professor, and Lewis Mandell, a professor of finance and managerial economies, received awards for showing concern for students and commitment to scholarship.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
