Events Center dedicated
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| Joel Thirer, director of Health, Physical Education
and Athletics; State Sen. Thomas W. Libous; President Lois B. DeFleur;
Elizabeth D. Capaldi, SUNY vice chancellor and chief of staff; and
University Council Chairman John F. Spring dedicate the new Events
Center during a ceremony in late April. |
Nearly 450 members of the campus and local communities packed the Events
Center April 29 to dedicate Binghamton University's new $33.1 million
multi-purpose facility.
"This Events Center has literally risen from the ground, and we are here
today to recognize the many individuals and groups who helped make this possible," said
President Lois B. DeFleur. She was joined in remarks by State Senator Thomas
W. Libous; Elizabeth D. Capaldi, SUNY vice chancellor and chief of staff; John
F. Spring, chair of the Binghamton University Council; and Joel Thirer, BU director
of Health, Physical Education and Athletics. "The community should be proud
that we have a world-class facility to show off," Libous said.
The Events Center has already been selected to host the America East Conference
championship tournament in men's basketball next March. Events this summer
included a performance by Harry Connick Jr. June 25 and the Empire State Games
July 28-Aug. 1.
. . . and hosts its first Commencement
For the first time in 20 years, the Binghamton University campus hosted
Commencement -- with nearly 3,300 graduates, along with family and friends,
bearing witness to the excitement in the new Events Center.
Three separate ceremonies were held: one for graduate students the evening
of Sat., May 15, and two Sun., May 16, for Harpur College of Arts and Sciences
and the professional schools, respectively.
"It is appropriate that these ceremonies are in a new building, since we're
recognizing new intellectual growth," said President Lois B. DeFleur. "We
know that you will all make a difference in a world that really needs your expertise."
At the Graduate School ceremony, Eugene DeLoatch, current and founding dean
of the engineering school at Morgan State University in Baltimore, told graduates
they should have a "sense of awareness that those who have much need to
share with those who have the least."
Composer and teacher Ezra Laderman spoke to Harpur College graduates. "Find
what is essential in your life and find important time for it, and get to the
point where it is the highest level you can reach, and you will be fulfilled," he
said. New York Senator Charles Schumer, in remarks covered by USA Today, told
graduates they live in a "new world" that "demands and rewards
knowledge like never before in our history."
Charlene Kahlor Kramer '73, a philanthropist and senior executive
at the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), told the professional
school graduates that she hoped they would make a change for the common good. "Go
out and find your own ways to make a difference," said Kramer, who, with
her husband, Roger Kramer '72, has endowed a BU scholarship.
Campus
enjoys banner fundraising year
The 2003-04 academic year was an unprecedented year for fundraising, with
alumni, community members and local companies supporting Binghamton University's
projects, programs and initiatives.
In his annual report to the University Council, Thomas Kelly, vice president
for external affairs, noted several special fundraising endeavors, including
the Events Center's "Building the Legacy" campaign, which has
received $3.6 million in support; the Anderson Center for the Arts' "Keys
to a New Era" campaign, which has raised $1.5 million; and a $500,000
donation to the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences' Faculty Development
Fund.
A highlight of the fundraising season was a gift of $2 million by Ray and
Wanda Osterhout, with $1 million going to establish the Ray and Wanda Osterhout
Distinguished Professorship in Entrepreneurship in the School of Management
and $1 million to the Anderson Center for the Arts for technical equipment
and programming. The Concert Theater in the Anderson Center was renamed
the Osterhout Concert Theater in recognition of their gift. |
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Biomedical research receives significant state grant
A $749,931 state grant will give a boost to Binghamton University's biomedical
research efforts. The grant, part of $3 million in faculty development
awards to four New York universities, will help BU recruit a researcher
to lead the new Clinical Sciences Research Center.
"The goal here is to significantly ramp up biomedical and biotech research
on campus," said Kenneth J. McLeod, professor and chair of the Department
of Bioengineering, of the grant, announced by Gov. George E. Pataki May 10. The
grant is administered through the New York State Office of Science, Technology
and Academic Research Faculty Development Program.
Economists
view altruism as way of "signaling goodness"
Many economists contend that, for the most part, people act selfishly.
Yet people often perform unselfish acts, such as devoting considerable
time and money to charities, public service and even voting.
Kenneth Greene, BU distinguished professor of economics, and co-author
Phillip Nelson, emeritus professor of economics, reason in their book
Signaling Goodness: Social Rules and Public Choice that people engaged
in altruistic activities do so, in part, as a means of "signaling
their goodness" to others.
In the book, Greene and Nelson state that people who behave altruistically
have more relationships -- and more productive relationships -- with
others who are "good like themselves."
Biology professor examines religion as product of evolution
David Sloan Wilson, professor of biological sciences with a joint appointment
in anthropology, has made a career out of addressing controversial issues
in evolutionary theory. Now he has embarked on a new challenge to show
that evolution and religion are not far different.
In his latest book, Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion and the
Nature of Society, released in 2002, Wilson joins the two topics
in a process of proposing an evolutionary theory of religion that shakes
both evolutionary biology and social theory at their foundations.
"The ability of human groups to function as adaptive units is a product
of biological and cultural evolution in which the traits associated with religion
play an important role," he said. The key, he said, is to think of society
as an organism, an old idea that has received new life based on recent developments
in evolutionary biology. If society is an organism, he questions if we then can
think of morality and religion as biologically and culturally evoked adaptations
that enable human groups to function as single units rather than mere collections
of individuals.
. . .
and suggests that attraction evolves, too
In a project published in the current issue of the journal Evolution
and Human Behavior, Professor David Sloan Wilson studied physical
attractiveness from an evolutionary perspective with Kevin Kniffin, his
former graduate student in anthropology now at the University of Wisconsin.
Their findings? That people perceive others who are familiar to them
as being more attractive than are strangers.
"If you like someone or if they are contributing to a shared goal, they
appear more beautiful to you, apart from their physical features," Wilson
said. "This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, if beauty is an
assessment of fitness value and the value of a social partner is influenced by
non-physical in addition to physical traits."
Wilson and Kniffin's research team conducted three studies in which hundreds
of volunteers were asked to rate the attractiveness of people they knew,
of strangers and of people they grew to know over the time of the study.
People who knew and liked a person they were asked to rate tended to
rate that person as more attractive than they did a person they did not
know.
Psychologist
studies fetal alcohol damage
Research shows that drinking even moderate amounts of alcohol during
pregnancy can have detrimental effects on a fetus. However, a Binghamton
University psychology professor is working to discover whether, in some
cases, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is reversible.
Anna Klintsova, assistant professor of psychology, is leading a team
of researchers in developing ways to rehabilitate sufferers of FAS. In
their studies, they feed newborn rats alcohol-milk cocktails during their
first days of life to mimic similar exposure in the human fetus. They
then observe the rats' ability to complete different physical challenges
-- from crossing narrow bridges to climbing a strand of rope -- to evaluate
the effects of alcohol on the brain. The researchers then train the animals
on the acrobatic obstacles, repeatedly showing them over 20 days how
to correctly perform the tasks.
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Binghamton
named among "most unwired" campuses
Binghamton University was recently named by Intel as one of five
SUNY campuses included in its "100 Most Unwired College Campuses" survey
of wireless computing access. In addition, BU was one of six SUNY
schools ranked among Forbes magazine's "Most Connected" campuses.
Intel bases its "Most Unwired" ranking on the number
of wireless "hotspots" available on campus in proportion
to number of undergraduates, number of computers and the computer-to-student
ratio, as well as the percentage of each college campus covered
by wireless technology. The Forbes listing, created by The
Princeton Review, looked at the technological sophistication
of 351 leading U.S. colleges.
Technologies
complex heads summer construction
Work at the Innovative Technologies Complex's "research alpha" building,
located in the eastern edge of campus, begins this summer. Once
renovated, the building will house the Department of Bioengineering,
Center for Protein Dynamics, generic laboratories, incubator offices
and the Division of Research.
Other major campus construction projects are entering their final
stages. Work on Mountainview College's Windham and Cascade halls
is nearing completion. The Appalachian Collegiate Center is about
65 percent complete. Mountainview College work will include plantings
between the college and the Nature Preserve to minimize the impact
of the community on the Nature Preserve.
Bluestone walkways and lighting have been installed at the Memorial
Courtyard, thanks to a gift from the Class of 2004, and additional
trees have been planted.
Chemistry department ranked 19th nationally
Binghamton University's Department of Chemistry has been touted
as one of the best academic departments in the nation for the number
of bachelor's degrees it granted during the 2001-02 academic year.
The department was ranked 19th by the American Chemical Society's
Committee on Professional Training for its ability to retain its
students throughout their academic careers. It is the highest ranking
BU has received from the organization.
$3M grant transforms undergraduate engineering
UGS PLM Solutions, the product lifecycle management subsidiary
company of EDS, has awarded a grant of more than $3 million in
computer-aided design (CAD) software to support undergraduate engineering
students at Binghamton University's Thomas J. Watson School of
Engineering and Applied Science.
The 600 seats of Solid Edge software comprise the largest single
gift-in-kind contribution in Watson School history and serve as
a capstone to events marking the school's 20th anniversary year.
EDS is the world's most experienced outsourcing services company,
with revenues in 2002 of $21.5 billion.
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| Bluestone walkways and lighting have been installed
at the Memorial Courtyard, thanks to a gift from the
Class of 2004. |
We
Remember
Helen Pearl Beard, professor emerita
of mathematics, died Jan. 8, 2004, in Lynchburg, Va. She
was 88. Beard joined the faculty at Binghamton in September
1961 and retired in June 1982. She received her doctorate
in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jerry
Miller '67, senior instructor and assistant chair
of the department of economics at Miami University, said
his success as an academician is due, in large part, to
the role models he worked with as an undergraduate at Harpur. "High
on that list of superb individuals was Professor Helen
P. Beard," he said. "To me, she was the consummate
example of a true teacher -- excellence in the classroom
and compassionate and sagacious advising." In tribute
to her,
Miller
recently endowed the Helen P. Beard Award for Excellence
in Undergraduate Mathematics.
Arthur Clements, professor of English, died Feb. 22, 2004.
He was 71. He joined the faculty at Binghamton in March
1964 as an assistant professor. Prior to coming to Binghamton,
he taught at Syracuse University and the University of
Connecticut. A recipient of the University and Chancellor's
Awards for Excellence in Teaching in 1990, Clements "was
an utterly committed teacher, whose fierce dedication to
his students and deep love of poetry moved generations
of young writers and scholars," said Liz Rosenberg,
professor of English. Clements began his career in Renaissance
studies and poetry, and according to Albert Tricomi, professor
of English, Clements' "most enduring work was
his book John Donne's Poetry, which is a really fine
text."
Lena G. Sellano, former principal account clerk, died March
3, 2004. She was 83. She joined the University Nov. 1,
1952, and worked at the University for 43 years and eight
months until her retirement June 30, 1996. Sellano first
worked as a faculty secretary before being placed in the
business office, then located in Colonial Hall in Endicott,
in 1953. She moved to the Vestal campus in the early 1960s
when the business office was relocated to the second floor
of the Fine Arts Building. Sellano worked in the payroll
area and each night was seen carrying work home with her,
many of her former colleagues said. "Lena's
most enduring quality was her total commitment to her work
here at the University -- she was an amazing person
in that regard," said Sylvia Hall, director of Human
Resources. "The 'clock' did not dictate
her commitment at Binghamton, but rather she was one of
the rare people who simply did what was necessary to ensure
faculty and staff received their paychecks. Her dedication
to the University and the people who make it special was
extraordinary."
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