Sign Up Today to Volunteer for Commencement
With Commencement Weekend just about six weeks away, now is the time to sign-up to volunteer at one of the many activities planned for May 19 and 20.

“Volunteers are vitally important to the success of this weekend, and we ask that they consider helping with as many activities as possible,” said Commencement Coordinator Linda Wheeler.

• Volunteers are need for the following areas:
• graduate and undergraduate ceremonies (ushers, escorts for disabled guests, student lineup/procession, faculty robing/lineup, and more)
• information booths across campus to guide guests to the appropriate areas
• the podium area on both days to provide assistance to guests
• individual school ceremonies (needs vary by school)

Commencement ceremonies will be held on Saturday, May 19, and Sunday May 20. The graduate ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. on May 19 in the Recreation and Convocation Center. The undergraduate ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. on May 20 on the lawn behind the new library. In addition, individual schools and departments will hold ceremonies throughout the weekend. There will be a family picnic on the podium from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on May 19, as well as the traditional Torch Night at 8:30 p.m.

If you would like to volunteer, contact Christy DeLaMater, academic events coordinator, with your area of interest for the weekend. She can be reached by phone at 1-8626, by fax at 442-5839, or by e-mail at: cdelamater@uamail.albany.edu. As a special thank you, all volunteers will receive a commemorative shirt prior to the weekend.

Those who are volunteering at the graduate or undergraduate ceremony are invited to breakfast each morning in the Campus Center from 7 to 8 a.m. Those involved with other shifts and areas may attend the picnic on Saturday, May 19, from 3 to 7:30 p.m.

In addition to their actual work commitment, volunteers will be asked to attend a briefing at the Recreation and Convocation Center or library lawn in advance of Commencement. The graduate ceremony rehearsal is scheduled for May 15 at 1 p.m. The undergraduate ceremony rehearsal is set for May 17 at 9 a.m.

University at Albany sociologist John Logan was in the news again on March 26, this time on the front page of USA Today for his work analyzing U.S. Census data.

The article noted that while Hispanic immigrants are “spreading out from traditional immigrant gateway cities,” they are “living in increasingly segregated neighborhoods in cities where they are the largest minority.”

And while Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites may see each other at school, at work, and in stores, they rarely live in the same neighborhoods.

“We see them around, but they’re really on a side street somewhere,” Logan told USA Today. “It’s not ‘our’ street.”

According to the sociologist, census results in 41 states so far show that the “average non-Hispanic white lives in a neighborhood that is 6.3 percent Hispanic,” while “the average Hispanic lives in a neighborhood that is 44 percent Hispanic.”

Logan was also quoted in The New York Times on March 25 in a story about the census results in Westchester County.

UAlbany Director of Athletics Lee McElroy was honored by USA Today on Feb. 26 in Sportsline. McElroy was one of six leaders in intercollegiate athletics recognized by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics during February, which was Black History Month.

Professor of English and Distinguished Service Professor of American Literature Ronald Bosco was quoted in The Boston Globe on March 12 in a story about Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Mass.

According to the story, the Massachusetts Port Authority is urging expansion of Hanscom Field. But a group has been formed to argue that expanding Hanscom endangers America’s national birthplace.

Minute Man National Historical Park, the 967-acre national park around the airport, is the site of the first battle in the Revolutionary War. While the park would not be destroyed, building turning lanes and rebuilding intersections on Route 2A are under consideration, noted the article.

“The park faces an insidious, long-term threat, that of being slowly suffocated by development around its borders,” said Bosco, a specialist on Ralph Waldo Emerson, and president of the Thoreau Society.

The story noted that “some of PBS’s most familiar faces, such as David McCullough, Shelby Foote, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and documentary filmmaker Ken Burns,” have formed a group called Save Our Heritage to protect Minute Man National Historical Park and have already spoken out on the topic. Bosco is a member of the Save Our Heritage Advisory Board.

Master Plan
By Mike Boots

Old Administration Building and Library: There will be two major roofing projects on the podium this spring. The old Administration Building and the Library will be re-roofed. These two projects will begin sometime after Commencement, which is the weekend of May 19 and 20. The staging area for the contractors will be the Carillon Drive side of the old Administration Building.

Life Sciences Roadways: The east end of the podium is experiencing major temporary roadway changes as the new Life Sciences Building gets under way. Carillon Drive East and Center Drive East will not be accessible from Perimeter Road during this project. There will be access to the State Quad parking areas through the State Quad parking lot. A temporary road will be paved from Perimeter Road to the Indian pay lot area and will serve as access to the parking areas around Indian Quad.

Grounds Building: The Grounds Building on the west side of Fuller Road is slated to be demolished sometime later this year. The Warehouse Building near Grounds will house most of the Grounds equipment. Meanwhile, Warehouse items will be pared down and moved into the Commissary Building on the south end of the Facilities Management complex. The demolition of the Grounds Building will make room for more green space and a better-looking facility next to CESTM on Fuller Road.

Paul Wallace Leads Lunchtime German Table
Carol Olechowski
Some come to practice their German; others to learn the language. Some are seeking fellowship with people who share a common background or culture; others are reaching out to make friends. They come from the United States, Austria, Germany, Vietnam, and Ghana, but their interest in German language and culture unites them - around the German Table, which meets at the Indian Quad dining room Wednesdays at noon.

Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Josiah Gould started the German Table years ago. After he retired, Distinguished Service Professor Paul W. Wallace of the Department of Classics continued to gather the group each week. Participation ranges from “a few” to 15 or so, said Wallace.

A full complement of diners attended the March 28 lunch session. One of them was Ilse Baker, a University of Heidelberg graduate who holds an M.L.S. from UAlbany’s School of Information Science and Policy. The retired Hebrew Academy librarian learned about the German Table recently when Wallace sent a notice about it to University departments; her husband, Armand, a Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (LLC) faculty member, passed the message along to her.

Baker comes to Indian Quad because “it’s fun to see who turns up.” It’s interesting, also, for her to contemplate why many of this particular group - most of whom are American - learned German, since most Americans who learn a second language choose French or Spanish.

A number of the participants speak German because they learned it at home or in school. Margarita Woelfersheim has no affiliation with UAlbany but learned about the German Table from Baker. “My family and I came to the U.S. in 1951; we were refugees from World War II. I learned English really quickly but didn’t speak German very much except when I visited Germany.

“You don’t really forget your mother language,” Woelfersheim continued, “but it’s nice to have this opportunity to speak German with other people, because things do come back.”

For Alexander Gyamfi, German is a second language. The Ghana native spent nine months in Germany as an exchange student. While there, he acquired a love of the German language, people, and nation; in fact, “I still keep contact with some German friends I made,” said Gyamfi, who is an assistant librarian in the University Libraries. The German Table “is just like home away from home for me,” he stated.

A youthful love of opera - and a determination to learn “the operatic languages” - led Mathematics and Statistics Professor Richard O’Neil to undertake German years ago. “I went to a few German classes here and found them excellent,” said O’Neil, who has taught at UAlbany since 1968. The German Table, he noted, allows him to “practice my German and get my ear used to hearing it again.”

Graduate student Klaus Ladstaetter, a native of Austria, doesn’t need the practice. “It goes beyond the German; I’ve made a lot of friends here,” said Ladstaetter, who is studying towards a doctorate in philosophy.

Elena Verchinina, a visiting professor from Moscow State University, has been coming to the German Table since her arrival at Albany last September. “It is great that all of these people come together. It is like a large family; we discuss music and culture and current events. Now I have a lot of friends here, and I am so happy.”

Verchinina, a linguist, pointed out that “a lot of English words are derived from German.” German is also useful in scholarly research, and faculty and students engaged in research “should know German as well as these other languages.”

The others at the German Table said that the language is an essential part of a well-rounded education. Silke Van Ness, a former professor of German who now teaches English and linguistics in the University’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), said she attends because it affords her “a chance to speak some German. I’ve also met some nice people.” For the Germany native, German is “a research tool” as well as her first language.

Professor of Philosophy Robert Howell, a 25-year faculty member who enjoys the Wednesday gatherings, commented: “It would be wonderful if the University could return to teaching German. It’s an academic resource as well as a cultural one. Graduate students need to learn it, and there’s no way for them to teach themselves.” Paul Wallace and his Department of Classics colleague, John Overbeck, said that many German-language research materials are not translated into English and that scholars who have no knowledge of German are at a disadvantage.

Wendy S. Becker joined the Manage-ment faculty in the School of Business in the Spring 2000 semester and is currently teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Human Resource Management, Motivation and Productivity, and Change Management.

Some of Becker’s previous positions, such as vice president and managing principal for Aon-HR Strategies Incorporated (where she was charged with starting a new office) and as manager and senior consultant for Development Dimensions International, contribute to the rich business expertise she brings to the University. She has managed projects with many of the leading companies in America, including Colgate, SONY, Phillip Morris, Pillsbury, and Miller Brewing.

Becker earned a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from Pennsylvania State University, University Park, in 1999. She will be presenting her dissertation research at the 16th Annual Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists Conference, held in San Diego on April 27. Her research, which has been nominated for the Newman award, has also been accepted for presentation at the Academy of Management Conference in Washington, D.C., in August.

Becker has written more than 50 papers, presentations, workshops, and technical reports in areas such as teams, selection and assessment system design, new plant start-ups, business ethics, and motivation. Recently, she was a keynote speaker on change management for Allstate Insurance. She is currently leading a management faculty team in a local strategic change project, and conducting a follow-up study on her dissertation, an investigation of 50 new plant start-ups.

As a new associate professor of Management Science and Information Systems (MSIS) in the School of Business, Jakov Crnkovic brings expertise from the University of Belgrade’s economics department, University of Miami, Fla., and University at Binghamton, N.Y.

His previous position was with the College of Saint Rose in the Department of Computer Information Systems. According to Giri Kumar Tayi, the department chair for MSIS, “Professor Crnkovic brings to the department’s programs a unique blend of pedagogical and teaching skills that are highly effective in teaching a course with 350 students as well as a course with 30 students. His academic training and professional expertise enable him to teach courses that span both the technical and managerial aspects of MIS at all levels (undergraduate, M.B.A. and executive) of the department’s programs.”

Crnkovic has taught courses, such as Systems Analysis and Design, Business Information Systems, Operations Research/MS, Database Management, and programming languages courses, to undergraduates and graduates. In addition, “He is an active researcher with over ten books and over 50 papers in the fields of decision support systems, applications of management science tools and techniques, and IT education and pedagogy,” says Tayi.

Crnkovic is currently working on “A Government Information System for Montenegro” and “New Thinking for the Intro IT Course,” both scheduled to appear in the International Resource Management Association conference proceedings in Toronto, May, 2001.

Catherine T. Lawson has joined the faculty of the Department of Geography and Planning. Lawson is “the first transportation planner to join our full-time faculty. She greatly strengthens our transportation expertise and links with state and federal transportation agencies,” says Ray Bromley, department chair. She is teaching graduate students in her Spatial Statistics/Statistical Methods for Planning course, and undergraduates who are taking Housing and Community Development.

Before joining UAlbany, Lawson was a research associate with the Center for Urban Studies and a faculty member in the School of Urban Studies and Planning at the College of Urban and Public Affairs at Portland State University (PSU), in Portland, Ore. She has a Ph.D. in urban studies and regional science as well as two master’s degrees, one in applied economics and one in urban and regional planning, from PSU.

“Dr. Lawson has a strong background of practical planning experience in the City of Portland,” said Bromley. Lawson is also actively conducting “bi-coastal” projects with research partners on the West Coast. She is the head consultant for the Oregon Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Shipper/Motor Carrier survey - a study of how freight carriers perceive infrastructure problems in Oregon. Lawson intends to be an active member of the University Transportation Research Center, which is located at City University of New York. She is proposing a work force project that will examine bus drivers’ understandings of new electronic devices and data that have been implemented on the buses. She will also be using archived Intelligent Transportation Systems transit data from Portland, Ore., in a pilot study, and plans to include local data from the Capital District Transportation Authority.

Lawson spent three years as a transportation research group manager at PSU, bringing together many faculty and students to do interdisciplinary research projects. Her research has been presented at a number of conferences, particularly at the Transportation Research Board.

IBS Research Continues at CSAD
By Carol Olechowski
Edward B. Blanchard of the University’s Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders has received an additional $500,000 of the $1.98 million National Institutes of Health grant that will enable him to continue his four-year study of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Now, all he needs are some additional study participants.

Blanchard first expressed interest in IBS research about 15 years ago, after learning that workers in the United States called in sick more frequently for stomach pain than for any other complaint except headache and backache. Abdominal pain, cramping, or tenderness; bloating; and altered bowel habits are symptoms of IBS. All told, it is estimated that 21 million to 40 million U.S. residents suffer from the syndrome.

The CSAD director and one of his students began researching IBS with a small sample of four patients referred by Albany Medical Center’s John Balint, M.D. Since IBS is a functional disorder - no physical abnormality is associated with it, and, therefore, no scans or medical tests can detect its presence - “it is, in many ways, an ideal problem for study by clinical psychologists interested in health-related issues,” says Blanchard.

Early last year, Blanchard and a University at Buffalo colleague, Jeff Lackner, Ph.D., launched a more comprehensive study. They set out to recruit 240 patients suffering from IBS symptoms, with 120 set for diagnosis and treatment in each venue. Thus far, Blanchard has worked with 48 participants. He is looking to recruit another 50 this year.

Over a four-month period, each participant completes a series of questionnaires that detail symptoms for four weeks prior to the start of treatment and for two weeks following its conclusion. Albany Medical Center gastroenterologist Howard Malamood, M.D., also examines patients to rule out the existence of inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, or Crohn’s disease, whose symptoms mimic those of IBS.

What Blanchard hopes to do is assist IBS sufferers to find non-drug treatments for the syndrome. Since stress and anxiety seem to contribute to IBS, “I would like to get people to think differently and react differently to stress in their lives,” he says. He is working with one group to achieve that change in thinking. The other is “focused more on a combination of education and feelings about IBS. We are trying to educate them about the syndrome as much as we can.”

Blanchard feels that non-drug treatment will ultimately prove the most effective method of dealing with IBS. “I am certain the pharmaceuticals companies will continue to try to develop drugs that work on IBS. But almost all drugs have some side effects; it’s just a matter of how bad they are,” he says.

One drug to which some extremely serious side effects were recently attributed was Lotronex. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration pulled the medication from the market after it was suspected of contributing to the deaths of five people. Approved for use with women several months before, it was the first medication targeted specifically for relief of IBS symptoms.

Blanchard’s study will conclude with an additional year of followup. During that phase, he hopes his patients will remain symptom-free.

For information about the IBS study or to volunteer to participate, call the Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders at 442-4025.