HIGHLIGHTS

Jason Fox Named Intern of the Year
    Gloversville native Jason Fox, a UAlbany junior, has been named Intern of the Year by the Capital Region Software Alliance.
    Fox, 20, a computer science and applied mathematics major, has been working as an intern at Commerce Technologies Inc. since May 1999, under the Center for Advanced Technology’s Strategic Planning Partnership of Industrial Resurgence program. 
    Originally hired to perform Web application development, Fox quickly mastered advanced concepts in electronic commerce. 
    Richard Jones, Commerce Technologies’ vice president of technology, said, “He is now an intern in title only and has transformed himself into an indispensable employee.”
     Commerce Technologies, which last year won the alliance’s Promising New Enterprise award, is a business to business e-commerce infrastructure company based at CESTM.
    “Jason is responsible for the majority of our Web-based functionality and has been a key contributor to several cutting-edge technical innovations,” said Commerce Technologies President and UAlbany alumnus Frank Poore. “His work consistently exceeds expectations, he demonstrates effective leadership skills, and he brings an infectious excitement to his work. Jason’s value to Commerce Technologies cannot be overstated.”

Eminent Reading Theoretician Speaks at UAlbany
    Louise Rosenblatt, best known for her reader-response theory (also called the transactional theory of reading) spoke to a packed Alumni House April 18. Her ground-breaking work was first articulated in the 1938 publication of Literature as Exploration.
     “My theory insists on the interplay between the text and the reader, just as in a conversation,” Rosenblatt said. “There’s a spiral process: The meaning happens between the reading and the individual.” Rosenblatt credited both William James and Lev Vygotsky as influential in her intellectual development.
     Educated at Columbia University, the University of Grenoble and the University of Paris, she earned a doctorate in comparative literature from the Sorbonne.
    Rosenblatt, 95, maintains an active intellectual life as a writer and speaker. Her most recent published work was Continuing the Conversation: A Clarification in Research in the Teaching of English. Rosenblatt’s visit was sponsored by UAlbany’s National Research Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA).

John E. Burton Lecture is May 19
    The annual John E. Burton Lecture and Distinguished Public Service Awards Ceremony is set for Friday, May 19, at 4 p.m. in the Arthur E. Levitt Executive Seminar Room, Draper Hall, Room 313. The event is free and open to the public. This year's Burton Lecturer is Richard P. Mills, commissioner of the New York State Department of Education. For the last 15 years, this lecture has marked the beginning of Commencement weekend.
    After Mills’ speech, the Distinguished Public Service Awards will begin. This year, the School of Information Science and Policy recognizes Robert J. Freeman, executive director of the Committee on Open Government; the School of Social Welfare pays tribute to Edward J. Kramer, assistant director of the New York State Department for the Aging programs; the Graduate School of Public Affairs honors Abraham M. Lackman, secretary to the Senate Finance Committee and special advisor to the Majority Leader; and the School of Criminal Justice recognizes Katherine N. Lapp, director of New York State Criminal Justice and commissioner of the Division of Criminal Justice Services. 

    Researchers at UAlbany and 28 other campuses in the SUNY system will have available to them next January a new software system that will handle grants management, purchasing and payroll for their sponsored projects. The new system, which is more user-friendly and accessed through a Web browser, is being implemented by the Research Foundation of SUNY, which is responsible for the administration of externally funded contracts and grants on behalf of the State University of New York.
     The Research Foundation chose the Oracle suite of applications, which is expected to be operational by January 1. The project, named Oracle Application Software Implementation Strategy, or OASIS, features better access to information, a more user-friendly, Web-based graphical interface, and electronic information exchange with campuses, vendors and grant sponsors.
    “Oracle will be particularly useful to project directors by providing better access to current project information and providing greater flexibility in managing their projects,” said Paula Kaloyeros, OASIS coordinator. She said a team of trainers would introduce the UAlbany research community to the OASIS project and Oracle system at a series of presentations beginning this month.
     For more information, go to www.rfsuny.org/oasis/index.htm.

    Amy Bonser, an instructor of English as a Second Language at the University in the Intensive English Language Program (IELP), has been chosen to join a Rotary Club Group Study Exchange in Kwangju, South Korea, from mid-May to mid-June. The exchange will offer professionals a chance to foster international understanding, while connecting with those in their particular area of expertise. This year’s focus will be on Korean arts and culture. Since Bonser began teaching  more than three years ago, she has incorporated art into her classroom whenever possible.
    Using her undergraduate degree in art history from Manhattanville College, she has found that art is ideal for communicating with students. The five-member team, including Bonser, will be connected to local arts institutions, stay with four host families over the course of the month, and be introduced to the fine arts and performing arts in the region. In addition, each member will be given five professional days in which to specialize in a particular area of interest.
   Since its inception in 1978 at the University at Albany, IELP has taught English to nearly 2,700 students from approximately 70 countries.