The  Research Foundation celebrated the 12th Annual Research Foundation Recognition Reception on April 27, 2009. A record number of more than 140 guests attended the ceremony held in the 2nd floor reception hall at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. This annual event is planned to acknowledge project directors with grants and award activity in the academic year.  In addition, the recipients of the Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowships are recognized and congratulated along with the Research Foundation employees achieving milestones in the number of years of service to The Research Foundation.

Congratulations are extended to all of this year’s award recipients.  Margaret Shaw-Burnett, Ed.D., associate vice president of continuing professional studies; and Theresa M. Janczak, Ph.D., assistant professor of exceptional education were  inducted into the Million Dollar Club. The Million Dollar Club, established in 2006, recognizes research project directors who have achieved one million dollars in sponsored programs awards since 2000 to conduct their research projects at Buffalo State College.

Dr. Shaw-Burnett is project director for Erie County’s Community Action Organization Head Start Hispanic/Latino Services Partnership, a five-year, $1.5 million program.

Dr. Janczak received a grant to fund the New York State Response to Intervention (RTI) Technical Assistance Center, which will oversee a pilot program to assist students in grades K–4 who are at risk of failure.

The number of Undergraduate Summer Fellowship Recipients this year increased to twenty, with the largest number of recipients from the School of Arts and Humanities, followed by the School of Natural and Social Sciences and the School of the Professions.
 
Five employees celebrate milestone anniversaries for years of service at The Research Foundation. Congratulations to Sherri Manka (22 years), Sharon Bessinger (15 years), Jessica Berg and Susan Maerz (10 years) and Dale Bessinger (5 years).

This year 40 (forty) new faculty were welcomed, and two have been awarded incentive grants sponsored by the Council on Research and Creativity.  Three new faculty members (Jude Sabato, Charlotte Roehm and Carol DeNysschen) have already submitted a proposal to a federal agency.  Buffalo State’s collaborative arrangements locally have continued to prosper and include partnerships with Daemen College, Buffalo and Lackawanna Central Schools, and the Seneca Nation of Indians.  Work has continued to extend beyond our country’s borders as well with on-going research activity in China, Cambodia, and Thailand, as well as a new partnership with the Faculty of Arts of Moscow State University, Russia.

On the post award side sponsored program activity is up across the board. The direct volume has increased by 5% and the indirect volume is up by 9% when compared to the same time period last year.  CDHS continues to contribute in large part to the overall success accounting for 82% of total sponsored program expenditures.  The Research Foundation at Buffalo State College continues to outpace Binghamton University, and for the first time, also the Health Science Centers in terms of sponsored funding.  More than half of the sponsored program activity (56%) of all of the University Colleges in the SUNY system is attributable to Research Foundation of SUNY/Buffalo State College.