M E M O R A N D U M May 11, 2010 To: Members of the Board of Trustees From: Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor Subject: Appointment of Distinguished Professors I recommend that the Board of Trustees adopt the following resolution: Whereas the State University of New York Board of Trustees has proudly established a historic tradition of acknowledging and honoring extraordinary faculty achievement through appointment to Distinguished Faculty Rank; and Whereas the appointment to Distinguished Faculty Rank is both a system-wide distinction and a promotion in rank; and Whereas Distinguished Faculty Rank has, heretofore, been limited to the state-operated campuses because a promotion in rank is a personnel matter over which the local community colleges� Board of Trustees exercise authority; and Whereas the SUNY Board of Trustees and Chancellor Zimpher and the State University�s executive leadership wish to extend SUNY�s highest tribute to the Community Colleges in recognition of the extraordinary contributions and achievements of faculty in this sector; and Whereas the SUNY Board of Trustees has the authority to bestow system-wide distinctions; now, therefore, be it, Resolved that each faculty member listed below be, and hereby is, appointed to the rank of Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York campus indicated, effective May 11, 2010: Professor Leonard Epstein, Pediatrics, University at Buffalo Professor Alexis Levitin, English, SUNY Plattsburgh Professor Steven Lynn, Psychology, Binghamton University Professor Sanford Miller, Mathematics, SUNY Brockport Professor John Parise, Geosciences, Stony Brook University Professor James Piorkowski, Music, SUNY Fredonia Background Appointment to the rank of Distinguished Professor is conferred upon individuals who have achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within a chosen field. This distinction is attained through significant contributions to the research literature or through artistic performance or achievement in the case of the arts. The candidates� work must be of such character that the individuals� presence will tend to elevate the standards of scholarship of colleagues both within and beyond these persons� academic fields. It must be of such quality that students and scholars on other campuses of the State University could and would wish to benefit by lectures and seminars or other appropriate presentations the faculty members might bring to them. The contributions of these scholars far exceed those mentioned in this resolution. Several important characteristics are omitted for brevity's sake. The candidates are also considered superlative teachers, setting the highest academic standards for their students. Beyond their scholarship, the candidates have contributed meaningfully and consistently in several notable areas including extensive and superior service to the profession; leadership and ongoing participation on influential disciplinary committees; membership on prestigious editorial boards; service as reviewer or consultant on regulatory, advisory, and award-making bodies; and invited presentations at conferences and symposia. The following encapsulates their disciplinary accomplishments. Leonard Epstein � Professor Epstein is an internationally renowned scholar in the fields of behavioral medicine, nutrition, and therapy. He is one of the world�s foremost experts in the area of childhood obesity. An exceptional scientist and scholar who has been a highly productive member of the University at Buffalo�s faculty for 16 years, Dr. Epstein has committed his career to behavioral medicine and therapy, pioneering the concept of family-based treatment of childhood obesity, which has been called �the undisputed, worldwide standard in the field.� More recently, he has explored the role of the dopaminergic system and food habituation in obesity. His research has had a major impact in the field, leading to effective treatment of pediatric obesity over both the short and long term. Alexis Levitin � Professor Levitin has been translating Brazilian and Portuguese literature for thirty-five years. His translations have appeared in over two hundred magazines, including American Poetry Review, Grand Street, Kenyon Review, New England Review, New Letters, Partisan Review and Prairie Schooner. His work has appeared in over thirty anthologies, including the recent New European Poets (Graywolf Press). His thirty books include Clarice Lispector�s Soulstorm and Eugenio de Andrade�s Forbidden Words, both published by New Directions. His work has earned him two NEHG Translation Fellowships, grants from a number of foundations, and residencies at the Rockefeller Foundation Center in Bellagio, the Banff Center for the Arts in Canada, and the European Translators Collegium in Germany. In addition to giving many talks on translation at professional conferences, he is the founder and coordinator of the bilingual reading program at the annual conference of the American Literary Translators Association. Steven Lynn � The author of more than 280 publications, including 19 books, Professor Lynn is an internationally recognized leader in clinical psychology. His scholarly work is far-reaching, engages some of the most controversial issues in contemporary psychology, and has yielded important advances in our understanding of hypnosis, dissociative disorders and trauma, the role of fantasy in everyday life, and the pliability of memories. His contributions span clinical, cognitive, and forensic psychology, and his work has not only shaped the landscape of hypnosis theory and practice, but has also served as a driving force in the development of legislation at the state, federal and international levels. Sanford Miller � Professor Miller is an internationally recognized mathematician known for his outstanding scholarship in the field of complex analysis. A ground-breaking 1981 paper, co-authored with Dr. Petru Mocanu, introduced the notion of Differential Subordinations � an analogy in the complex plane to the all-important notion of inequalities in the real plane. That fundamental result led to a vast simplification of many existing proofs and to the solution of many other long-standing problems across numerous disparate fields of mathematics � including some 400 subsequent articles. Their 2001 book �Differential Subordinations � Theory and Applications� then integrated and structured this broad set of results into a cohesive basis for new research. Dr. Miller has lectured at more than 25 international universities and has received more than 30 awards and grants including five Fulbright Research Awards, seven National Academy of Sciences awards and six National Science Foundation grants. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Babes-Bolyai University in Romania in 2001. John Parise � Professor Parise�s research accomplishments and leadership over the past 28 years have brought him the highest level of international prominence within the closely linked communities of crystallography, mineral physics, and solid-state chemistry. His application of X-ray and neutron scattering techniques to address the complex relationships between atomic structure and functionality of materials has made lasting contributions to the study of materials critical for removing environmental contamination, water purification, design of engineered materials, and for study of the Earth, both its deep interior and its surface-most processes. His success in continually raising the standards of research has garnered him key leadership positions in community-wide development of new experimental facilities, most notably at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, at the Joint Photon Science Institute, sponsored by the New York State and Brookhaven National Laboratory, and at the National Synchrotron Light Source II, now under construction at Brookhaven National Laboratory. James Piorkowski � Professor Piorkowski career has included internationally lauded contributions to the disciplines of music composing, performing, recording and teaching. Professor Piorkowski has added numerous works of consequence to the classical guitar repertoire, with many of his compositions published in the U.S. and abroad. His recordings, which significantly feature his original compositions, have been critically acclaimed in leading music journals. As a concert artist, he has performed in prestigious venues and noteworthy music festivals in South America, North America, Europe, Russia, and the Caribbean, with numerous world-premiere performances to his credit. As a leader of the distinguished Buffalo Guitar Quartet, Professor Piorkowski successfully commissioned and solicited new works by important composers, which helped make the Buffalo Guitar Quartet preeminent in its day. Remarkably and historically, the Buffalo Guitar Quartet released the first ever all-new music recording for four guitars. This impressive expansion of the quartet repertoire subsequently helped establish the medium as an accepted format in the musical world. It is my pleasure to present the six faculty members named in this resolution to the Board of Trustees for its approval. A copy of the President�s letter for each professor is attached. The letter highlights the individual�s major career achievements, and provides the campus rationale for recommending appointment. The full dossier is available in the Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Attachments 2 -2- Board Resolution May 11, 2010