SUNY Chancellor King Announces May 14th Memorial Fellow to Advise the Commission
May 12, 2023
Chancellor Names Buffalo State Associate Provost Amitra Wall to Collaborate with University at Buffalo’s Regional Institute on Community Survey
Buffalo, NY – State University of New York Chancellor John B. King, Jr. today announced that Buffalo State University Associate Provost Amitra A. Wall will serve as a fellow to the May 14th Memorial Commission. In this role, Dr. Wall will collaborate with the University at Buffalo’s Regional Institute on the community survey and provide data analysis to inform the Commission as it determines the living and lasting memorial.
Earlier this week, Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Byron Brown announced the Commission will begin the public engagement campaign and host the first public meeting on June 13, 2023, at the Stanley Makowski Early Childhood Center from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr. said, “I commend Governor Hochul, Mayor Brown, and Reverend Blue for their thoughtful approach to dedicating a memorial for the East Buffalo community, by including the very public impacted by this tragedy. We hope the memorial will be a source of healing for the people of Buffalo and our state, but also serve as a symbol that we will continue to fight for equity and treat each other with respect and dignity. SUNY is proud to name Dr. Amitra Wall as fellow to collaborate in producing the community survey. We thank her, Buffalo State University, and University at Buffalo for supporting the May 14th commission.”
SUNY Trustee Eunice Lewin said, "Buffalo is known as 'the city of good neighbors.' Following the horrific attack one year ago in the East Side, that phrase came to life when the community rallied together to support the victims and their families, and to ensure no one was alone in their grief. Buffalo is a resilient city that has faced many challenges throughout its history. Through those challenges, we have become stronger, more interconnected, and more determined to be good, supportive neighbors. It is also an honor to see one of our SUNY professors and associate provost of Buffalo State, Dr. Amitra Wall, appointed to the critically important May 14th Commission. Dr. Wall's work will be vital to understanding the community's sentiment about creating an eternal memory to the ten lives lost."
Mayor Byron W. Brown said, “As we approach the one-year anniversary of the tragic racially motivated mass shooting of May 14th, 2022, it is important that while we look back and reflect on what happened, we continue to look forward on how to help our community heal and how to make the necessary change to overcome the historic inequities in East Buffalo. That work is already underway because of Governor Kathy Hochul and the members of the 5/14 Memorial Commission. I thank Dr. Amitra Wall for agreeing to accept to serve as the Commission’s Fellow. She will analyze the public feedback and provide complete and concise information to the commission on the community's input.”
The Commission was established in October 2022 by Governor Hochul and Mayor Brown in response to the mass shooting nearly one year ago in East Buffalo. The May 14th Memorial Commission consists of 11 community volunteer members and Buffalo NAACP President Reverend Mark E. Blue as the Chair.
Buffalo NAACP President and Chair of the May 14th Commission Reverend Mark E. Blue said, “It is important for the people of East Buffalo to have a strong voice in the memorial, so that they are supported and connected throughout this work. The memorial will serve as a lasting legacy of the lives we lost on May 14th and be a central point of strength for moving forward together as a community.”
Dr. Wall’s appointment was announced at Buffalo State University this afternoon. She is associate provost and a professor in the Department of Sociology at Buffalo State University. As part of her May 14th Commission Fellowship, she will work with students to analyze the data from the community survey.
Buffalo State President Katherine S. Conway-Turner said, “I couldn’t be prouder or more confident in the appointment of Dr. Amitra Wall to the May 14 Memorial Commission. Throughout her time at Buffalo State, Dr. Wall has provided unfaltering leadership both on campus and in the community. She deeply understands the importance of social justice and effecting change through a sociological lens. The Commission will greatly benefit from Dr. Wall’s contributions.”
Dr. Wall said, “It is an honor to be selected as a fellow to the May 14th Memorial Commission. I thank Governor Hochul, Mayor Brown, and Chancellor King for their support as we embark to remember, honor, and never forget the lives of the ten people who were taken away during the racist attack of May 14.”
Dr. Wall joined the Buffalo State faculty in 2000 and coordinated the Woman’s Studies Interdisciplinary minor program. She has served as interim chair, assistant dean and is now associate provost. She is certified as an applied sociologist by national and international colleagues from the Association for Applied and Clinical and Sociology. In 2011, she received SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
She is a member of the Association of Applied and Clinical Sociology and the International Sociological Association and has served on the boards of Erie County Commission on Status of Women, Women for Human Rights and Dignity, the City Mission, and most recently, YMCA Buffalo Niagara Delaware Family Branch.
New York State and the City of Buffalo previously announced their intention to make specific financial commitments to the May 14th Commission project in the future, with the amount to be determined based on scope and scale of project recommended by the Commission and in concert with State legislative partners.
Following the May 14, 2022 white supremacist terror attack at Tops Friendly Markets, Governor Hochul announced $50 million of targeted investments as part of the State's ongoing efforts to address the immediate needs of the community. New York State will continue to coordinate with city, county, philanthropic and business partners, and grassroots leaders to address long-term needs in the community.
Those lost during the May 14th mass shooting are Pearl Young, Ruth Whitfield, Margus D. Morrison, Andre Mackniel, Aaron Salter Jr., Geraldine Talley, Katherine Massey, Roberta A. Drury, Heyward Patterson, and Celestine Chaney.
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state's only college of optometry, 12 Educational Opportunity Centers, over 30 ATTAIN digital literacy labs, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.7 million students across its portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2025, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and annually one in three New Yorkers who earn a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
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