Kudos

Denis O’Hearn, professor of sociology, had a book launched July 15 at the European Parliament Offices in Rome by the vice-president of the European Parliament, Roberta Angelilli. Il diario di Bobby Sands. Storia di un ragazzo irlandese is a translation by Italian journalist Silvia Calamati of a book by O’Hearn and Laurence McKeown, Irish playright and former hunger striker. The book, aimed at young readers, explains how someone becomes involved in social movement and protest, using the life story of the Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands. O’Hearn’s full-length biography of Bobby Sands, Nothing but an Unfinished Song: Bobby Sands, the Irish Hunger Striker Who Ignited a Generation, was published by Nation Books in 1996. Last year in the American Journal of Sociology, O’Hearn’s article “Repression and solidary cultures of resistance” analyzed for academic audiences how Sands and other Irish political prisoners built and maintained the “blanket protest” in Irish prisons during the late 1970s, a protest that led to the Irish hunger strikes of 1908-81.

The Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life celebrated a quarter century since its founding with a Gala 25th Anniversary Dinner held in October in the historic Gotham Hall in New York City. Close to 600 guests largely comprised of alumni spanning the years 1985 to 2010 and parents of students past and present attended the dinner. Honored at the dinner were Lori and Marc Ben Ezra, both of the year 1987 (their daughter Ilana will be a freshman at Binghamton University next year), who represented the years 1985-1990; Steven Katz ‘91, who represented 1990-1995; Naomi ‘97 and Ari ‘95 Rosenfeld, representing the years 1995-2000; Stacy ‘01 and Stuart ‘00 Mayer, representing the years 2000-2005; and Meeka and David Natanov, both ‘05, representing the alumni of the last five years. Rabbi Aaron Slonim announced the founding an endowment fund to help ensure financial stability for Chabad into the future and the launching of an interactive alumni website that would help strengthen the ties of Chabad of Binghamton graduates. The event included video presentations that introduced the award presentations to honorees, a presentation by the current Chabad student executive board, personal reflections by the honorees and greetings from Rabbi and Rivky Slonim, Barry Newman, president of Chabad’s board of trustees, Brian Rose, vice president of student affairs at Binghamton University and George Rohr, chairman of the Chabad on Campus International Board of Trustees.

Thomas Kowalik, director of Continuing Education & Outreach, has been inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame, in recognition of his three decades of innovation and leadership in continuing education.  Nominees for the class of 2010 were honored Oct. 28 at a ceremony hosted by the Mexican Association of Continuing and Distance Education at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara.  A past president of the University Continuing Education Association and the Coalition of Lifelong Learning Organizations, Kowalik frequently consults for North American universities, state agencies, private corporations and the U.S. military. He has received numerous awards for leadership, program development, research and scholarship. In addition, he has conducted more than 20 grant-funded research projects, published more than 40 articles and reports, and delivered hundreds of presentations, workshops and classes.

Laura Bronstein, chair of the Department of Social Work in the College of Community and Public Affairs, was chosen to participate in a video promoting the New York Academy of Medicine’s Leadership Academy in Aging. The academy offers opportunities for leadership development combined with a focus on expanding geriatric social work within schools. In the DVD which features national leaders in the field, Bronstein talked about working to create an institute in Binghamton that includes both the University and the community working in partnership to increase support of the aging population and expanding geriatrics. Binghamton University has teamed up with SUNY Upstate Medical University and is building ties between research and teaching across multiple disciplines including social work, nursing, psychology, bioengineering, medicine and education, to promote geriatric well being. The Leadership Academy works with various schools of social work to mentor and guide deans and directors to take leadership roles in this growing area of gerontological social work.

Raymond G. Romanczyk, distinguished service professor of psychology, received the prestigious John W. Jacobson Award for lasting and continuing contributions to the field by the NYS Association for Behavior Analysis on Nov. 11, at the Association’s 21st annual conference in Saratoga Springs.

Gerard Johansen of the University Counseling Center and Mark Celio, doctoral student in clinical psychology, presented a workshop Oct. 18 at the U.S. Department of Education 2010 National Meeting on Alcohol and Other Drug and Violence Prevention in Higher Education. The workshop, titled “ Developing and Conducting Alcohol Field Research in a Northeast College Tavern District: the Challenges, Surprises, and Discoveries,” is based on a continuing research developed and implemented by the Binghamton University Collaborative Ethanol Group, with fellow researchers Distinguished Teaching Professor of Psychology Steven Lisman,  Distinguished Professor of Psychology Linda P. Spear and doctoral student in behavioral neuroscience, Courtney O’Hagen. The workshop provided an overview of developing alcohol field research in a college tavern district during the times that young adults will normally socialize.  Conference participants were invited to consult with the Binghamton University researchers during the development and implementation of similar studies when they returned to their campus communities.