the spectrum volume 60 issue 75

COMMENCEMENTDANCING YOUR WAYTHROUGH LIFEPAGE 7

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UB Council and Graduate Student Association Election Results Pending ConfirmationAMANDA WOODS Managing Editor

Results are in for last week’s UB Council and Graduate Student Association elec-tions, but they remain unofficial as of press time, according to Mike Lewis, a student activities associate in the office of Student Life.

Mia Jorgensen, who received 259 votes, is expected to be the new UB Council student representative. Her opponent, Joshua Boston, was not far behind with 231 votes.

As Council representative, Jorgensen will be required to speak to top UB officials about students’ needs and concerns in meetings that are held at least four times per year.

Jorgensen was unavailable for comment as of press time.

Boston was surprised at the low voter turnout – something that he said should be improved in future elections – but he believes that Jorgensen is capable of tak-ing over the position that he held this year.

“I’ve already extended my services to Mia – any way she needs my assistance in transitioning to the role of the student representative next year – I’ve made myself available in that regard,” Boston said. “I’ll also make myself available to the administrators, because I’m just an-other voice between the administrators and the students.”

As election policy requires, both Council candidates are allowed a two-day pe-riod to file complaints about the results before they become official. Candidates were informed of the results on Friday, giving them the weekend to file com-plaints.

The new leaders of the Graduate Student Association were also elected – Grace Mukupa for president (147 votes), Re-hab (Rubie) Ghazal for vice president (88 votes), and Jonathan Knights for treasur-er (146 votes).

Mukupa and Knights ran uncontested, but Ghazal beat her sole opponent, Jo-seph Steet, who received 57 votes.

Mukupa is thrilled to be elected as the GSA president, and she is eager to con-tinue advocating for the needs of gradu-ate students, a task that she began as vice president of the GSA this year.

“The news that I will be the next GSA president was humbling. It fueled me to work even harder for graduate students, who are the reason I am in this position

today,” Mukupa said in an email. “As president, I want to utilize the experi-ence and expertise of leaders within each department so as to sustain the rep-resentation and service of GSA.”

With a last-minute decision to run and minimal campaigning only directed by her group of friends, Ghazal was sur-prised to hear of her win. Despite this, she has clear-cut goals for next year.

“I have three goals and one dream,” Ghazal said in an email. “As GSA vice president, I will work to raise awareness about employment opportunities and training for graduate students from dif-ferent disciplines. The second is to open a more transparent channel of commu-nication with the UB administration to address international student issues. Fi-nally, [I will] continue to work with GSEU to get the pay bill approved for TAs, RAs, and GAs and get their appointments and responsibilities clarified.”

Steet was friendly with Ghazal through-out the election cycle, and he wishes her the best of luck in her new role. Despite his loss, he plans to continue be a voice for UB’s graduate population.

“I will still be in the Senate and serving on all the committees I’m presently a part of, so it’s more or less business as usual in that respect,” Steet said in an email. “There are a couple of issues that have been brought to my attention dur-ing my campaign that I feel need to be addressed, and fortunately, Rubie and I agreed that we would work together on certain issues regardless of who ulti-mately won the VP slot.”

Knights highlighted another important result of the election – the passage of the referendum that allowed the student ac-tivity fee to remain mandatory. An over-whelming 151 students voted in favor of the mandatory fee, and 38 voted against it. Additionally, 154 students voted for an $11 increase to the fee, while 35 voted against it.

“Although I was uplifted that the vast ma-jority of the voting population voted for me rather than abstaining, I got goose-bumps when I received the news that the referendum (and the increase) had passed by a landslide,” Knights said in an email. “I really think the culture of our organization is healthier and more vibrant than ever.”

During the summer, among other goals, Knights hopes to foster a stronger work-ing relationship between the GSA and the undergraduate SA.

The GSA election results, tentatively released Friday, will be made official Monday. Candidates are given a period of time during which they may voice their objections in accordance with the GSA Election Code, according to an email from the GSA Election Committee. If the results are not contested, all of the elect-ed candidates will take office on June 1.

Email: [email protected]

Pitman Named Dean of CAS

E. Bruce Pitman, researcher and professor in the department of mathematics, adjunct professor in the department of mechanical and

aerospace engineering, and associ-ate dean for research and sponsored programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been named dean of the college on April 15. Harvey G. Stenger Jr., interim provost and exec-utive vice president for academic af-fairs, made the announcement after an internal university search.

Pitman, who joined UB as assistant professor of mathematics in 1989, succeeds SUNY Distinguished Pro-

fessor Bruce D. McCombe, who had served as dean of CAS since 2007. Pitman also serves as the chair for education and outreach at the Center for Computation Research and previ-ously served as UB’s vice provost for educational technology from 2000 to 2003 and as director of graduate studies in the department of math-ematics from 1997 to 1999, among other titles.

He previously developed a graduate

certificate in computational science and two graduate courses in high-performance computing. He also organized an undergraduate degree and advanced certificate in bioin-formatics and computation biology with colleagues in the departments of computer science and engineering and biological sciences.

Pitman received a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Northwestern University and earned

a Ph.D. in mathematics from Duke University in 1985.

CAS is home to 25 departments rang-ing from the humanities, arts, social sciences and natural science, as well as 14 interdisciplinary programs. There are more than 15,000 stu-dents enrolled in CAS and 500 faculty members. g


Tripathi Expected to be Confirmed Monday as 15th President Office in Charge has a national scope ANDREW WIKTOR Editor in Chief

Officer in Charge Satish K. Tripathi is expected to be confirmed as UB’s next president by the SUNY Board of Trust-ees Monday afternoon. If all goes as anticipated, Tripathi will earn $737,315 between his $350,000 state salary and other compensation, according to SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher’s memorandum to the Board, dated April 18 (Monday).

The expected state salary will be $85,000 more than former President John B. Simpson received from the state government in 2010.

Although Tripathi is expected to be president at one university in Western New York, his mind is on national stan-dards. If confirmed, Tripathi hopes to make UB relevant on a national level, improve as a university by expanding UB’s research capabilities, and avoid falling short inside of the classroom.

“We are a research university; our em-phasis should be [on research], but we are a university where we teach. I don’t think [research] trumps anything else out,” Tripathi said. “There are expec-tations for the faculty to do research. They don’t teach six or eight courses a year or 10 courses; their teaching is based on the fact that certain aspects [of what’s expected] is really producing knowledge, scholarship. I don’t think anything is changing in terms of what a public research university is…. I think we can do a lot more in research so the expectations are higher.”

The former vice provost stated that that new discoveries can give the university notoriety on a national level and help attract better professors, who he hopes to hire in clusters if confirmed as presi-dent.

Tripathi has been considered for other university presidential positions, mak-ing him no stranger to the search pro-cess. He stressed the importance of considering the selection process on a national level.

In order to attract top talent, a univer-

sity has to offer a competitive salary and must also keep the process private enough so candidates can retain their current positions, Tripathi said. He also explained some of the processes that UB followed in finding its next presi-dent.

“There were forums for the faculty and students to get involved, and in the [search] committee there were student leaders, faculty, staff, alumni, and oth-ers,” Tripathi said. “It’s not anything different, actually; [UB’s search] may be even more involved than the other research university searches that go on…. If you look in the national con-text, it’s absolutely no different.”

Tripathi was reluctant to further dis-cuss the presidential search, mention-ing that he was a candidate and not a member of the search committee. He acknowledged that UB bypassed some SUNY guidelines in searching for its 15th president and vaguely claimed that he plans to adhere to those guide-lines while also doing what is best for UB.

Pending confirmation, Tripathi has three main goals that he hopes to ac-complish: excellence, engagement and efficiency.

Tripathi hopes to achieve excellence in regard to students, faculty and the services that UB provides. He hopes to engage students, alumni, the Western New York community, the economy, and elected officials. Efficiency refers to getting the job done in a financially cost-effective manner.

As a key proponent who worked closely in developing the UB 2020 bill, Tripathi also stressed the importance of having proper infrastructure to provide stu-dents with necessary services and to at-tract top-level faculty. Although he was unaware that many of the buildings on North Campus do not comply with the American Disabilities Act, he plans to follow all regulations as UB moves forward, and he said he will look into where UB is not compliant.

As provost, Tripathi was responsible for setting the budget for each depart-ment within the university. He men-tioned it was a difficult job with the budget cuts, but his main priority was to maintain academic excellence.

“I’ve been dealing with [budget cuts] as provost – as chief budget officer for the campus…Usually, the budget officer gives money to spend, and I’ve been ‘taking money away,’” Tripathi said. “But, I have made sure [that] I had a committee of undergrads, graduate students, staff, [and] faculty to advise me to see what are our core values

[and] how will we sustain and retain the excellence.”

In deciding on the budget, Tripathi wanted to make sure that students weren’t shortchanged on their educa-tion and that they were able to enroll in the courses they wanted.

He also mentioned that the recent cuts haven’t allowed the university to spend more money on sports, but maintained that school spirit and athletics are an integral part of university life. Still, education remains at the forefront of his mind.

“If we have a winning team we all are really excited about – I think we want to create that,” Tripathi said. “But re-member, these students, they are schol-ar athletes – student-athletes; they’re not really athlete-students. We want to make sure their education is also being taken care of. We have a great team of our athletic director and coaches, and I think they have done tremendously with the limited amount of resources.”

Much like the rest of the university, Tripathi wasn’t prepared for John B. Simpson’s retirement announcement on the first day of classes in late Au-gust.

He also wasn’t ready to declare his can-didacy right away.

“[I decided I waned to be president] af-ter the search began.…I sort of worked with different aspects of the university – education; undergraduate; graduate; faculty; budget, and everything,” Tripa-thi said. “It’s a great university; it is part of AAU – Association of American Universities – it’s in the top 60 in the country, so, I really fell in love with the university. We have a lot of potential here, we have done a lot of work here in the last few years, [and] I decided that I would like to try [to be presi-dent].”

Tripathi himself is a product of public education and recognizes the impor-tance of affordable higher education. He explained that the current UB 2020 bill, which he supports entirely, has provisions to protect students whose household income is less than $60,000 per year. Tripathi also mentioned that he is glad that students called for a ra-tional tuition increase.

“This is really amazing that students care about the quality of education that they get,” Tripathi said. g

Additional reporting by Senior News Editor Lauren Nostro.


COuRTESy Of DOuglAS lEvEREAn interview with Tripathi revealed UB’s anticipated president’s goals for next year.

The Independent Student Publication of the University at BuffaloCOMMENCEMENT ISSUE v April 18, 2011Vol. 60 No. 75 v ubspectrum.com

MONday, aPRIL 18, 2011 v THE SPECTRuM2 NEWS

NEWSNews Briefs 4/18

Allende’s Remains to be Examined

A Chilean court has ordered that the remains of former President Salva-dor Allende be exhumed for exami-nation. Investigators will attempt to determine whether Allende killed himself or was killed during a 1973 coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power.

In 1973, Allende’s body was found in the presidential palace after the building was overtaken by troops. An official autopsy report conclud-ed that Allende committed suicide with a rifle; his personal doctor con-firmed this conclusion. However, some supporters have maintained that Allende was killed by soldiers.

After Allende’s death, Pinochet’s reign left thousands of political op-ponents missing or killed.

The inquiry is part of an investiga-tion into historic rights abuses; the Allende case is one of 726 alleged rights abuses that experts are ana-lyzing. The exhumation will take place toward the end of May. g

Several U.S. States Devastated by Weather

Since Thursday, the southern U.S. has been pummeled by a string of se-vere storms and tornados. The death toll has risen to at least 35 people.

The storms first struck in Oklahoma before moving east toward Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Vir-ginia, and North Carolina. The region has experienced severe thunder-storms with flash floods, tornados, and hail the size of grapefruits.

North Carolina was the last state to withstand the dangerous conditions. The state was devastated by 62 tor-nados, which left people dead across four counties. Governor Beverly Pur-due declared a state of emergency and called this the worst storm sys-tem to hit the state in over two de-cades.

Fatalities have been reported in Ala-bama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missis-sippi, and North Carolina. Officials say the death toll will increase once emergency services search the dam-aged areas. The storms have now moved offshore and over the Atlantic Ocean. g

Cancer Rates Drop in Western New York

The latest comprehensive statistics for cancer death rates across West-ern New York have shown an over-all decline.

Cancer death rates were provided by the National Cancer Institute and include statistics from 2003 through 2007. Cancer death rates dropped for most counties; Erie County wit-nessed a 1.2 percent decline. Niag-ara County only saw a 0.5 percent drop. Statewide, there was a 2 per-cent decline.

Nonetheless, doctors caution that there is still cause for concern, as rates are higher than the state’s av-erage. Breast cancer in females and prostate cancer in males is more prevalent in Erie and Niagara Coun-ties than elsewhere in the state.

Doctors have said that the reason cancer rates in WNY have not de-clined, as in the rest of the state, is because of the region’s aging popu-lation. g

Today in UB History

MONday, aPRIL 18, 2011 v THE SPECTRuM 3OPINION

What U.S. politicians don’t seem to realize, as they argue and argue over what to do with the 172 detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, is that holding people in a prison and giving them no clear indication of what will happen to them in the future is the very thing that the facility became notori-ously symbolic of – torture.

President Barack Obama’s Jan. 22, 2009 ex-ecutive order, which pledged that “Gitmo” would be closed a year later, seems like the distant past now. It’s two years later, and, still, nothing has been done.

Obama was unrealistic when he signed that order. It was literally one of the first things he did upon entering office; we can’t even be sure he knew his way around the White House yet. Looking back, The Spectrum sees the move as indicative of the president’s rela-tive inexperience and naïveté at the time.

Now, he knows better than to idealistically as-sume that he can just make Gitmo go away; two years of battling with pesky Republicans have hardened him and knocked him back into sad reality. That doesn’t change the fact that something must be done about the pris-on and its inhabitants.

Obama’s attempts to move the prisoners to a facility in Illinois and to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM, the alleged “principal ar-chitect” of the 9/11 attacks) in New York City were both stymied by troupes of not-in-my-backyarders. We don’t see their logic. Do these people forget that the prisons already in their “backyards” contain murderers and rapists?

As the president said, we should be careful to avoid elevating the alleged terrorists to a special level. Our justice and security systems are strong. We shouldn’t have anything to be afraid of when it comes to the transport of prisoners – it happens all the time with dan-gerous people on American soil.

After all, nobody seemed to have a problem with keeping Timothy McVeigh in an Ameri-can jail.

Terrorists or no terrorists, the detainees are entitled to their basic human rights, and they don’t seem to be getting them right now. The right to a fair trial is the first on the list for many of the prisoners.

The irony in all of this is that KSM admitted his guilt and offered a full confession, along with four other detainees. It was a dare to the federal government to do something – any-thing – about it.

We’re not lawyers, but one would think that it would be pretty easy to take to court a guy who is fully admitting his guilt.

But this is Washington that we’re talking about – a place where nothing (involving ac-tually getting something done) is easy. The easy thing, of course, is arguing about it, and that’s what politicians will continue to do.

And far away from the war of words, in a de-tention camp ironically located in Cuba, the Gitmo prisoners will wait. g

Since 2000, the estimated number of Western New York Catholics has dropped 12.7 percent, which is more than four times larger than the area’s population loss in the same time, according to The Buffalo News.

In other words, less people are going to church in WNY, a region where the most prom-inent religion is Catholicism.

Religion is largely a person-al choice, and many aren’t choosing to practice. The Catholic Church has gone through its fair share of trials and tribulations since it came into existence over 2,000 years ago, yet has always per-severed; a drop in member-ship in one region, although telling, by no means signifies an international decline in Catholicism, although the is-sue does seem unrelenting to some bishops.

As Easter Sunday approach-es, there likely will be a spike in those who attend Mass. Major holidays, not just for Catholics, tend to bring those who identify with a particu-

lar religion to their respective places of worship. But is that a farce? Can those who don’t attend church, synagogue, mosque or whatever else reg-ularly really be considered religious?

Absolutely.

People not only have a right to choose whether or not to be religious, but also the priv-ilege to decide how religious they want to be. Although every religion has its own expectations, not meeting all prospects doesn’t exclude a person from identifying with a religion.

Many of us were raised “re-ligious,” but the extent of our practices varied greatly. Some attended religious schools, others went to wor-ship four times a week, and some simply celebrated holi-days. Although our upbring-ings were different, we all retained the prerogative to choose.

Moreover, some of us may not strictly follow a religion, but that doesn’t mean the

religions we do believe in haven’t impacted our lives, as in morals and traditions. Identifying with a religion close to a holiday can illicit criticism, but for some, that’s their extent of being reli-gious.

Although religion can often be a touchy subject, The Spec-trum’s editorial board, which consists of numerous differ-ent denominations, agrees that a familial aspect plays a large role in religion. Wheth-er that means attending church to appease parents, going to yeshiva through high school, praying dur-ing the month of Muharram, or raising one’s family with religious values to preserve culture, family and religion often go hand-in-hand.

Still, that doesn’t stop people from finding their own ways and considering themselves religious, or not. g

Guantanamo Detention Facility Continues to Lack a DirectionObama reluctantly reverses stance, no backup plan

Number of WNY Catholics DeclineReligion is about choice

Dear Editor:

I’m writing to congratulate The Spectrum for two su-perb investigative articles last week. Amanda Jonas’s article, “A Shameful Low in Higher Education: The University at Buffalo is in-accessible to disabled stu-dents,” is a superb piece of reporting. By noting UB’s continued non-compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Jonas really gets at some of the sickness that pervades UB generally.

Interestingly, the period of this failure coincides almost perfectly with the term of UB President John B. Simp-son. It’s illuminating to put this Friday article together with the Wednesday article by Andrew Wiktor and Luke Hammill, “Artvoice Compensation Numbers

Are Correct.” Hammill and Wiktor confirm a recent story in Artvoice that the UB administration is using the $410-million-dollar UB endowment as a moneypot to top-up the salaries of university administrators, sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In its “UB Fact Sheet,” a fac-tually-challenged effort to respond to Artvoice, the UB Office of University Com-munications says that this “supplemental compensa-tion . . . enables UB to com-pete nationally in its efforts to recruit and retain very talented faculty, staff and administrators.” If allowing the Office of Disability Ser-vices to remain inaccessible to handicapped persons is “talent,” then what does “gross incompetence” look like?

Perhaps the money squan-dered on administrative salaries would have been better spent by making the university fully accessible to all its students, staff, and faculty. We at UB should think less about “competing nationally” (whatever that means) and more about do-ing our jobs and acting like decent human beings.

Jim Holstun

Professor of English

Letters to the editor are not edited by The Spectrum.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

EDITORIAL BOARDEditor in ChiEfAndrew Wiktor

Managing EditorsLuke Hammill, seniorAmanda Woods

Editorial EditorsAndrew WiktorLuke Hammill

nEws EditorsLauren Nostro, seniorDavid WeidenbornerDannielle O’Toole, asst.

invEstigativE rEportErAmanda Jonas

arts EditorsJames Twigg, seniorJameson ButlerVanessa Frith, asst.

lifE EditorsJennifer Harb, seniorMike Tyson, asst.

sports EditorsMatt Parrino, seniorCarey BeyerBrian Josephs, asst.

photo EditorsClinton Hodnett, seniorMegan KinsleyAlex McCrossen

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

BusinEss ManagErDebbie Smith

adMinistrativE assistantHelene Polley

advErtising ManagErMarissa Giarraputo

CrEativE dirECtorJeannette Wiley

advErtising dEsignErAline Kobayashi

wEB dEsignErAdam Cole

The views expressed — both written and graphic — in the Feedback, Opinion, and Perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union or [email protected]. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style or length. If a letter is not meant for publication, please mark it clearly as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number and e-mail address.

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OPINIONOPINION

Where We Came From

JADINE lANIADOSpecial to The Spectrum

As I slowly walk up to the doors of the University at Buffalo Bookstore, dragging my feet on the ground, a somber pout on my face, I can feel my stomach tied in a huge knot. I know that there is no going back once I open the doors, and I know why I am here. I look around for the big purple sign that reads: “Univer-sity at Buffalo Commencement.”

I walk up to a short, brown-haired man with glasses and a V-neck sweater and he asks me the question I have been dreading for four years: “You here for your cap and gown?”

I nod reluctantly, and he asks me “What is your height?” He turns around and quickly fumbles into a box, grabs my cap and gown, places it on the counter in front of me and tells me to go pay at the register.

I shovel out the $82, grab my books from the cubbies, and walk to class.

As May 16 is coming closer and clos-er, I have been doing a great amount of reflecting on my experiences at UB and how I was able to survive four years on my own, eight hours away from my family, in the arctic tundra known as Buffalo.

Personally, going away for school was my priority during my senior year of high school. It is safe to say my parents’ divorce turned my world upside down, and warranted both a physical and emotional ‘split’ of my life.

I had to split my time with my par-ents; I had to split my clothes, shoes, and I now had two toothbrushes. It was absolute madness, and, to be quite honest, I think I will always be a little bit of a mess.

It was for this reason that I knew I needed to go away for school and fi-nally have my life back together, in one place.

The day my mother dropped me off at my dorm at Michael Hall, she didn’t stay long. I didn’t ask her to, ei-ther, because I could already see the tears coming down her eyes as she moved the last clear plastic bin from the truck up to my room. I knew she wouldn’t be able to handle helping me set up my room, so she grabbed my sisters and told them to go in the car, gave me a tight hug and a kiss, and, in a flash, she was pulling out of the South Campus dorms to journey back home.

I laid on my bed, finally alone for the first time, and smiled to myself. I was genuinely happy to start this adven-ture on my own.

During my first few days at UB, I made it a point to call my mom ev-ery day, sometimes several times a day. How unusual it was to be in a place where you do not have to come home to your parents after class. As I became more accustomed to uni-versity life, I realized my phone calls lessened and would even stop for a few days on end at some points.

According to Dr. Jess P. Shatkin, a staff member of the NYU Child Study Center, “moving on to college repre-sents a significant step toward adult-hood. Whether the student lives at home or goes away to attend college, the move represents an emotional separation for both parents and child.”

Conversations would often start with, “Oh, you don’t have time to call me anymore, college girl?” or “Are you alive?” I would just laugh these comments off because I knew it was just that emotional separation that must have been shocking to my par-ents.

It was to my own shock to learn that some of my friends rarely called their parents. Of course, we cannot all be expected to have the same rela-tionships, but from my own perspec-tive, I must honestly say I am happy that I kept the waves of communica-tion open with my parents.

I realized that when I was severely conflicted and needed advice, hear-ing my mother’s voice on the other end of the phone was enough to comfort me and help me to think ra-tionally. My mother was the person I would call when I would get an A on my exam, or when I did well on a group project. She was my go-to phone call when I was nervous for an interview or stressed about my workload. She would just tell me to relax and take a minute to regroup, but most importantly, she would al-ways tell me that she was proud of me.

Even though my mother still asks me why I chose to come all the way up to Buffalo for school, I think she understands deep inside. She knows that I needed to figure myself out on my own, and live in one room again.

As we near the Commencement celebration, I encourage seniors to reflect on who was supporting them throughout their college experi-ences. Whether it be your parents, a family member, or even a close friend, take time to let them know how much you appreciate having them in your life, and how happy you are that you were able to make them proud.

Please keep in mind, my fellow graduating classmates, that while it is important to know where you are going, we must always remember where we came from. g


COuRTESy Of flICKR uSER uSMARINE0311

Tales from a Gap Decade

MICHAEl TySONasst. Life Editor

As you can read elsewhere in this paper, in an article written by a brilliant writer, there is such a thing as a gap year. It usually lasts only one year and it usually lands between high school and college. This story is not about the usual.

I started college in the fall of 1996 at New Mexico Tech. My major at that time was computer science, which I had chosen because I en-joyed playing around on my com-puter and figured I could make some decent money. What I didn’t figure on was the allure of watch-ing TV, drinking, and sleeping – re-ally anything other than going to class.

Tech and I parted ways after the spring semester of ’97, when I racked up a stunning GPA of 0.46. I took a few classes at the commu-nity college in Albuquerque that fall, but I still couldn’t drum up in-terest in going to class, so I didn’t bother wasting any more of my parents’ money the next spring.

I spent the next 10 years jumping around to many different jobs. I was a long-haul truck driver for about eight months. I managed to last for a whopping three months as a janitor in an adult movie the-ater – great paycheck, lousy every-thing else.

My high points were, sadly, a two-year stint at Target unloading trucks and stocking shelves and a four-year period where I worked in a urethane-molding factory. Target was the first time that I worked somewhere for more than a year. The molding of urethane, which is done with industrial ov-ens and a lot of toxic chemicals, was my first and only union job and also the highest paying.

These years were far from miser-able – I met an amazing woman that I married and I learned far more about life than you can pick up from a book. It’s one thing to read about Kerouac’s road trip across the U.S. and appreciate what he was saying about society in general, but if you actually drive back and forth across this nation and see it through your own eyes, you can add so much more to the reading of On the Road.

Through all these years, I always toyed with the idea of going back to school. My wife, who had also not finished her degree, encour-aged me in this idea as well as thought about it herself. My main concern was figuring out what I wanted to study. I always figured on something tech-based, because that was where the money was, but I couldn’t really drum up the interest to head back to school.

Another interest I had was read-ing and writing, though I had been convinced that there was no mon-ey to be made in these fields un-less you were really, really lucky.

When I lost my job at the begin-ning of 2007, I was fed up. I had had nothing but dead-end, crappy jobs and I was done. I didn’t both-er job hunting – or anything, really – and my wife and I made do with what we had. I decided this was a good time to head back to school, when—toward the end of sum-mer—my wife told me to go check out Erie County Community Col-lege since it had open enrollment.

With little more than a vague idea that I wanted to study creative writing and literature, I enrolled at ECC in the fall of ’07 and started my new academic career. I was a little worried about heading back to school after so much time off; I hit my 30th birthday in the second week of classes, but it turned out I had nothing to worry about.

I excelled in my classes and fin-ished that semester with a 4.0, a definite improvement over my last semester in school. I gradu-ated from ECC in the spring of ’09 and came to UB with a major in English and a concentration in creative writing. My wife joined me at ECC and transferred to UB a year before me. She, too, is doing quite well.

While my time off can be seen as wasted time in which I was not working on my career or even get-ting my degree, I see it as simply the time that was needed for me to—cheesy as it sounds—find my self.

My plans after I graduate and be-yond are still nebulous, but I love what I’m doing. I know I’m in the right program and I also know that I can make more money with a supposedly moneyless degree program than I ever did with no degree at all.

I would not suggest that anyone take as much time as I did, but I do recommend that you do take at least a moment to ask if you’re on the right path. If you are struggling with the classes in your major, then maybe that’s not the right major for you. If you are only here at college because that’s what was expected and you’re miserable, then maybe you should take some time off.

Or not. I realize that I could also be the exception to the rule. But I still suggest some time devoted to experiencing the rest of the world; you will appreciate college so much more, if you’re like me at all.

g Email: [email protected]

MONday, aPRIL 18, 2011 v THE SPECTRuM4 ARTS & LIFE

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ARTS & LIFEMemorial Concert Held for Musical ProfessorAKARI IBuRIStaff Writer

Friends and family of the late Pro-fessor Samuel M. Paley gathered in Slee Hall for a concert commemo-rating his life through his love for contemporary music.

Last Friday, attendees experienced the aesthetic beauty of non-tradi-tional music through the elegant performances of Barry Crawford on flute, Yuki Numata on violin, Jonathan Golove on cello, and Bob Berkman on pianola. Each musi-cian played powerfully, perfect-ing the art of contemporary music and displaying respect for Paley through passionate performances.

A portion of the concert was dedi-cated to raising awareness of Pal-ey’s diligent contributions to the field of archaeology. A library with data from his worldly experiences will be built under his name, show-casing his extensive interdisciplin-ary research. This highly anticipat-ed project will allow individuals to access all of Paley’s research.

The evening commenced with opening remarks given by David Felder, chair of the department of music, followed by Charles Stinger, senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Peter Biehl, chair of the department of anthro-pology; and, lastly, Barbara “Bobbi” Koz Paley, Paley’s wife.

Felder explained that the music se-lected for the evening was chosen to compliment Paley’s diverse in-terests through pieces such as J.S. Bach’s Suite No. 1 in G Major.

Biehl’s opening words described Paley’s diverse pallet for culture, in-cluding archaeology, Turkey, music, and books about music.

“There was music everywhere in his life,” Biehl said.

Crawford began the night of music with his solo flute performance of Augusta Read Thomas’ “Euterpe’s Caprice” and Edgard Varese’s “Den-sity 21.5.” The notes escaping from his instrument embraced all ele-ments of contemporary music. He jumped sharply from high squeaks to deep breathy tones, creating an energetic and emotional atmo-sphere.

Numata followed with her violin, exquisitely performing Felder’s “Another Face” and Moshe Shul-man’s “Parallels.” Both pieces were introduced to the audience in an intriguing manner, as Numata gripped its attention with blast-ing intensity. For her performance of “Parallels,” an electronic device was attached to her violin, creat-

ing an entrancing distortion that sounded like a strange yet captivat-ing trickle of galactic noises.

Golove’s solo performance on cello was graceful and passionate, as he played the songs of Iannis Xenakis’s “Kottos” and the “Prelude,” “Sara-bande,” and “Courtante” from J.S. Bach’s Suite No. 1 in G Major. His bow was a flawless extension of his arm, as his mastered technique of cello produced chilling and reso-nating melodies.

The last song performed was Max Karl August Bruch’s “Kol Nidrei” in a powerful duet between Golove on cello and Berkman on pianola.

The pianola was an instrument that Paley was fond of, and the two mu-sicians together concluded the con-cert in an memorable performance.

Paley, who passed away on March 31, 2010, was a highly respected professor of the Department of Classics and co-founder of the In-stitute for European and Mediterra-nean Archaeology (IEMA). He made significant contributions to Annette Craven’s project to create Cravens World; a 1,100-piece collection of the anthropological and ethno-graphic findings of Craven’s, dating as far back as 4,500 BC.

Paley’s archeological involvement and fascination with historical so-cieties allowed him to lead a life of extensive interdisciplinary re-search, leaving behind years of valuable information.

Bobbi, who sponsored the concert, expressed her anticipation for the creation of the Samuel M. Paley Me-morial Library.

“This is a living legacy that will last to keep Sam’s multidisciplinary alive for scholars and students,” Bobbi said. g


AlExA STRuDlER /// THE SPECTRuM

Barry Crawford was just one of the performers at Samuel M. Paley memorial concert.

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MONday, aPRIL 18, 2011 v THE SPECTRuM 5ARTS & LIFE

JAMES TWIggSenior arts Editor

Grade: A-

After 11 years, the Scream series has slashed its way back onto the silver screen with Scream 4.

It’s no secret that when movie franchises reach their fourth installments, the filmmaking quality tends to be significantly worse. By this point in a series, the plotline has either become too convoluted to follow or has disappeared entirely, new char-acters pop up in an attempt to keep things feeling fresh but are rarely ever developed, and, worst of all, by number four, all originality has been bled out.

Somehow, iconic horror film-maker Wes Craven (My Soul to Take) manages to avoid each one of these tragedies and deliver a sequel/reboot that not only lives up to its blood-soaked prede-cessors, but surpasses them in many ways.

The movie opens with a memo-rable scene that mixes equal parts comedy and horror to keep the audience laughing and jump-ing from the seats. It’s moments like these that makes watching Scream 4 so devilishly entertain-ing.

The story once again revolves around the resilient Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell, Agent Crush), who has recently re-turned home to Woodsboro, for a stop on her national book tour. Her joyous homecoming is cut short, however, when a new killer begins recreating the kills of the original film and targets Sidney’s high school cousin, Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts, Home-work).

This causes the film to take on a balancing act of sorts. The movie attempts to tell the tale of Sidney and her longtime accomplices Gale Weathers-Riley (Courtney Cox, Bedtime Stories) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette, The Land of the Astronauts) while also fol-lowing Jill and her group of high school friends.

The intertwining of the two sto-rylines ends up causing Scream 4 to stumble a bit in the middle, but it manages to save itself with

an impressive ending that melds the two in a near-perfect fash-ion.

This is thanks to the impressive script penned by Kevin Wil-liamson (Cursed). The jokes are hilarious, the dialogue is full of wit, and the killer’s identity is so well hidden that viewers won’t know who it is until the climatic unmasking.

Just like the previous install-ments of the franchise, Scream 4 delves into the clichés and “rules” of the very category it finds itself in. Whereas the original focused on horror films, Scream 2 on sequels and Scream 3 on trilogies, Scream 4 takes on the latest trend of reboots, remakes and ludicrously high-numbered sequels.

This is where the film truly suc-ceeds. Its criticisms of current Hollywood hits, like the Saw series, never fails to generate agreeing laughter. Whether or not the atrocious reboot of Cra-ven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street had any effect on his inspiration for the film is anyone’s guess, but the loathing of such remakes that seeps through the charac-ters’ dialogue seems to indicate so.

Still, as funny as the movie is, Scream 4 is still a horror film at its core, and a pretty damn good one at that.

The film doesn’t shy away from blood and gore, but it also doesn’t rely exclusively on it like several recent horror flicks. Instead, it uses just the right amount to craft visuals that are shocking without being overly grotesque.

This has been the biggest prob-lem with the genre over the past few years. Directors have been turning to the overexposure of gore instead of focusing on creat-ing true-to-heart scares. Scream 4, thankfully, breaks away from this.

While the film is able to capture some genuine edge-of-your-seat

moments, there are a few cheap jump scares scattered through-out. They don’t ruin the film, but when compared with the rest, they seem a bit lazy.

Scream 4 is hands down the best since the original. It’s a return-to-form film that others in the industry should sit up and make note of. This is the horror film that’s been missing from the-aters for over a decade. g



MOVIEMOVIE

This Paper Airplane Refuses to FlyABBy NIEKAMPStaff Writer

Artist: Alison Krauss and Union StationAlbum: Paper AirplaneLabel: Rounder RecordsRelease Date: April 12Grade: C-

Great vocals, the sweet sound of an acoustic guitar, and lyrics filled with deep spirituality do not quite produce a hit album these days. These ingredients mixed in the wrong proportions can still bore listeners to tears, as Alison Krauss and Union Station proves with Paper Airplane.

The group opens its first album since 2004 with the title track. It intrigues listeners with Krauss’s soft, smooth, country voice, backed by emotional lyrics, but unfortunately this is as good as the album gets.

Listeners are tricked into think-ing that the tracks pick up fur-ther into Paper Airplane with “Dust Bowl Children,” which uses the music of a mandolin to create a bluegrass feel.

Dan Tyminksi, who shares lead vocals with Krauss, is the voice of this song. Completing the blue-grass theme, the lyrics speak about growing up during the Dust Bowl – not a particularly up-lifting subject.

After these two tracks, the album is full of monotony. Listeners hear the same sweet-toned voice of Krauss on all but three songs, while she sings to only slightly varying melodies. Singing of love, forgiveness, and spirituality, the album has great intentions, but chances are listeners will miss these themes.

It takes a certain audience to ap-preciate this mix of country tunes and bluegrass rhythms. Song titles like “Lay My Burden Down” and “Sinking Stone” do not cre-ate a positive vibe for this album. The only positive coming from it is that Krauss still has the amaz-ing voice she’s been presenting to listeners for years.

After the disappointment of this album, listeners who were wait-ing for Krauss to reunite with Union Station will most likely be ready to let this band float to the back of their minds. This Paper Airplane is not as skillfully craft-ed as it needs to be in order to fly in the right direction. g


What’s Your Favorite Scary Movie?

COuRTESy Of DIMENSION fIlMS

COuRTESy Of NEW ROuNDERPaper Airplane has a few good songs but is altogether monotonous.

Scream 4 is the best in the series since the original.

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MONday, aPRIL 18, 2011 v THE SPECTRuM6 COMMENCEMENT ISSUE

From Mortarboard to Camouflage

REBECCA BRATEKStaff Writer

Many students expect to don a new business suit or a set of scrubs once they graduate from undergrad. However, a few proud students decide to put on camou-flage or a military uniform.

In 2009, Pentagon statistics showed that around 6,400 new military recruits had a bachelor’s degree. This number is micro-scopic compared to the 1.5 mil-lion students who graduated from college in 2009 with a bachelor’s, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

At UB, many students don’t real-ize they have the opportunity to enroll in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) program through Canisius College in Buf-falo. Each year, around 100 stu-dents enroll in the program.

“ROTC is a leadership course that

is designed to augment the college experience,” said Rebecca Spara-cino, contractor and enrollment officer for the Golden Griffin Bat-talion at Canisius College.

The program is divided into two sections: the basic course and the advanced course, according to Sparacino. The basic course focuses on the fundamentals of leadership as well as self and team development. Students who take just the basic course will not acquire military obligation un-less contracted, and any student interested in joining the military can take courses within the basic course track.

Any student that enrolls in the advanced course will serve in the military, either in the active army, the Army Reserves, or the Army National Guard. Students must meet the basic contracting criteria to serve in the military. The criteria includes being 17 to 27 years of age, being medically qualified by the Department of Defense Medical Examine Review Board, meeting height and weight requirement, and being able to pass the Army Physical Fitness test.

Additional requirements include being able to explain any record of arrest or conviction, having no moral obligations preventing

the support of the Constitution against all enemies or bearing arms, at least a 2.5 GPA, and full-time student status pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Graduates who choose to serve in the military have degrees across the entire academic spectrum, according to Sparacino. Students enter the service with degrees in anything from nursing and engi-neering to business, political sci-ence, and history.

The degree earned during under-graduate study allows students to enter the service with commis-sioned officer status, an honor that the military saves for college graduates holding a bachelor’s degree or higher.

If one chooses to enter military service, he is obligated to serve eight years. After the initial eight years of service, individuals can choose to serve until retirement, for 20 years, or resign their com-missions and enter the work-force.

Sparacino explained that students may choose to enter the service for more personal reasons.

“I entered military service be-cause I wanted to serve my coun-try,” Sparacino said. “I felt that it was an important endeavor. The military provided me with

unique opportunities that gave me a purpose and a direction. Military service is something to be extremely proud of; it’s not al-ways easy, but the sacrifices are definitely worth it.”

Many students enter military ser-vice for reasons similar to Spara-cino’s, whereas others use the opportunity to jumpstart a career in the private sector. Still others want the military to become a lifelong career.

“I originally had an interest in the military because I had this feeling that if no one continues to go into the military, then what’s the point? I guess it’s making the sacrifice that everyone else [be-fore me] did,” said Erin Connor, a senior biomedical sciences and sociology major. “I thought it was part of my responsibility as a citi-zen because I’m able and willing.”

Connor plans on attending medi-cal school on a military schol-arship before serving the eight years required. Connor hopes to serve as a military doctor and to eventually return to the private sector and work as a family prac-tice physician.

Jamie Hefter, a senior nursing and psychology major, will enter her years of service immediately after graduation.

“I live near New York City, and when Sept. 11 happened, I was only in seventh grade,” Hefter said. “There was nothing I could do at the time so I de-cided I wanted to be in the military ever since then.”

After graduation, active duty service will become Hefter’s “everyday job,” just as many students go on to work for any other business or company. Heft-er will enter service as a commissioned officer.

Both Connor and Hefter were students in the ROTC program and encourage any students interested in improving leadership quali-ties, learning time manage-ment skills, building self-confidence, and making connections to enroll in the ROTC program through UB and Canisius.

“You have to want to be in the military to be suc-cessful,” Hefter said. “You have to enjoy it.” g


Time off for Good Behavior MICHAEl TySONasst. Life Editor

Go to college, get a job, and die is the perceived path that many students have in their heads of what they are supposed to do. There are alterna-tives, though, to the either/or choices of college or flipping burgers. Several students take time off to figure out what they want to do – this is called a gap year.

Many students have been discovering the ben-efits of a gap year between degrees. A gap year is simply time off from academia in which a person does something besides study. This can include work, volunteering, travel or simply contemplat-ing the future. The gap year does not need to be a full year and it can run longer as well.

The timing of the gap year tends to be between secondary school (high school) and college, but there is a growing contingent of students who

take time off between higher learning degrees as well.

“I did college and then straight into a Master’s; my Master’s ended in December of ’08 and Ph.D. programs don’t start until the fall, generally,” said Randi Tucker, a second-year Ph.D. student in linguistics. “So I had about six months free where I decided to work.”

She worked a few part-time jobs before landing a position with Student Life at Old Dominion Uni-versity in Virginia. Other than making a lot of money, she also says she received plenty of life and teaching experience.

Tucker admits that it sounds cheesy, but she is grateful for the time off in which she was able to figure things out. Simply put, she is now certain about her program and feels she belongs here.

“It’s a good thing to take time off and figure out what you want rather than paying a school thou-sands of dollars while you’re figuring it out,” Tucker said. “You need an undergrad degree to get a lot of jobs, but for advanced degrees I would definitely advise people to take the time off; see what you find – unless you’re absolutely sure.”

Jessica Kilbury, a senior African & African Amer-

ican studies and global gender studies major, is planning on taking some time off after grad-uation next month. Kilbury, like many gradu-ating seniors, is unsure of what she wants to do and only recently realized graduate school as a possibility. There are a few things to work out, though.

“I’m just hoping to find out if my heart is in the right place and see if I can do something without going to grad school. Or try to find a job where I can do what I love and not go to grad school because I do not want to get stuck doing something I don’t want to do,“ Kilbury said. “If I want to apply to grad school, I need to start applying in December and that prob-ably won’t be enough time for me, especially since my lease runs out in August.”

Kilbury plans to work for whatever she can get to pay the rent and think hard about what she wants to do with her particular path.

Sarah Gomillion, a second-year Ph.D. student studying social personality psychology, also took some time for herself.

“I took a year off between high school and college. I took a few classes at a community college, and I traveled and I did some volun-teer work,” Gomillion said. “I did everything people tend to do in their gap year.”

Gomillion cites a combination of friends tak-ing a gap year before her and recommending it along with finances being a bit tight right after high school, making a little time off even more appealing.

After her year off, though, Gomillion felt that she could not stand to do more time off and was definitely ready to go to college. She

is glad that she was a little older and a little more mature than the other freshmen in her classes.

Sometimes, there is no set path between de-grees or the path becomes blurred. For Juliane Schnibbe, a first-year Master’s student in high-er education and student affairs administra-tion at Buffalo State, her path was interrupted for scheduling issues between programs. In the interim, though, Schnibbe discovered art was not the way she wanted to go after all.

“I actually went to [SUNY] New Paltz and fig-ured I’d do a few classes there and get to know my professors because I figured I could do my Master’s there. In the process I realized I didn’t want to do art any more,” Schnibbe said. “Not living on campus in this time also made me realize how much I missed the stu-dent life aspect of college, because I was really involved in my undergrad, so I decided that’s what I wanted to do.”

Schnibbe also feels that her time off, looking for work in the real world, has given her a leg up on the other students in her program who have no real work experience. This allows her to look forward to next year when she must look for employment much more than her classmates.

Though there are many forms of a gap year, and many reasons to take one, each contribu-tor agreed that there were major benefits to how they look at school now, how they view their life after school, and how they see life in general. g


COMMENCEMENT ISSUE

Axl Hu /// THE SPECTRuMStudents with a bachelor’s degree or higher are given commissioned officer status upon entering military service.

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MONday, aPRIL 18, 2011 v THE SPECTRuM 7COMMENCEMENT ISSUE

Friday, April 29Medical Honors Program — 9 a.m. Center for the Arts

School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (MD) — 2 p.m. Center for the Arts

Lavender (LGBT) Reception — 3 p.m. 240 Student Union

Thursday, May 12Biomedical Sciences (Graduate and Undergraduate) — 6 p.m. Center for the Arts

Friday, May 13Graduate School of Education — 9 a.m. Center for the Arts

African-American, Latino, Asian and Native American (ALANA) Celebration of Achievement — 11 a.m. Slee Concert Hall

College of Arts & Sciences (Graduate) — 1 p.m. Center for the Arts

School of Management (Undergraduate) — 1 p.m. Alumni Arena

Phi Beta Kappa Induction (invitation only) — 3:30 p.m. Slee Concert Hall

School of Management (Graduate) — 5 p.m. Alumni Arena

Saturday, May 14School of Nursing — 9 a.m. Alumni Arena

School of Social Work — 9 a.m. Center for the Arts

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences — 1 p.m. Alumni Arena

School of Public Health and Health Professions — 1 p.m. Center for the Arts

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences — 1 p.m. Slee Concert Hall

School of Dental Medicine — 5 p.m. Center for the Arts

School of Architecture and Planning — 6 p.m. Alumni Arena

Sunday, May 15University Commencement (Undergraduate Ceremony for College of Arts & Sciences, including all associate degrees) — 10 a.m. Alumni Arena

Tuesday, May 17Educational Opportunity Center — 7 p.m. Center for the Arts

Saturday, May 21Law School — 3 p.m. Center for the Arts

MAx SOEuN KIMStaff Writer

With the majority of its classes held at the Center for the Arts, away from the academic spine, the dance department at the University at Buf-falo is an elusive enigma to a large number of students.

As the end of the semester draws to a close, graduating dance majors are busier than ever. Their days have become filled with examin-ing a diverse and exciting array of potential career choices that could take them to New York, Las Ve-gas, Los Angeles, or even halfway around the world.

Contrary to popular belief, a life on stage isn’t the only career path for graduates with a degree in dance. A wide range of options is made avail-able to them.

“One of the great things is that, now more than ever, there are so many different things you can do as a dancer,” says Jon Lehrer, founder of the critically acclaimed Buffa-lo-based dance company, Lehrer Dance, UB graduate, and guest fac-ulty at UB’s department of theatre and dance. “Years ago it was limit-ed. Now that’s opened up and wid-ened up.”

Traditional performance careers

with dance companies in musical theater, concert dance, and bal-let still remain highly desired and competitive. Yet, with the rapid commercialization of dance and its increasing prominence in 21st-cen-tury pop culture, dancers are now also being recruited by the film in-dustry, TV shows, theme parks and even cruise lines.

“I’ve been to about 10 auditions so far; I’m waiting to hear back from a lot of them,” said Elliot Keller, a senior dance major. “I did two Dis-ney auditions, auditions for three companies in Chicago, a few cruise lines, Bush Gardens Theme Park and the Cats national tour.”

Dance majors, like Keller, are busy seeking out potential career options all throughout their senior years and often travel to the urban mec-cas of dance, such as New York or Chicago, to audition for positions seeking professional dancers.

Hopping aboard a cruise ship as part of the nighttime entertain-ment is one of such positions avail-able to dancers and, arguably, the most fun. Cruise lines frequently hire dancers for stage performanc-es such as popular musicals Hair-spray or Chicago for the guests on the ship. Along with the benefit of traveling the world, cruises are also

popular among freshly graduated dance majors who want to avoid fi-nancial grief.

“They’re really great for saving up money. All your amenities are tak-en care of,” said Zosha Giacomara, a senior dance major. “It’s fun. It’s like a party all the time.”

Many graduates choose to go into careers that are not centered on performance, including stage pro-duction, choreography, physical therapy, or even dance manage-ment at an agency, while many oth-ers go on to teach the next upcom-ing generation of dancers.

“It gives them two to three more years of intensive artistic study,” said Melanie Aceto, a modern dancer and instructor of modern technique, choreography and im-provisation at UB. “And some of our students don’t go right into grad school. They wait a few years and go into grad school after they’ve performed.”

As the end of the year quickly ap-proaches, students are scrambling to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives. Luckily, the dance department has trained its students to survive in a dancer-eat-dancer world. g


Dancing Your Way Through Life

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What To Do, What To Do…?

JENNIfER HARBSenior Life Editor

With graduation less than a month away, it’s time for many se-niors to delve into their futures. While some students can say with conviction what their future holds, some are still left with many questions. Although some degrees may not lead to a clear-cut ca-reer path, many curriculums leave students with a broad set of skills that can be utilized in a number of various occupations.

CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICSStudents graduating with a de-gree in chemistry or physics may have a more focused area of study, yet there are still a num-ber of options for those with spe-cific degrees in the hard sciences.

“People have gone [to gradu-ate school] for forensic chemis-try, some have gone to medical school or pharmacy school, and, of course, some have gone to graduate studies for chemistry,” said Dr. Luis A. Colon, the chair of the chemistry department. “I would advise them to go to grad school if they can because that would increase the opportunity of the graduates. Of course ev-

erybody doesn’t want to [go to graduate school]; they can go en-hance their abilities, they can go get certified in teaching, others might want to pursue a career in the industry and might benefit from having a couple credits in management.”

According to Dr. Francis Gasparini, the chair of the physics depart-ment, students who graduate with physics degrees can work for companies with technical capabilities, often be hired as engineers, or can go into teaching. Graduate school is also an option.

“You have lots of opportunities; think very carefully about which direction to go,” Gasparini said. “People graduate [with physics degrees] and have high-paying jobs in any field. When you are a generalist you can do a lot of things. Be patient and you will rise to the top, that’s what happens.”

Colon echoed similar concerns about the economy slowing down and its effect on the job market, stating that some go into teaching or environmental labs.

According to the chemistry department’s website, chemical man-ufacturing, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, fertilizer, food, metallurgical materials, oil and paper companies also fre-quently hire chemists, which opens up the options for these stu-dents. Additionally, local, state, and federal governments often hire chemists to perform research, especially in the Environmen-tal Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Admin-istration, the National Science Foundation, the Armed Forces, and the State Department.

According to the physics department’s website, students with physics degrees can go into a wide variety of jobs, such as medi-cine, publishing technical books, journals, or software, consulting for the government or military, teaching, or work in construction, engineering, agriculture, and aerospace ventures. Additionally, graduates may end up working with energy, fuel, transportation, computers, or laser technology, along with numerous other op-tions.

“We have people who are faculty at various universities, people at the National Science Foundation, people at NASA, and people at big companies like IBM,” Gasparini said. “There are graduates all over the place.”

COMMUNICATIONSimilarly, many communication majors may have difficulty de-termining an appropriate path after graduation. Many graduate schools and companies offer programs or internships that hone the raw skills acquired in communication classes. However, it is usually up to the individual to find his or her niche and actively pursue it in order to gain the necessary experience to advance.

“I advise students to do internships and work, pay their dues after graduation, and start on the ground floor somewhere, even as a post-graduate intern somewhere in a field s/he seeks to have a ca-reer,” said Thomas Hugh Feeley, associate professor and chair of the department of communication, in an email. “The good thing about a COM degree is you can do anything – the bad thing is you can do nothing. It is incumbent on the student to earn some expe-rience, gain skills, and network in an area of interest.”

Melissa Zeitz graduated from UB in 2001 with a BA in communi-cation and found that delving into a job in her preferred area of work, human resources, was the stepping stone to her current ca-reer.

“During my senior year I had to take a human resources class to fulfill my communication degree [requirements], and that is what led me to want a career in HR. I did not do it as a concentration because I didn’t want to have to go any additional semesters. So, after I graduated, I took an HR assist position with Apple One. That position led to a more experienced HR position at GEICO,” Zeitz said in an email.

Zeitz currently works primarily with new hires at GEICO, ensuring paperwork is complete, scheduling drug tests, conducting back-ground checks, and enrolling them into the payroll system. She also coordinates interviews and conducts telephone interviews.

Feeley has taught communication courses to undergraduates for 15 years and has watched his students go into a variety of differ-ent careers. A majority of the jobs could be classified into what he would consider “public communication,” whether it’s in market-ing, promotions, or public relations.

“Some students do more technical and ‘skilled’ work in advertis-ing or journalism with greater specialization,” Feeley said in an email. “For example, one of my former students is [an] associate editor of The Buffalo News and another works in Manhattan for an advertising firm.”

ENGLISHOftentimes students graduating with English degrees are unsure about the next step. However, the slightly ambiguous path may serve to be an advantage in a diverse job market; many students find themselves well-positioned to enter a wide vari-ety of fields.

“Try to find work that you love, and work that you feel is im-portant in the world, whether public opinion regards it as important or not. That is what is most likely to make you happy and that is also the work you are likely to do best,” said Cristanne Miller, chair of the English department, in an email. “I think English majors are very well-positioned to do work that matters across a wide range of employment opportuni-ties, including but not at all limited to teaching.”

Many employers find the wide range of skills fostered by an Eng-lish degree curriculum, such as thinking analytically and writing and speaking well, difficult to train to new applicants. Those with English degrees seem to be especially primed for jobs that require such skills.

“CEOs of banks and major businesses have repeatedly said to me that they like hiring English majors... About a month ago, UB alumnus Ken Fuchs, senior vice president and litigation counsel

of Prudential Equity Group, LLC, repeated more or less the same thing to me,” Miller said in an email. “The English major is one of the most flexible at the university because its training focuses on these skills that are increasingly prized in the workplace because they can less often be assumed – as well as on teaching the tradi-tions of British, American (and to some extent, world) literature, the cultural contexts of those traditions, and their relation to other media.”

POLITICAL SCIENCEAs yet another degree that has a number of different career options upon graduation, stu-dents graduating with a degree in political science have to wade through the pool of interests in order to find what suits them best. According to its website, the political science department strives to provide students with an understanding of government and politics as well as extensive analytical and communication skills.

Some common jobs are in the fields of law, international organi-zations, electoral politics, campaign management, and polling, among many others. However, according to Dr. James E. Campbell, the chair of the department, the economy is not very conducive to finding jobs of any variety since the recession hit.

“I think you just have to not be discouraged. I think the job market is always tough to break into in good economic times, so I think the idea is to keep looking and make sure you’re organized and presentable and have an idea about what you can offer the em-ployer and stick to it,” Campbell said. “When I went out on the market, it was the same kind of situation – it’s tough to find the first job but you just have to stick to it. It’s good to set reasonable expectations; sometimes it takes starting out at less than your opti-mum job and working up from there. It’s always easier to move to one job from another than not having a job at all.”

PSYCHOLOGYAccording to the psychology department’s website, the psychology curriculum arms students with four critical skills. People skills, such as communicating with and relating to other individuals, analytical skills, writing skills, and research skills, such as using statistics, tables, and graphs to analyze problems and communi-cate relevant findings.

The broad liberal arts background opens students up to a number of varying vocations, but it is critical to develop these skills further via internships, part-time or summer jobs, or volunteer experi-ences.

“I plan to use both degrees to continue my work and interest in helping others,” said Peter Williams, a senior psychology and in-terdisciplinary studies double major. “Many of the courses I have taken during my undergraduate career were extremely influential in my decision to pursue a graduate degree. In the fall of 2011 I plan to attend graduate school at UB for mental health counsel-ing.”

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENTWith a total of 3,066 undergraduate students currently enrolled and over 32,000 alumni, UB’s School of Management (SOM) houses some of the more popular majors on campus.

According to the SOM website, “The undergraduate degree pro-grams in the School of Management are designed to prepare stu-dents for eventual managerial roles in both the private and the

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Headin’ Back Home

JENNIfER HARBSenior Life Editor

Graduating may seem like a welcome relief, but many find that leaving the college environment and entering the world as a potential job candidate is much tougher than it may seem on the surface. Whether this means moving back home, moving far from home, end-less interviews, or networking, the chal-lenges don’t end when students leave the classroom.

Sean Kenney, who graduated last year with a degree in accounting, moved back to his home in New York City de-spite receiving a job offer in Buffalo.

“I loved my time in Buffalo, it was great for school, and I wouldn’t change any-thing about it… but I was kind of done with it and wanted to move back to New York City,” Kenney said. “I’ve had the privilege to live at home, so I don’t re-ally have to rush into a job right away. I can live at home and it’s affordable.

However, living at home didn’t allow Kenney the same freedom he had expe-rienced while living in Buffalo, which was one of the adjustments he had to make. In addition to making that tran-sition, he realized that it’s easy to lose some connections if they are not active-ly kept up.

“I think that’s the toughest thing. When you move home, you kind of lose your networking if you don’t stay connected with people. It’s really important, espe-cially in your senior year, to network as much as possible, because if you get out of the loop it makes it tougher and tougher to get a job,” Kenney said.

In an economy that is only beginning

to be revitalized, Kenney expected to have some difficulties finding a job but assumed that his accounting degree would make him immune from a num-ber of the struggles.

“It really took me pulling strings and getting myself out there and being ag-gressive about it, which I really didn’t think I’d have to do because I had an accounting degree,” Kenney said. “Don’t think anything is expected, especially in this economy, even though it’s picked up lately.”

Despite his challenges, Kenney inter-viewed at a number of companies and eventually found a job in New York City. His final piece of advice, in addition to the critical networking element, is stay-ing committed to whatever you choose to do.

Jordan Stewart, who graduated last year with a degree in communication, also experienced the usual conflicts upon moving back home after college. In or-der to compromise with parents, he rec-ommends having an open dialogue with them.

“The transition from living on your own to living with your parents can be tricky. After living on your own in col-lege, you are accustomed to freedom, while your parents are ready to pick up the way things were before you left,” Stewart said. “I think the best thing to do in this situation is to sit down and talk to your parents and let them know that things are a little different now that you have grown up a little, and in re-turn, you have to expect to change some of your lifestyle as well. Compromise is the only way to survive without losing your mind.”

In addition to maneuvering the chal-lenges of a shared living environment, Stewart mentioned the paramount im-portance of networking. Although re-sumes and interviews are important,

Stewart has found that finding a job usually comes down to who you know.

“The most important thing to do after college to pursue a career is the same as the most important thing to do while in college to pursue a career – network. When it comes to finding a job or a ca-reer opportunity it always, and I mean always, comes down to who you know,” Stewart said. “To find opportunities and to get ahead, make sure that you put in a conscious effort into branching out and meeting as many important people that you can. Ask your manager if they know anyone in the company who is willing to sit down and meet with you for a quick five minutes. You never know who you will meet or where those five minutes could lead.” g

Check ubspectrum.com/life for a relat-ed piece about the post-graduation job search.


not-for-profit sectors…The program of study in management gives particular attention to understanding the business firm in society; the management functions of planning and control; the behavior of organizations; the tools of modern management, including ac-counting, economics and statistics; and the ways in which manag-ers perform such functions as production, marketing, finance and industrial relations.”

“The curriculum for students in the School of Management is ben-eficial as it is designed to give students a wide range of exposure to different aspects of business,” said Josh Sommer, a student in the School of Management, in an email.

As a business administration major, concentrating in finance and marketing, I feel I have gained valuable knowledge and developed critical skills that will allow me to be successful as I enter the business world.

Ryan Linden, a senior accounting major in the SOM, will be start-ing work for KPMG LLP, a U.S. audit, tax and advisory services firm that operates from 87 offices across the nation, in the fall of 2011 in New York City.

“The accounting program at UB prepared me extremely well for the next step. The strength of our program also attracts the atten-tion of the big four accounting firms as well as the regional firms, and therefore we have a strong recruitment base which I was able to capitalize on,” Linden said in an email.

SOCIOLOGYGraduating with a degree in sociol-ogy opens students up to a number of career options, as their back-grounds may equip them with a number of valuable transferrable skills. According to the UB careers website, “many transferable skills such as analytical, organizational, research, interpersonal, computer, leadership, teamwork, and oral/writ-ten communication are associated with the sociology degree.”

The website asserts that an un-dergraduate degree is suffi-cient for many entry-level positions in the field, but a graduate degree may be beneficial in a more com-petitive environment. In-ternships and volunteer experiences are espe-cially useful in getting involved, as gaining experience with the specific population with which the stu-dent would like to work is important.

According to Kelly Crean, the undergraduate program coordinator for the sociology department, students may find jobs as probation officers; employment, admissions, family, addiction, school or rehabilita-tion counselors; human resources specialists, or police officers; among many other possible careers.

For instance, Eric Walker, the director of organizing for People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) Buffalo, graduated from UB with a sociology degree. PUSH is an organization that strives to make affordable housing available in Buffalo. g

Additional reporting by Veronica Ritter, Keren Baruch, James Bowe, Rebecca Bratek, and Hannah Barnes.


Are you planning on staying in Buffalo after graduation?

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DANNIEllE O’TOOlEasst. News Editor

Justin Lindh, a UB alumnus, is selling pot, le-gally.

Lindh, who graduated in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in business, is now the co-owner and operator of Sensible Selections, a medical mari-juana dispensary and lounge in San Diego, Calif.

Lindh did not always picture a career in this in-dustry; however, that changed after visiting a friend in California last year.

“My friend had been in the works to open [a dis-pensary] but one of his partners backed out so I basically took his place,” Lindh said. “Now I am a co-owner and work there almost every day.”

The first stop upon entering Sensible Selections is the waiting room, where customers must fill out legal paperwork and present their medical marijuana cards to become verified.

In California, a doctor must determine whether or not one qualifies to receive medical mari-juana to treat a health condition. Doctors are able to provide patients with a medical cannabis card, which allows them to purchase legal me-dicinal marijuana from a dispensary.

The second stop is the lounge, where custom-ers must present their card again. In the lounge, customers are provided with freshly popped bags of medicated popcorn and access to a 42-inch screen TV. Previously, this room was also used as a vapor lounge, but changes in legisla-tion forced the Sensible Selections team to dis-

continue that feature.

Finally, customers can enter the “Budroom,” where there is a wide variety of strains, edibles, pre-rolls, and concentrates. The shop typically contains over 20 strains of marijuana, about 10 different types of concentrates (the pure form of tetrahydrocannabinol), and a wide array of edibles ranging from simple chocolate cookies to the more unique Baklava.

“Laws surrounding the medical marijuana in-dustry are always changing,” Lindh said. “Right now is a big time for us. In the future, we will either go on and make lots of money, or we may have to shut down.”

In New York State, legislation prohibits the sale and use of marijuana. The debate of whether or not to legalize it, and what benefits it may have, is a pressing topic.

“A career in medical marijuana research may be possible, but the scientific interest in it is limited right now,” said Richard D. Blondell, MD, direc-tor of addictions research at UB. “Research is currently more focused on its impact on public health.”

From industrial and commercial hemp applica-tions to medical marijuana, cannabis and its le-galization may be able to present the world with “Green Jobs” and “Green Business” opportuni-ties.

“Marijuana is not just a plant but the strongest natural fiber,” said Adrien D’Angelo, a junior English major and vice president of UB’s Na-

tional Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) chapter. “It contains the hemp seed, which is the most nutritionally complete food source in the world, and it can be used as fuel, as well as medicine.”

NORML strives to educate the students and the general population of Buffalo by raising aware-ness of the positive influence that the legaliza-tion of medical marijuana can have in Western New York and across the state.

NORML will be hosting its second annual Medi-cal Marijuana and Hemp Awareness Day on Wednesday. The goal of the event is to promote education, discussion, and social awareness of the reform of marijuana laws in the U.S.

The event will host musical performances by the Mosaic Foundation, The J Bangin’ Brew, The Travel Agency, The Grain Elevators, DJ Ozmatic Dub, and The Royal Pitches. WRUB will be pro-viding music between sets.

The event will be held from noon until 9 p.m. at Baird Point. Marijuana use at the event is pro-hibited. g


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Life After the BuzzerBRIAN JOSEPHSasst. Sports Editor

Reggie Witherspoon has become one of UB’s most prolific figures in his 12 years as the head coach of the men’s basketball team. He has taken the Bulls to new heights since his arrival and only added to the suc-cess of the rising UB athletics program.

However, his influence extends far beyond the walls of Alumni Arena.

Witherspoon and his coaching staff have maintained a strong relationship with the basketball program’s alumni throughout the years. They provide both advice and support for former Bulls, regardless of how far away from Buffalo they end up.

Witherspoon treats his current and former players as if they were his own children. He appreciates the constant communica-tion he has with his alumni.

“I think they feel a real sense of family,” Witherspoon said. “It’s great because it means they enjoyed their time here and there’s trust and loyalty. It’s probably one of the most rewarding aspects of my job.”

Some of Witherspoon’s alumni had the op-portunity to play professional basketball overseas, while others found success in the job market. He works with the university to ensure that his graduates have the maxi-mum amount of career opportunities avail-able.

“If they’re in a position to continue and play professionally overseas, I tell them to do that as long as they can, to learn about the rest of the world,” Witherspoon said. “If they enter the job world minus basket-ball, we make calls for some of them to help them land jobs.”

Witherspoon has had 11 of his players play overseas, with a few of those players going on to receive critical acclaim.

Mark Bortz went on to play professional basketball in Latin America and Turkey after he graduated from UB in 2005. He

recently became the first foreign player to win championships with two differ-ent teams in the Liga Uruguaya Basketball league in Uruguay. Bortz also holds the distinction of being the first foreign-born Caucasian to win a championship in the league.

After graduating in 2002, Louis Campbell played professionally in Japan and Ger-many, where he is currently considered one of the country’s premier guards. Yassin Idbihi, a 2007 alumnus, currently plays for ALBA Berlin, one of the elite teams in Ger-many.

Witherspoon still keeps a close bond with the players, even if they are overseas.

“We talk on the phone and through emails if they’re out of the country,” Witherspoon said. “They come back and even go to games when they are in town… on occa-sions they even stay at my house.”

Assistant coach Turner Battle, a UB athlet-ics Hall of Famer, has remained close with Witherspoon after he left UB in 2005. Battle cites Witherspoon as one of the main rea-sons for his continued involvement with the UB community.

“[Witherspoon] is one of the reasons why I came here,” Battle said. “He cared about me more as a person than a basketball player. He’s one of those guys who you could call at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, and if you got a problem he’s willing to talk about it.”

Battle played for the prestigious BC Kalev basketball club in Estonia. Within one year, the team deemed Battle’s performance in the league unsatisfactory and replaced him on short notice.

Battle’s experiences displayed some of the downsides of playing in a foreign land.

“I hate to say it, but you have to play pretty much for yourself,” Battle said. “That was a big transition for me coming from the family environment here. I learned that I came from a university where I put trust in a lot of people. I tried to put the people of Europe in the same trust and it didn’t work out that way.”

After unfruitful appearances in France and Sweden, Battle returned to the States

to play locally for the Buffalo Rapids in the summer of 2006. However, an arm injury forced Battle to focus on his desire to start a coaching career.

Battle began to coach at Sweet Home High School and led the Panthers to a sectional title. Soon after, he received an offer from Witherspoon to be a part of his coaching staff. It was a chance he couldn’t pass up.

“Things happened kind of fast as far as my professional career went,” Battle said. “I thought I would be playing professionally for a while then get back into coaching, but things didn’t work out that way. [Wither-spoon’s offer] was a good situation for me and it was hard to pass up.”

Battle was officially named assistant coach in 2007. His advice is often highly regarded because his age makes him more relatable to the current athletes.

Alumni with off-the-court careers have a reasonable impact on the team as well. Ja-son Bird, a financial advisor at UB and a former teammate of Battle’s, is always will-ing to lend a helping hand for the team.

“I advise [current players] all the time,” Bird said. “Being around the team is good… because [the team] has people who have been in the same shoes before to help them through things they may be going through.”

Bird saw more long-term benefits in the job market, despite being recruited to play pro-fessional ball after his college career. He said that both Witherspoon and the family aspect of the basketball program made the transition from collegiate basketball to a career easier.

“The coaching staff was encouraging and I knew they would’ve loved to have me around,” Bird said. “They’ve been very supportive, and I know they’re here for [the players].”

Witherspoon and the coaching staff have also been very enthusiastic about By-ron Mulkey’s post-college opportunities. Mulkey’s noteworthy season garnered the attention of European sports agencies, and a career overseas may very well be in the cards for him.

Mulkey is also pursuing a Master’s in High-er Education and Administration. He stat-ed that he has a passion to go into athletic administration on a collegiate level and a Master’s will give him something to fall back on if professional basketball doesn’t work out.

With one more semester left, Mulkey doesn’t feel too pressured to make a deci-sion on his post-collegiate career.

“Right now I’m just seeing opportunities present themselves,” Mulkey said. “If I can keep playing, that’s exactly what I want to do.”

The coaching staff will be sure to back Mulkey 100 percent in whatever he does as long as he, as with any of the program’s athletes, continues to grow.

“What you want to do [as a coach] is help your young men become grown men and help them learn what it takes to be success-ful,” Witherspoon said. “We want to help them develop and that’s why we do what we do.” g


ClINTON HODNETT /// THE SPECTRuM The bonds that head coach Reggie Witherspoon creates with his players helps them while they’re at UB and beyond.

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Beginning on March 28th, the Student Wellness team is asking the UB community to vote for their favorite essay!

People’s Choice Winners First Place $250: Lisa Kulka “Healing Social Fear With Social Synergy”

Second Place $100: Jesse Hanchett “Hope Is Waking Up”

Third Place $50: Barbara Asafu-Adjei “Hope Heals. It Will Always Get Better”

Winners Selected by JudgesFirst Place $250: Porsche Jones “Sea of Miracles”

Second Place $100: Justin Lenhard “An Existential Approach To Happiness”

Third Place $50: Laureen Monkelbaan “Hope and Healing: It Gets Better”

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MONday, aPRIL 18, 2011 v THE SPECTRuM12 DAILY DELIGHTS

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DELIGHTSDA

ILY

ACROSS1 Kind of whale7 Hack’s vehicle10 Wingding14 Sets right15 Insurance gp.16 “Typee” sequel17 Memory glitches18 Coal alternative19 goosedown measure20 very high23 Irritate26 Anka’s “— Beso”27 Scrimshaw article28 Brain part29 Howl30 Air-pump meas.31 Promissory note32 Mr. Hurok33 flipped out37 unit of freq.38 Dot follower39 Play it by —40 gI address41 Charity benefits43 Nfl scores44 Split45 Almost-grads46 Where Ipanema is47 Nutmeg-like spice48 latin dance music51 Ballet step52 fall guy53 Solve the problem56 1939 lugosi role57 I, for Wolfgang58 Seizes power62 firecracker part63 Daisy — yokum64 Ongoing drama65 Tend the cat66 Add- — (extras)67 Chic

DOWN1 Checkbook amt.2 Airport info3 Prune off4 Rickety5 Heavy fliers6 D.A. backup7 finicky8 Protein-building acid9 Jungle knife10 Tin exporter11 BP 1998 merger partner12 To date (2 wds.)13 With vehemence21 Empires22 Cheapskates23 Take the stairs24 foofaraw (hyph.)25 Humming29 Crass sorts30 goyas hang here32 Pharaoh’s amulet33 Charm34 The “k” in 24-k35 DeMille movies

36 Silent dwarf42 good way to rest46 Allergic reactions47 grow up48 fail to tip49 Debate the pros and cons50 uncaged51 Thin-shelled nut52 Baffling

question54 Prom rental55 Send packing59 — Tin Tin60 Shoulder enhancer61 Cunning

Sudoku – Difficulty 5/5

Crossword

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This Earth Day Be Green AND Revitalize Your Wardrobe!

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MONday, aPRIL 18, 2011 v THE SPECTRuM 13CLASSIFIEDS

CLASSIFIED ads may be placed at The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union, Amherst Campus. Office hours are from 9:00 - 4:00 p.m. Monday thru Friday. Deadlines are Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 12:00 for display and 2:00 p.m. for classifieds for the next edition. Weekly rates are $15.00 for the first ten words and 75¢ for each additional word. All ads must be paid in advance. The ad must be placed in person or send a legible copy of the ad with a check or money order for full payment. No ads will be taken over the phone. The Spectrum reserves the right to edit any copy. No refunds will be given on classified ads. Please make sure copy is legible. The Spectrum does not assume responsibility for any errors except to reproduce any ad (or equivalent), free of charge, that is rendered valueless due to typographical errors. Please call 645-2152 for any additional information.

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MONday, aPRIL 18, 2011 v THE SPECTRuM14 SPORTS

Departing Athletes GoodbyeGraduating seniors bid bittersweet adieuAARON MANSfIElDStaff Writer

A poignant NCAA commercial states: “there are over 400,000 NCAA student athletes, and most of us will go pro in something other than sports.” Each gradu-ating senior will begin searching for a job after receiving a diplo-ma; athletes are no exception.

Fans have watched the ath-letes go through ups, downs, wins, losses, and injuries. When they’ve risen, fans have risen, and when they’ve fallen, fans have fallen with them. It won’t be easy for UB to say goodbye, but the grand farewell will be equally bittersweet for the ath-letes.

“I loved my time [at UB],” said graduating men’s basketball player Jawaan Alston. “Everyone is amazing. I got all the support I needed to succeed here.”

British soccer player and two-time All-Mid-American Confer-ence performer Mike Unwin is everlastingly appreciative to UB.

“UB has opened my eyes to the opportunities that are out there,” Unwin said. “Coming from Eng-land, I’ve seen you get treated so

much better [at Buffalo].”

Women’s basketball head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald is losing four seniors who have carried the program throughout their collegiate careers, but she isn’t disheartened; she is excited for the opportunities awaiting her graduating stars.

“[The graduating seniors] are young women who are going to be extremely successful beyond college,” Hill-MacDonald said. “I’m really excited for them to take the next step in their lives. They’re very bright, motivated, hardworking, and loyal, and those are qualities that future employers are looking for. With-out a doubt, they’re going to make their mark on society.”

The athletes are proud of what they’ve accomplished, but they aren’t anxious to hang up their sneakers or pick up their pencils just yet. Out of the seven inter-viewed, four mentioned playing sports professionally as part of their future plans and five said they are interested in pursuing further education.

Every athlete was tremendously grateful to the UB fanbase.

“[I want to say] thanks for every-thing these past five years,” said graduating women’s basketball star Kourtney Brown. “I’ve had an awesome experience, and I’ve grown a lot.”

After a record-setting career in which she became UB’s all-time leading scorer among women, Brown is looking to sign with a WNBA team. In the WNBA,

the Buffalo hero would face the world’s best competition, such as Candace Parker and Maya Moore.

Brown isn’t the only soon-to-be graduate who anticipates play-ing professional sports. Corner-back Josh Thomas is expected to be picked in the upcoming NFL draft. Thomas is proud to have attended UB, and he expects the experience to prepare him well for the momentous grind of play-ing in the NFL.

“UB has a tradition of student athletes taking advantage of aca-demics and being coached well in order to succeed,” Thomas said.

As they move forward and de-part campus, a part of UB will eternally be with the competi-tors in their careers.

“The coaches taught me that you can always do more than you think,” Alston said. “Always pur-sue your goals and never think they’re impossible. You have to learn how to overcome adver-sity. Push through it and every-thing will work out eventually.”

Future Plans for (Now Former) Buffalo Athletes

Josh Thomas—Cornerback, Football—Com-munication: “I’m done with my let-ters [of eligibility] for football and

I’m entering the [NFL] draft. I’m

graduating in May of 2012 with a communication degree. I’m going to take classes during the summer. After I get my Bachelor’s degree, I want to get my Master’s in business.”

Kourtney Brown—Forward, Women’s Basketball—Elec-trical Engineer-ing: “I graduated last year with a degree in com-

puter engineering. I’ll get another degree this year in electrical en-gineering. I’m looking forward to continuing my basketball career wherever it may be—whether it’s here or overseas.”

Jawaan Alston—Forward, Men’s Basketball--Soci-ology: “My first plan is to pursue playing basketball professionally

overseas. If that doesn’t work out, I will look into grad school and try to become an assistant coach. My ideal career would be coaching.”

Mike Unwin—Forward, Men’s Soccer—Sociology: “I’m looking to play professional soccer. I plan to stay here. I’m

married and my wife has a baby coming in July. I’ll be playing for FC Buffalo this summer until my [green card] comes, and then I’ll look to sign somewhere.”

Jessica Fort-man—Forward, Women’s Basket-ball—Biomedical Science: “After graduation I’m going to Marriott, Ohio for a physi-

cian assistant program that’s starting June 17. It’s a graduate program, and in two years I’ll be able to work as a physician assistant.”

Jimmy Hamel—Wrestling—Psy-chology: “Next year, I’ll most likely be going to grad school. I’m staying around here and helping assistant coach

with the wrestling team.”

Mitch Zenaty—Men’s Tennis—Child Develop-ment (Social Sciences): “I would like to be a college ten-nis coach, and

I’d like to get started by being an assistant coach for a couple years. I’m doing a bunch of col-lege tennis camps [this summer]. I’m going to Malibu, Pepperdine, and Notre Dame.”

g


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SPORTS

Bull on Bull Violence

Bulls Pulverize Purple EaglesAARON MANSfIElDStaff Writer

The “big four” rivalry between the four Western New York colleges—UB, Niagara, Canisius, and St. Bo-naventure—has always provided great athletic competition. The men’s tennis team and Niagara continued that tradition on Thurs-day afternoon.

Buffalo (9-7, 1-2 Mid-American Conference) took it to an over-matched Niagara (3-14, 3-3 Met-ro Atlantic Athletic Conference) squad and beat them 6-1. The Bulls improved to 97-3-1 in the all-time series versus Niagara.

The win marked Buffalo’s third in a row and the team is peaking at just the right time. The Bulls’ streak started after losing four out of their previous five games, which culminated in a 1-6 beat down at Binghamton (10-13, 3-0 America East).

“Obviously [Niagara is] a cross-town rival,” said head coach Lee Nickell. “They have a good coach and they always field a solid team. Getting the win means a lot to us.”

The team has been hampered by injuries all year. The squad’s lead-ers—including sophomore George Tibil, senior Marcelo Mazzetto, and senior Mitch Zenaty—have been in and out of the lineup, but Nickell refuses to make excuses. He said that younger, less known players have stepped up when the team has needed them.

Two freshmen continued to im-press for the Bulls. Jason Simon and Travis Zappia displayed abil-ity far beyond their years. Simon only surrendered one point to

Joseph Zelic, coming away with a 6-0, 6-1 victory in the third-seeded match. Though it seemed impos-sible to top Simon’s performance, Zappia did just that. He blanked Mathieu Lacasse, 6-0, 6-0 in the fifth-seeded match.

The team was once again led by the pairing of junior Wojciech Sta-rakiewicz and sophomore Vusa Hove. The teammates improved to 3-1 as a pair, by defeating Matthew Kane and Mathieu Lacasse, 8-4.

Nickell said the combination of Starakiewicz and Hove in the No. 1 slot has worked out exceptionally well, and their success makes the rest of the doubles lineup stron-ger.

The Bulls dropped the No. 2 dou-bles match, but junior Alex Kali-nin and freshman Jason Shkod-nik joined forces to give Buffalo the doubles point by overcoming Brandon Gallegos and Jordan Te-desco-Blair, 8-3.

Buffalo took the top five ranked singles matches. Shkodnik couldn’t complete the sweep. He came up just short in the sixth-slated match, falling in a super-tie-breaker 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-4) to David Lemieux-Sarrasin.

Nickell was impressed with his entire squad, but he wasn’t sur-prised. He believes they’re as good as any team in the MAC.

“We’re able to beat everybody in the conference,” Nickell said. “We just need to pull together, step up, and take advantage of opportuni-ties. The students can expect to see us compete as hard as we can and hopefully come away with the MAC championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament.”

Though he was pleased with the performance, Nickell is already mentally preparing for the next contest.

“Any win is a great win at this time of the year, but we’re looking for-ward to facing Ball State next, and that match is where our focus is,” Nickell said.

Ball State (11-13, 1-2 MAC) will come to Buffalo to take on the Bulls on Friday at 1 p.m. g


Bulls Persevere Despite Adverse Conditions

ERIN McCORMACKStaff Writer

With the rain pouring down and the wind blowing in their faces, the men’s and women’s track and field teams still found a way to turn in quality performances.

The Bulls competed in the Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic on Friday and Saturday against Ivy, Patriot, and Colonial League schools. The weather sent a lot of teams pack-ing, as a quarter of the competition left after Friday’s session.

In order to stay healthy and pre-vent injury, the Bulls cut the meet short as well and left early on Sat-urday.

Women’s head coach Vicki Mitchell was proud of the way her athletes handled the weather.

“We ran the 100-meter hurdles into a headwind and pouring down rain,” Mitchell said. “[There weren’t] great performance marks, but I was mostly encouraged that our athletes were able to respond and really warm up well and focus,

which is really difficult to do when you’re standing outside for six or seven hours in bad weather.”

It was another big meet for sopho-more thrower Erin Miller and ju-nior throwers Becky O’Brien and Rob Golabek.

O’Brien set a new facility record at the Christy Matthewson-Memorial Stadium in the women’s discus, winning the event with a throw of 169-3 (51.59m). O’Brien went on to win the shot put, clearing her competition by 4.5 feet. Miller con-tinued her breakthrough perfor-mance from last week, turning in a season-best of 154-9 (47.16m) in the discus. She improved her previous throw by two meters and finished in second.

Golabek, who currently has the top throw in the country, took first in the men’s shot put. His throw of 60-2 (18.34m) was almost eight feet farther than the second-place fin-isher, Pittsburgh’s Garrett Larkin.

The distance squad impressed ev-eryone on Friday night with season best times in the 1,500m and top performances in the steeplechase and 10,000m.

Freshman Cord Sgaglio improved his time by 10 seconds, finishing the 1,500m in four minutes flat,

while senior John Bauman went under four minutes for the first time in his career at 3:59.40. In the women’s 1,500m, sophomore Ai-mee Hopkins took six seconds off her previous best to win her heat in 4:45.

In the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, freshman Steve Houghmaster set the standard for the Bulls, run-ning a 9:21.80 – the fastest time a UB freshman has ever run in the steeple.

Sophomore Katie Sanders ran her debut 10,000m on the track at 37:24, which Mitchell claims is among UB’s top five all-time perfor-mances.

Mitchell attributes the distance runners’ success on Friday to the adrenaline rush of competing un-der the lights.

“The conditions in the evening rac-es are always ideal,” Mitchell said. “I think athletes just get excited to run under stadium lights. When there’s a crowd around, it gets them excited about what they’re doing.”

Both squads will travel to Ithaca on Saturday to compete at the Cornell Upstate Challenge. The meet starts at 1 p.m.


CAREy BEyERSports Editor

It’s never too early to start think-ing about football, even if it’s only April.

The football team held its annual Blue and White game on Saturday afternoon. The game was originally scheduled to be held at UB Stadium, but inclement weather forced the team to move to the Buffalo Bills’ field house at Ralph Wilson Stadi-um. Due to lack of space, the event was closed to the public.

The crowd was much smaller than most of the players are used to see-ing on game day, but that did not stop them from putting forth their best efforts as the offensive and defensive squads competed in one of the oddest style games that they will play in their college careers. The offense accumulates points based on a normal football scoring system, but the defense is awarded points based on accomplishments, such as sacks or interceptions, and ability to stop the offense’s prog-ress. The offense defeated the de-fense, 49-34.

While the game-style scrimmage was fun for everyone involved, the real reason that the game is played is for the coaching staff to evalu-ate the talent on the roster. Every player on the roster participated in the scrimmage and head coach Jeff Quinn was pleased with what he saw from all of them.

“From an offensive standpoint, we saw some big explosive plays,” Quinn said. “We did have two picks but we had no fumbles. We put a great deal of emphasis on taking care of the ball. We were able to run the ball and put the ball in the end zone. Defensively, we were op-portunistic at times. We took Josh Copeland, who was a linebacker at the beginning of the spring, and put him at safety and he was very pro-ductive. So we were very pleased with that.”

The most explosive of Quinn’s play-ers was senior wide receiver Mar-cus Rivers. The fifth-year athlete burnt the defense for 198 yards and three touchdowns on nine catches. He was able to succeed no matter which quarterback was under cen-ter, as he had long touchdown plays from both junior quarterback Jerry Davis and sophomore quarterback Alex Zordich.

Rivers was excited after the scrim-mage but understands that just be-ing successful on his own is not the ultimate goal.

“I just want to win a MAC champi-onship,” Rivers said. “It’s for the team. I had a sense of that in 2008 but I didn’t contribute like I wanted to. I just want to get back there so we can have a sense of pride again about UB because the team and the fans deserve it.”

For the team to attain that goal, it must first decide who will lead the charge. Davis and Zordich both spent time starting for the Bulls last season and they are currently in competition to decide who will keep the job.

Both players performed well in the scrimmage. Davis finished the day having thrown 9-of-16 for 153 yards and two touchdowns, while Zordich went 6-of-13 for 169 yards, a touch-down, and two interceptions.

Although the position is open to whichever player proves himself before the season begins, Quinn ac-knowledged that Davis is currently the number one competitor.

“Davis started today’s game so he has the slight edge,” Quinn said. “He’ll have that edge through the summer and heading into camp, but it’s going to be competitive and that’s important. I like that Jerry’s gotten better. He’s really demon-strated a more commanding atti-tude [over the offense].”

If the quarterback competition was not enough of a question mark for the offense, the squad is also fac-ing the challenge of learning under a new offensive coordinator. Alex Wood took over the offense after Greg Forrest was relieved of his du-ties after the season.

The players seem to be responding well to Wood’s mentality and are excited to have the opportunity to work with him this season.

“[Coach Wood] is bringing in a win-ning attitude which I love,” Davis said. “He’s very positive, not a nega-tive guy at all. He’s hard on us, but that’s only going to make us better. I think he’s done a pretty good job up to this point and he’s going to keep moving forward.”

The offense is not the only part of the team with questions. The de-fense is forced to replace most of its backfield after it lost four seniors to graduation. The team understands that the process of replacing the production that was lost will be dif-ficult as the new starters will take time to become accustomed to ev-erything that will be expected of them.

“We’ve got to do more work on the back end of our defense and I know [defensive coordinator William] Inge understands that,” Quinn said. “We kind of held back some of the things that we wanted to do defensively that I think may have eliminated some of the situations, in terms of the quarterback getting the ball out of his hands. We need some work and we need some more time, but that’s why the summer is going to be so valuable for those kids getting more experience.” g


Bulls Record First Home Win On Senior DaySCOTT RESNICK Staff Writer

Friday’s senior day provided the perfect stage for the women’s tennis team to end its five-game losing streak.

The Bulls (5-11, 1-5 Mid-Ameri-can Conference) hosted North-ern Illinois (2-12, 0-5 MAC) in their final home match of the season. Buffalo was able to make Aleksandra Petrova and Diana Popescu’s final home match memorable with its 7-0 sweep of the Huskies.

Buffalo earned the doubles point after five weeks of fail-ing to do so. The tandem of freshman Marta Stoyanova and sophomore Shelby Bates started the Bulls’ sweep with their 8-2 win over Kelly Phillips and Ilse Pacheco. The teams of Popescu and freshman Miranda Podlas, and Petrova and sophomore Kira Golenko followed up the win by defeating their oppo-nents, 8-2, 8-4.

In singles play, the Bulls won in straight sets in five of the six games played. Stoyanova defeated Emily Rogers 6-3, 6-0 in the first singles game of the meet. Podlas duplicated her ef-fort with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Pa-checo. Petrova then beat Marti-na Schnapp 6-0, 6-1 to clinch the meet for the Bulls.

Bates believed that the win was important because it sent the se-niors off on a good note.

“It felt amazing to finally win, especially on senior day,” Bates said. “It was a sad day in that it was their last home match, but it was so exciting to see ev-eryone break through and win. The legacy they leave behind will stay with this program for a long time to come.”

Next up for the Bulls is a road match at Ball State (7-13, 1-5 MAC) on Friday, with play scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. g


HyuCKSOO KWON /// THE SPECTRuM

The men’s tennis team took out cross-town rival Niagara on its home court.

HyuCKSOO KWON /// THE SPECTRuMThe women’s tennis team snapped a five-match losing streak with its win over Northern Illinois on Senior Day.

COuRTESy Of DAvID SANCHIRICO

Marcus Rivers (2) showed the full potential of his talent in the annual Blue & White game, as he racked up 198 yards and grabbed three touchdowns.

Hard To Say Goodbye

MATTHEW PARRINOSenior Sports Editor

See column online at ubspectrum.com/opinion.

the spectrum volume 60 issue 75

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