FRONT PAGE:
Hannan Study Explores Angioplasty vs. Bypass Choice
Master Plan Work on Perimeter Road Begins
Governor's Budget Would Fund CAT, Cut TAP, Flatten Allocation
HIGHLIGHTS:
2nd Annual Internet Symposium for Business
President Helps Quiz U.S. Faculty
A Gold CASE for Alumni Affairs
Chamber Artists Unveil Biblical Cantatas
Post-Doc Scholar Views Public Health and Environment
Library Courses Respond to New Electronic Information Needs
FACULTY & STAFF:
van Ryn , Cardiac Access Study - photograph
Lorang to Direct Institutional Research
Friedman A Leading Linker of Art and Math
A Lifetime of Teaching Brilliance - Award to Donald Cushman
New Director, Brigham, to Broaden Visibility of Small Business Development Center
New Faces - William H. Frey, Silvina Montrul
In Print: Julian Zelizer, Taxing America: Wilbur D. Mills, Congress, and the State 1945-1975
FEATURES
Library Courses Respond to New Electronic Information Needs
John Ryan Makes 1999 His Swan Song
John Molinari - Award-Winning Touch for Weighing Big-Storm Intensity
Jacklet Research Gives Clues to Function of Genes
Excellence in Teaching Award to Judith Fetterley
Break A Leg � And Keep Those Grades Up!GIFTS:
CELL Gets New Name and Greater Support from Dr. Alan T. LeforSPORTS TALK:
Buchanan Gets Green Light to Lead Scorers
Women's Relay Milrose Champs
Men Growl, Heart Faints, 70-55
Women Win Thriller in Growl
Ford Repeats as Coach of the Year
Hannan Study Explores Angioplasty vs. Bypass Choice
By Vinny Reda
A team of researchers led by the University�s Edward L. Hannan has found that the location of disease in heart disease patients can help predict whether bypass surgery or angioplasty will provide the best chance for long-term survival.
The findings of Hannan, professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy, Management and Behavior in the School of Public Health, and his colleagues were published in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
The relative merits of bypass surgery and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) have been the subject of longstanding debate. In patients with advanced heart disease, the decision to treat with bypass or angioplasty is not always easy, and studies comparing patient outcomes following either operation have produced conflicting results � often limited by the small numbers enrolled in the studies.
This large new study of New York State patients, said the Journal�s editors, "provides the best data yet comparing the two procedures. More than 30,000 patients undergoing each of the procedures between 1993-96 were included."
"Treatment-related survival-benefit at three years in patients with ischemic heart disease is predicted by anatomic extent and specific site of the disease," said Hannan in a Reuters news service article on the research.
In an effort to clarify the decision-making process, Hannan�s team chose to focus on one patient risk factor influencing postoperative survival: the site and extent of coronary damage in individual patients. One coronary vessel in particular � the left anterior descending (LAD) artery � was shown to be involved with higher rates of postoperative complications in patients than when the disease was primarily at other sites.
After three years, mortality was lower in the PTCA subset group of patients who had one vessel disease not involving the LAD. There were no statistically significant differences between the two procedures in cases of one-vessel disease in the non proximal LAD and in two-vessel disease not involving the proximal LAD. However, bypass surgery was superior to PTCA in patients with one or two-vessel disease including the proximal LAD and in all cases of three-vessel disease.
The study discovered "statistically significant differences," but Hannan stressed "these differences may not be of clinical significance in the actual decision-making processes of many doctors and patients." He said considerations such as the patient�s life expectancy and attitude about taking risks remain important.
Master Plan Work on Perimeter Road Begins
By Christine Hanson McKnight
The first phase in the University�s historic five-year, $130 million Master Plan will get under way in March when August Bohl Contracting Co. of Glenmont begins site preparation work to realign part of Perimeter Road. The work on the west side of the Uptown Campus, which is scheduled to be completed by the time classes resume this fall, will include reconstruction of approximately 5,000 feet of Perimeter Road from the I-90 entrance south to Tricentennial Drive. The result will be to shift that section of Perimeter Road farther west to help create a "green belt" of open spaces and pedestrian walkways surrounding the academic podium.
No significant traffic disruptions are expected to occur until after May�s Commencement, according to Donald D. DelManzo, assistant vice president for facilities management. After Commence-ment, employees and visitors to campus should avoid the area between I-90 and Tricentennial Drive.
"We expect to see the contractor set up a site trailer in February and in March to start the tree cutting and clearing work that will be necessary between the Colonial lot and the Health Center," DelManzo said. He added that all of the road and parking lot paving would be done by the time students return in the fall. Some sidewalk work and landscaping will be done after that.
The scope of the $3.5 million Perimeter Road project also includes:
� Improvements to the I-90 entrance on the northwest corner of campus.
� Reconstruction and reconfiguration of the Colonial parking lot.
� Colonial Quad loading dock and parking improvements.
� Construction of a major new parking lot southwest of Colonial Quad.
� Intersection improvements at Tricen-tennial Drive and Perimeter Road.
� A new bus stop just west of the Social Science Building.
� Reconstruction and doubling of the size of the Health Center Parking Lot.
� Improvements at the intersection of the southwest entrance road to campus and Perimeter Road.
� Major landscaping improvements.Architects for the Perimeter Road project are Clough Harbor & Associates, headquartered in Colonie.
As part of this work, the University Police Department (UPD) Building, now on the west side of campus, will be demolished and a new police facility will be constructed east of the academic podium � ready for occupancy in the spring of 2000, according to DelManzo.
Planning is also underway for two new buildings east of the podium. The Hillier Group, a New York architectural firm, has been selected to design the 160,000-square-foot Life Sciences Research Building. Construction is expected to get under way late in the year 2000. A sculpture studio is expected to go up in early 2000.
Also planned are renovation and conversion of the current Administration Building into academic offices, with eventual construction of a new entrance building on the south side of Collins Circle. The new building, with a pedestrian walkway linking it to the podium, is expected to be completed toward the end of the five-year plan, but renovation of the current building is scheduled to get under way early in 2000.
To accomplish the renovation, DelManzo said, the University expects to utilize two Western Avenue office buildings, with employees of the current Administration Building moving in beginning this summer.
The University is also developing plans for an overhaul of Husted Hall on the Downtown Campus and an annex to the Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management.
The Legislature approved funding for the Master Plan last spring following the University�s study of the steps needed to maintain and strengthen its position as a premier public research university.
Editor�s Note: For the most current information, visit the Facilities Management Projects website at http://chef.fab.albany. edu/deptment/facilities/acquisition/perimeter/perimeter/html.
Governor's Budget Would Fund CAT, Cut TAP, Flatten Allocation
by Vinny Reda
Governor George Pataki's proposed 1999-2000 Executive Budget, released on Jan. 27, aims to spend nearly $2.6 billion for SUNY and CUNY operations.
In a press release, the Governor's office said enactment by the Legislature of the proposal "will ensure that New York State maintains its commitment to higher education," keep tuition costs at their current rates and, "with an accompanying expectation of continued cost efficiencies," maintain essential academic programs and services.
For 1999-2000, State operating aid for SUNY campuses would be continued at the level instituted in 1998-99, with no base allocation increase. In real dollars (accounting for inflation), it will mean less funding than a year ago, and will also not provide annualization of last year's SUNY-system salary increases.
The Executive Budget reflects continued implementation of the $3 billion SUNY Capital Investment Plan initiated by Governor Pataki in 1998-99, which includes $130 million in funding over five years for the University at Albany's comprehensive "Master Plan" projects.
The budget proposal recommends $501.1 million in funding for the state's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), a decrease of $133 million from its current level. According to the Governor's office, "this funding level will maintain New York State's standing as the national leader in support for student financial aid, providing nearly double the amount of the next most generous state - Illinois."
The Governor said that $19 million in TAP savings will result from an improved economy, and approximately $114 million from a proposed TAP restructuring that would require students to enroll in and complete 15 credits per semester to receive full TAP funding. Students would also be expected to contribute a minimum 25 percent - rather than the current 10 percent - towards the cost of tuition.
An added TAP "dividend" upon successful completion of a degree in four years would provide more aid than available under the current TAP program, according to the Governor. But both Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver immediately voiced objections to the Governor's plan. President Hitchcock responded with this statement: "We are concerned that the proposal regarding the restructuring of the state's Tuition Assistance Program would limit student access to higher education. As proposed, it appears that those students who need the aid most - those who work their way through college - would be hurt the most.
"We are working with our counterparts in the SUNY system to advocate for the Tuition Assistance Program and we are also meeting with our governmental leaders to make the case for TAP and other essential University programs," she said.
Executive Vice President Carl Carlucci pointed out that in addition to the Executive Budget being "flat" in actual dollar, it does not provide for additional relief for SUNY hospitals, which may encounter a $80-90 million revenue problem this year. "That would have to be made up by the rest of the system - a problem all campuses would share," said Carlucci.
A more positive sign for the University was in the proposal's endorsement of $5 million in state support for the new computer chip "Focus Center," located at CESTM's Center for Advanced Technology in cooperation with RPI. "These institutions will now assume a leading role nationally in the development of the next generation of semiconductor technology," said the Governor in the budget summary. He also reaffirmed "increasing support" to Albany's new biotech incubator on the East Campus.
2nd Annual Internet Symposium for Business
National experts from Borders Books and the Hearst Corporation will be featured at the Second Annual "Building Brands and Business on the Web," an all-day Internet marketing symposium to be held on Tuesday, Feb. 23. The event is being presented by the NY Capital Region Chapter of the American Marketing Association and the University�s School of Business, and will take place at the Marriott hotel on Wolf Road in Colonie.
"The Internet has become a viable resource and necessary marketing channel for businesses today," said Rebecca Murtagh of Webway, the symposium chairperson. "Our symposium will address the new challenges Internet marketing poses and solutions for addressing them."
Morning seminars and a luncheon will feature national Internet experts from Borders Books and Music, Hearst Corporation and Agile Industries/Ogilvy One (Internet marketers for the Olympics and IBM). Interactive afternoon workshops will be led by Internet marketers from Trans World Entertainment, RoadRunner and the Hearst Corporation. The day�s topics will include brand building on the web, developing web loyalty, E-commerce and on-line communities, on-line relationship building, using banner ads and more.
"Last year�s half-day symposium attracted 200 local marketers, many of whom asked for a longer and more in-depth event. This year we�ve responded and successfully attracted speakers who are top-notch Internet specialists � people who have excelled in this field," said Paul Schurr, associate professor of marketing in the School of Business. "The anecdotes and information they present will be cutting-edge. In the afternoon discussion groups, participants will have the opportunity to gain first-hand attention."
The symposium � including continental breakfast, full lunch and afternoon snack � is sponsored by the Times Union and Road Runner, and supported by Webway, Media Logic and New Art Printing. Registration is open until Feb. 18, with student and faculty tickets only $45 (AMA members pay $95, general public $125) if registration form and payment are received by Lisa Scholz at : AMA Internet Symposium Registration; BA 365; University at Albany; Albany, NY 12222. She may be called at 442-4965.
President Helps Quiz U.S. Faculty
The "American Faculty Poll," sponsored by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), recently named President Hitchcock to its advisory board.
The American Faculty Poll will survey a representative sample of full-time college and university faculty to assess their opinions and concerns on a variety of topics. The survey will cover opinions on the direction of education trends, faculty compensation and finances, and funding for higher education, as well as faculty attitudes toward alternatives to traditional college curricula and training.
The role of the advisory board is to oversee the content of the survey and to guide the direction of the research so that the survey results can best serve the higher educational community. Hitchcock will meet with other distinguished academic leaders twice during this study. At the first meeting, the advisory board will try to steer research in the appropriate direction by reviewing the research design and a draft questionnaire. The second meeting, tentatively planned for the month of April, will discuss the results of the research and develop a program to disseminate the information.
The survey�s data will be made publicly available to any interested researchers for further analysis.
A Gold CASE for Alumni Affairs
The University�s Alumni Affairs Office was presented a first prize "Gold Award" from the Council for Advancement in Support of Education (CASE) in the CASE District II Alumni Relations and Communications Awards Program at the annual District II Conference in Hershey, PA., on February 1.
CASE is the primary international professional organization for advancement professionals in higher education. The award, which came in the Individual Institutional Relations and Alumni Relations Program, was in response to the Alumni Association�s membership package sent with the fall issue of Albany magazine.
A total of 22 entries were received in the competition from programs covering six states, the District of Columbia, Ontario, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which comprise CASE�s District II "Middle Atlantic" region.
Chamber Artists Unveil Biblical Cantatas
The Capital Chamber Artists, featuring professor emeritus and flutist Irvin E. Gilman, will present two of the first examples of Biblical Cantatas ever written on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 8 p.m. (pre-concert recital at 7 p.m.) at First Congregational Church on 405 Quail St. in Albany.
New York soprano Neva Rae Powers, an international concert soloist, director, choreographer and guest professor, will be guest soloist on the two works, written in 1708 by Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, French composer in the court of Louis XIV. "Esther" and "Moses Crossing the Red Sea" will be given their U.S. premieres by the Chamber Artists, which will add flute and viola to the violin, gamba and harpsichord called for by the score.
The "Paris Quartet in A" by Georg Philipp Telemann and "Sonata in d minor" by Jean Baptiste Loeillet will also be performed by musicians and soprano.
Post-Doc Scholar Views Public Health and Environment
A researcher in environment studies and its effect on public health has become the second recipient of the University�s Postdoctoral Scholar Fellowship Program for Underrepresented Individuals.
Lupita Montoya-Jansen, who is assigned to the School of Public Health, fulfilled her fellowship obligations in 1998 at Stanford University, where she received a Ph.D. in environmental engineering/air pollution, as well as an M.S. in mechanical engineering/thermosciences. She received a B.S. in engineering/applied mechanics from California State University at Northridge.
Katherine Alben of the Department of Environmental Health and Toxicology will be Montoya-Jansen�s faculty sponsor in her year at Albany.
Good Practice with Commuters
Thomas Gebhardt, director of personal safety & off-campus affairs, has contributed to the 5th edition of Serving Commuter Students: Examples of Good Practice, a compendium of high-quality programs/service for off-campus students.
van Ryn Chats with "Nightline"
ABC-TV "Nightline" reporter George Strait is shown at the School of Public Health with Department of Health Policy, Management & Behavior professor Michelle van Ryn. Strait recently came to campus to interview van Ryn and department Chair Edward Hannan on the results of the Cardiac Access Study, on which van Ryn is principal investigator. The study found that physicians are less likely to recommend aggressive treatment like angioplasty and bypass surgery for African-American and Hispanic patients with heart disease. The segment is expected to air Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 11:30 p.m. on ABC and may also be used on "Good Morning America" and "World News Tonight."
Lorang to Direct Institutional Research
Wendell Lorang, since 1982 associate director of the Office of Institutional Research, has been named director, it was announced by President Hitchcock on Jan. 26. Lorang succeeds J. Fredericks Volkwein, who left the University at the end of 1998 to become director of the national Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State University.
"Wendall�s theoretical, technical, and analytical expertise and longevity of experience in the field of institutional research are second to none on this campus and are known and respected throughout SUNY and the Northeast . . . indeed, broadly across the country," Hitchcock said. She added that Lorang has become a leader in a campus-wide conversion to the comprehensive data system PeopleSoft.
In addition, Bruce Szelest, for nine years a research associate in the Institutional Research office, has been promoted to the position of assistant director. "This promotion to a leadership role in the Office of Institutional Research recognizes Bruce�s many contributions and his demonstrated and continuing professional and intellectual growth," wrote the President.
A Leading Linker of Art and Math
Nathaniel Friedman of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, whose Art and Mathematics conferences at Albany, beginning in 1992, brought national attention to the linkage of the two disciplines, was featured in the January issue of studioNOTES, a national journal for artists working in all media and styles.
The article describes Friedman�s approach to carving limestone, alabaster, marble, and granite. It also explains his method of making what he calls "fractal prints" from a slab of granite � a technique he originated. He says his passion is to show "the combination of form, space, and light."
Friedman has been a member of the Albany faculty for 31 years, and an artist for 25. He is the founder of the International Society for the Arts, Mathematics and Architecture, which will have its first conference this June in Sebastian, Spain. Benny Shaboy, editor of studioNOTES, calls Friedman "one of the world�s leading authorities on the relationship between art and math."
A Lifetime of Teaching Brilliance
The National Communication Associ-ation presented Donald P. Cushman, professor emeritus in the Department of Communication, with its 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award during it annual meeting in New York City late last year.
The award goes to an outstanding teacher at any academic level. The Association citation to Cushman stated that "Throughout his long career, Don Cushman continuously took it upon himself to seek out promising undergraduate and graduate students and offer himself as both teacher and mentor. To become a �Cushman student� has always meant to enter a close and extended tutorial relationship designed not merely to im-part a body of knowledge but to train one in the arts of thought and argument."
A nominator added, "In more than 25 years in higher education, I have never seen any professor even approach the level of involvement that Don Cushman routinely maintained."
The National Communication Association is the oldest and largest scholarly society for the communication discipline, with approximately 7,000 members � more than 4,200 were in attendance when Cushman received his award.
New Director to Broaden Visibility
of Small Business Development CenterBy Christine Hanson McKnight
William Brigham of Troy has been appointed to head the University�s Small Business Development Center, which provides management and technical assistance to new and existing small businesses in the region.
Brigham has more than 10 years of experience in business, small business counseling and business development as director of the Manufacturing Field Office of New York�s Small Business Development Center in Troy.
"By building linkages and partnerships with Capital Region business development organizations, we expect that the Albany SBDC, under Bill Brigham�s leadership, will broaden its existing client base and expand its services," said Judy Genshaft, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
"The staff of the SBDC is already recognized for the quality of the services they provide to their core client base. Now, in addition, it will be looking to assist manufacturers, high technology firms, and incubator-type companies. All of this further demonstrates the University�s commitment to promoting economic development in the region," Genshaft said.
Before joining the SBDC�s Troy Manufacturing Field Office, Brigham was vice president for Tufflite Plastics, Inc., of Ballston Spa and marketing operations manager for W.J. Cowee of Berlin. He has a B.A. in marketing/management from Siena College.
Brigham said the University�s SBDC has the potential to become one of the premier SBDCs in New York State. "It is one of the best resources available to Capital Region businesses," he said. "One of my goals will be to give it higher visibility. The business, marketing and finance assistance it provides are vital elements to the startup and growth of any company."
The Albany SBDC brings together the resources of the University, the Small Business Administration, the private sector and the state�s Department of Economic Development. In addition to fulltime professionals, it also uses faculty, staff and students on each campus to assist small business.
During the first nine months of 1998, the staff of the Albany SBDC counseled 729 clients, helped to save 68 jobs and create 263 others, and assisted entrepreneurs in gaining access to $6,588,000 in business loans and grants.
New Faces
William Henry Frey
When author and educator Samuel Freedman was researching a feature article for the Sunday New York Times last month on the changing ethnic patterns of suburbia, "the recommended name that kept coming up" for him to interview was William Henry Frey, new to the faculty of the Department of Sociology and the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis last fall.
Being sought after is not uncommon for Frey, who specializes in social demography, urban sociology, migration, immigration, popular distribution, and the demography of aging, and has received numerous fellowships and awards for his work. These include a postdoctoral fellowship from the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin and the Mellon Young Scientist Award from the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan.
Glenna Spitze, chair of the sociology department, said, "We are very excited to have Professor Frey here. He is a distinguished scholar who will make a major contribution to our curriculum." Stewart E. Tolnay, director of the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis, added, "The Center is already strong in many areas, but the addition of William Frey, one of the most widely cited experts in his field, makes it one of the strongest centers of its kind in the country."
An Allentown, Pa., native, Frey received both his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Brown University by 1974 after earning a B.S. from Ursinus College. Prior to coming to Albany, he was a member of the faculty in the University of Michigan�s sociology department and its Population Studies Center since 1981. He was a research associate at the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology in the department of sociology at the University of Washington from 1974-5 and was project director and associate at the Center for Demography and Ecology in the department of sociology at the University of Wisconsin from 1976-81.
At Michigan, Frey developed two areas of undergraduate curriculum: a Social Science Data Network (SSDAN), whose course materials could be exported on diskette to other campuses, and a sociology course investigating social and democratic change in America. The SSDAN has now been relocated to Albany.
"Dr. Frey has been generous in making demographic knowledge accessible to policy makers and the general public," said Spitze. "He will certainly help put Albany in the public eye."
Frey is a member of several professional societies, including the American Sociological Association, the Association of American Geographers, the Gerontological Society of America, the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, and the Population Association of America. He has received several research and teaching grants and has had much of his research published since 1975, including three books, one textbook, two monographs, and more than 75 articles. "Many sociology professors are even beginning to use his textbook," said Tolnay.
Frey has been an editorial consultant on a number of magazines, including American Journal of Sociology and the American Sociological Review. He had also provided commentary for the news media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and CNN.
Currently, Frey is working on two research articles, titled "New Black Migration Patterns in America: Are They affected by Recent Immigration?" and "Elderly Gains in Nonmetropolitan America: Migration and Aging-in-Place Contributions." He also has a book in preparation, Demographic Change in Urban America: Migration, Race, New Spatial Divisions, for the Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University.
Silvina Montrul
Whom do you call when you need a faculty authority on the ins and outs of linguistics? The University called Silvina Montrul, an expert on linguistics and English who has taught in both the U.S. and Argentina. Montrul joined the faculty of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures last fall.
"She brings expertise in language-teaching and supervision of graduate teaching assistants and considerable experience and excellent qualifications in linguistics, putting it into effect in teaching," said David Wills, department chair. "The Spanish program lost two faculty over the last year, one of whom, Manuel Alvar, was a distinguished professor very active in the program. She will be compensating for those losses."
Montrul received her Ph.D. in linguistics in 1997 from McGill University in Montreal, where she was the 1995-97 McGill Alma Mater Fellowship Award recipient, as well as winner of the 1996 McGill Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research-Humanities Thesis Research Grant. She received her M.A. in English in 1992 from the University of Cincinnati, where her dissertation was "Transitivity Alternations in Second Language Acquisition: A Crosslinguistic Study of English, Turkish and Spanish."
A teaching assistant in McGill University�s linguistics department in 1997, Montrul also worked as a lecturer in Hispanic studies at McGill from 1993-1997 and an instructor of English as a second language at the University of Cincinnati from 1992-1993.
Among her articles and book contributions are "On the parallels between diachronic change and interlanguage grammars: the L2 acquisition of the Spanish dative case system," in the journal Spanish Applied Linguistics in 1997, and "Clitic-doubled dative subjects in Spanish," in Current Issues in Linguistics Theory in 1996.
Montrul was a guest editor for the 1999 special issue of Second Language Research on the "Acquisition of Spanish as a Second Language," in addition to editing the McGill Working Papers in Linguistics from 1995-1997 and serving as a manuscript reviewer for the journal Spanish Applied Linguistics. She is a member of the Linguistic Society of America since 1994 and the Canadian Linguistic Society since 1996.
Her teaching responsibilities at Albany include "Aspects of Bilingualism," "Spanish Phonetics and Phonology," and "Directed Readings in Spanish." "The department is rebuilding and I hope to be a help in that important work," said Montrul. "We need to work on updating the curriculum and attracting graduate students, and we are dedicated to it."
In Print
A Political Life that Uncovers the Power of Congress
By Suzanne M. Grudzinski
To many, the name Wilbur Mills usually evokes images of a dramatic political scandal involving a powerful U.S. senator and his ruinous affair with a Washington stripper, Fanne Fox.
For others, like Julian Zelizer of the Department of History, Mills is remembered for the powerful political legacy that he left behind. Spending but a few pages in his new book, Taxing America: Wilbur D. Mills, Congress, and the State, 1945-1975, on the "Tidal Basin" incident and the alcoholism that punctuated Mills�s downfall, Zelizer traces a pivotal political career and captures its critical role in the national tax agenda.
"By framing his topic broadly," says historian Brian H. Balogh of the University of Virginia, "Zelizer uses the culture of policy expertise to tie together elements often treated as disparate or mutually exclusive.
"Mr. Zelizer�s work will likely serve as a guide to the systematic treatment of Congress for years to come."
Zelizer wants the reader "to understand the role of Congress during a time when we think primarily of Presidents, such as Kennedy and Johnson." Mills, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee from 1958 to 1974, rumored to have "slept with the tax code" under his pillow, made the perfect subject for his book. Mills was responsible for shaping not only taxes, but also other "big ticket items" such as Social Security, trade policies, and welfare. He also eventually became known as the "architect of Medicare."
Zelizer said that most writers tend to shy away from congressional history because it is harder to capture than Presidential history, as there are 535 people involved and their history is scattered. He added that Congress did not usually record the history of their actions, "causing extensive detective work on the part of the writer."
Focusing on Mills also gave Zelizer the opportunity to reach broader audiences. "Choosing one person gives the reader the opportunity to not only see that person�s life unfolding, but also gives them the means to see the embodiment of broader issues." He added that he never wanted to write so that only scholars could understand, but so that his students and those with an interest in history could also. He credits the classroom with giving him the ability to focus in and clarify issues.
Taxing America encompasses what Zelizer�s graduate advisor Louis Galambos calls "the risks of innovation." To Zelizer this means writing the types of histories that historians don�t write and which challenge more historians to look at politics in a different way. He adds that to do this is a risk because of the opposition faced at many points.
"This rich, novel, and accomplished policy biography felicitously crosses the history-social science divide," said political scientist Ira Katznelson of Columbia University.
For Zelizer, who began writing in his early twenties, portraying Congress�s importance was not easy especially when looked at by politicians, many of whom had worked for past Presidents. "These people saw Congress as a real road block, as a rubber stamp, and here I was saying the exact opposite � that Congress was an active agent in shaping public policy. Because of this they challenged and questioned me."
Zelizer said that he chose to employ these "risks of innovation" to give people the opportunity to "learn about some of the biggest problems we face today and in history through a major political figure, Wilbur Mills, and to see how the past can help solve what we face today."
Impeachment Expert
Julian Zelizer has recently been featured as an impeachment expert on the Channel 6 morning news. Last fall, Zelizer was invited to participate in a panel discussion, held on campus, titled "The Impeachment of President Clinton: Crisis or Politics as Usual." The Capital Region CBS affiliate asked Zelizer to take part in upcoming news segments on the impeachment and since then he has appeared more than a dozen times.
Also, in the Los Angeles Times, Zelizer was featured in a roundtable discussion on why the divisions between the House and the Senate are occurring and why they are so bitter. His article appeared alongside those of Daniel Schorr, senior news analyst for National Public Radio, and Robert Beckel, Walter Mondale�s 1984 campaign manager.
Library Courses respond to New Electronic Information Needs
By Suzanne M. Grudzinski
As it has for nearly a decade, the University Libraries is meeting research needs with Electronic Information Courses.
This semester, two new courses are being offered. The first, "Introduction to Compustat PC Plus," teaches the fundamentals of using this data retrieval system designed for financial analysis. The second, "Using Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe for Finding Business Information," teaches searching strategies for this full text database, which provides business, trade and industry news articles, as well as company financial information. These courses were developed and are taught by Mary VanUllen, the business bibliographer.
New courses are added in response to patron need and new library offerings, such as the recent subscription to Lexis Nexis. Carol Anne Germain, the Networked Resources Education librarian stated, "these classes fill an important and increasing need of the University population. More and more research materials are available not only in print, but also electronically. These classes give students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to learn how to access and search these resources."
Electronic Information Courses provide information on how to use the latest computer resources available at the University Libraries, and were started to accommodate the growing number of questions that students, faculty, and staff had in terms of electronic resources. A variety of classes are offered and range from instruction in how to access library resources remotely to fine-tuning search strategies.
Classes are open to all University members and last for 1-1 ½ hours. The schedule runs until mid-March and is available at https://www.albany.edu/library/userservices/usered/classes. Classes are not overloaded, are tailored to meet different needs, and are offered at basic and intermediate levels. Some classes have a hands-on component. Classes are offered at the Uptown and Downtown campuses at varied times to provide easy access to all sectors of the University population.
Ryan Makes 1999 His Swan Song
The Board of Trustees has appointed a four-member search committee to seek a replacement for Chancellor John Ryan, who on Jan. 19 announced his intention to step down from the post by January 2000. He has been Chancellor since 1996.
Governor George Pataki credited Ryan with helping to improve the profile of SUNY among public higher education systems nationwide and with "enhancing the academic rigor" of SUNY through new core curriculum requirements.
He Has the Award-Winning Touch for Weighing Big-Storm Intensity
By Greta Petry
John Molinari remembers when, as a boy, his aunt took him for a walk to see the damages wrought by one of a series of hurricanes that had struck the Boston area. The experience may have inspired his becoming "something of a weather nut," keeping records of daily temperatures and other data. Today, the University�s award-winning atmospheric scientist finds that there is a strong general interest in the weather � because we are all affected by its often violent whims.
Molinari�s interest in the weather grew into a career, which earned him a Ph.D. in meteorology from Florida State University in 1979 and more than 20 years of studying hurricanes on a national scale. In January, he flew to Dallas, Texas, to receive the prestigious Banner I. Miller Award from the American Meteorological Society (AMS).
Molinari won the national award for being the lead author on two articles that were hailed as "outstanding contributions to our understanding of tropical cyclogenesis (cyclone formation) and hurricane intensity," said John Delano, chair of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
"Professor John Molinari is a major force in undergraduate and graduate education, and cutting-edge research in the atmospheric science program at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences," said Delano. "In addition, Professor Molinari is admired by all for his gentle demeanor and towering intellect. Presentation of this important award to Professor Molinari shows that nice guys can, and do, finish first."
One of the two articles cited was titled "Potential Vorticity, Easterly Waves, and Eastern Pacific Tropical Cyclogenesis." It was published in the October 1997 issue of Monthly Weather Review. Potential vorticity has to do with the sharpness of the wind maximum in jet streams.
The other paper for which Molinari was cited was "External Influences on Hurricane Intensity. Part III: Potential Vorticity Structure," which was published in the Oct. 15, 1995, issue of the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.
"Whether or not a hurricane forms may be due, in part, to the internal characteristics of the pre-hurricane disturbance," said Molinari. "The other part is: In what kind of flow or environment is the disturbance embedded? For these papers, we examined the environment.
"Think of it as nature vs. nurture for hurricanes. We�ve looked at the larger scale structure and found it to be amazingly influential on whether or not a hurricane will form. The larger scale has veto power. If the larger scale is unfavorable, a hurricane is unlikely to form no matter what else is happening," he said.
Each summer and fall, hurricanes originate from storms that begin in Africa. These violent storms, with winds of at least 74 m.p.h., develop over warm ocean water. Trade winds carry the cyclones from Africa to the warm waters of the Caribbean, where they may suddenly intensify and turn into a hurricane headed for the U.S.
There are 70 to 80 of these weather disturbances a year coming off the coast of Africa, but only 5 to 10 of these become hurricanes.
"These storms are very different when they start. As they come across the Atlantic, we can track them on the weather satellite. We are finding that the question: �Will this storm become a hurricane?� is very difficult to answer right now. For the few storms that do become hurricanes, how do you identify those?" Molinari said.
The answer to these questions is of great interest to those who live and work in hurricane-prone areas of the country. It would also benefit the U.S. Navy, which has to move ships out of port at considerable expense when a hurricane is predicted.
At the storm�s source of origin in Africa, there is an unstable jet stream wind maximum at 10,000 feet altitude.
"We showed in one of the papers that there is another jet stream in the Caribbean, in the western Caribbean and in the east Pacific. This other jetstream at 10,000 feet altitude behaves like a secondary source region and reinvigorates the storm," Molinari said.
He contends it is this secondary source, the Caribbean jet stream, which plays a major role in whether a pre-existing storm grows into a hurricane.
Molinari is encouraged by his findings that the external environment of the storm may contain the switch that turns the hurricane on or off, since it is easier to monitor what is occurring outside of the storm than inside.
The AMS was duly impressed by Molinari�s findings. Its award is named for Banner Miller, a well-known hurricane researcher who worked in the 1950s with the first national center for hurricane research, which evolved into the current National Hurricane Center. The award is bestowed upon a scientist whose basic research on hurricanes is judged as contributing the most to the science of hurricane prediction.
Molinari�s research is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. Co-authors on the 1997 paper were David Knight, Michael Dickinson, David Vollaro and Steven Skubis. Vollaro and Skubis were also co-authors on the 1995 paper.
A Novel Compound Gives Clues to the Function of Genes
By Greta Petry
University biologist Jon Jacklet is conducting the type of research that will contribute both to the East Campus�s new Center for the Study of Comparative Functional Genomics and to a developing interdepartmental program. A recipient of a $448,000 3-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, Jacklet is studying the nitric oxide molecule and the enzyme that makes it in the nervous system.
"Many diseases are caused by malfunctioning enzymes and in order to invent therapies it is necessary to know how enzymes are produced and function," said Jacklet, who is chair of the Department of Biological Sciences.
Enzymes are proteins. Like other proteins, they are made in cells using the genetic information contained in DNA. The enzyme that makes nitric oxide is called nitric oxide synthase, and it is synthesized in some cells of the nervous system. Nitric oxide is a signaling molecule that participates in a variety of physiological processes, as diverse as dilation of blood vessels and neurotransmission in brain circuits involved in learning.
These different processes are mediated by slightly different types (isoforms) of nitric oxide synthase. Although nitric oxide has been known for years, only recently has its full importance been revealed by experiments, such as its role as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system.
"Nitric oxide is a really novel compound � it does things a conventional neurotransmitter can�t do," said Jacklet, who has found that the marine mollusk Aplysia is especially advantageous for studying the neurotransmitter functions of nitric oxide. Neurons in the brain of Aplysia are few, but so large that they can be identified individually, and Jacklet has found that a group of them uses nitric oxide to communicate with one another.
Jacklet�s research is related to the emerging research initiative in comparative functional genomics that has important commercial and scientific implications. In order to further develop this research, a new a 200,000 square-foot Life Sciences Research Building, will house the interdepartmental programs of biology, biopsychology and chemistry. It is expected to be completed in about five years at a site near the current Biology building.
Comparative functional genomics stems from the current Human Genome Project and other genome projects, and refers to the next step required to use the information, which is to determine the functions of genes and their products or proteins.
"The information to build and operate a living organism is in the DNA � the information is coded in the sequence of repeating chemical bases of the DNA molecules, and used to make specific proteins � genomics amounts to reading the encoded information in the sequence of bases," Jacklet said. He added that the growing field of comparative functional genomics is based on "the recent explosion of DNA sequence information."
Such advances can only help to further such knowledge as how information contained in the gene for nitric oxide synthase, can yield clues about how neurons "talk" to one another.
EXCELLENCE in TEACHING
Judith Fetterley
by Carol Olechowski
One of the most "moving" comments Judith Fetterley ever received on a teaching evaluation said "you could almost hear people thinking in the class." It�s no wonder, then, that, for her, one of the most enjoyable parts of teaching is "getting students to think."
In addition, Fetterley enjoys getting to know students, introducing them to new material, and challenging them to do their best. The self-described "�tough� teacher" feels that students appreciate the challenge "because ultimately, they feel that the grades they get are the grades they have indeed earned."
Fetterley herself graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in English literature and went on to Indiana University. There, she earned her M.A. and her Ph.D. in American literature. Prior to joining Albany�s English department faculty in 1973, she taught at Harvard Business School, Indiana Univer-sity, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Shortly after her arrival at Albany, Fetterley began working to create the Women�s Studies Program, which has since grown into a department. She is particularly proud of "Introduction to Feminism," which she developed as a faculty-student team-taught course that would draw on the expertise and experience of those who had taken the course previously. First offered in 1976, it has served as a model course for many programs around the country. It has also provided "a profound pedagogical experience for the students who have taught in it and has had an equally profound impact on many of the faculty who have participated in it," adds Fetterley.
Fetterley was also instrumental in identifying and devising other key women�s studies courses, such as "Perspectives on Women and Racism and Classism." Her own experience teaching "Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies" last semester, she says, "brought me face to face again with the whole range of complex pedagogical issues involved in teaching women�s studies." Fetterley notes that she attempts to bring "a feminist perspective" to all the courses she teaches in both English and women�s studies. This perspective, she explains, "makes me particularly responsive to the needs of women students. It also enables me to bring bodies of material, information, and ways of thinking and seeing that intellectually energize students."
Fetterley, whose field of research is 19th Century American women writers, is also proud of the role she played in developing the new Ph.D. in English, currently titled "Writing, Teaching, and Criticism," and of the emphasis it places on teaching. Fetterley feels that the program prepares Ph.D.�s who "have been encouraged to develop their own pedagogical theory and have had considerable experience in the practice of teaching. As a result, they are well positioned to carry out their teaching responsibilities."
In carrying out her own teaching responsibilities, Fetterley has earned the admiration of her students and colleagues, as well as accolades from the University and the SUNY system. In 1990, she received the Chancellor�s Award for Excellence in Teaching and was named a Collins Fellow. The University�s Council of Women�s Groups honored her with a Bread and Roses Award in 1995. She has also won recognition in the form of a Continuing Faculty Development Award from United University Professions and SUNY, as well as research awards from the Albany and the New York State libraries.
Over the years, Fetterley has published an impressive body of work. Her books include Provisions: A Reader from 19th Century American Women and The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction. Her articles have appeared in such publications as American Literature, College English, Feminist Studies, and Georgia Review. She also serves, or has served, on several editorial boards and has been fiction editor of Thirteenth Moon since 1989. A popular presenter at professional conferences, she has also been an invited lecturer at universities throughout the U.S., as well as in Canada and Europe.
Fetterley currently serves on the General Education Committee, on the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning board, and on the Presidential Fellowship Selection Committee.
She clearly enjoys all aspects of her work, particularly her classroom interactions with students. She points out that she rarely lectures in class; rather, she asks additional questions based on what they have said, "inviting them to take their thinking further. I really enjoy getting to know students and participating, to whatever extent possible, in the development of their intellectual and emotional life."
'Break a Leg � And Keep Those Grades Up!'
By Greta Petry
When Debargha Sanyal was born in Rochester, N.Y., his grandmother from India picked out his first name. Debargha means "blessing."
Sanyal, a 21-year-old second-year graduate student in the School of Public Health, was counting his blessings this fall when he was chosen to play the role of Ebenezer Scrooge�s old friend Dick Wilkins in the Capital Repertory Co. production of A Christmas Carol, which played from Nov. 17 to Dec. 20. It starred as Scrooge Larry Linville, who achieved national fame as Major Frank Burns on the TV series "M*A*S*H."
"It�s kind of surreal," said Sanyal. "When I�m on stage I�m looking across at Larry Linville. Last spring I was watching Larry on television on �Entertainment Tonight,� and now he�s across the stage from me.
"I will always remember Albany as the place where I made my professional acting debut."
While all of this was exciting for Sanyal, make no mistake about his priorities. "When I called home to tell my parents I had gotten the part, the first thing they said was, �That�s great, but don�t let your grades drop,�" he said. "More than anything I just consider acting a hobby. It is fun to be someone else for awhile and to bring someone else�s words to life."
The son of a father who is an electrical engineer and a mother who is a secretary, Sanyal was raised with a strong work ethic. His parents moved to the U.S. from India before he was born. He attended the private Harley High School on a trustee scholarship, completed his bachellor�s degree at the University at Binghamton in three years and then enrolled in Albany�s 51-credit program for a master�s degree in public health.
One distinctive feature of his graduate education at Albany has been the small class size. "I know all of the students who will be graduating with me in May and that hasn�t happened since high school. I�ve made a really good set of friends here."
The internship requirement also caught his eye. "I think that�s really important because it provides students with real-life experience before sending them off into the field," Sanyal said. In his internship at the New York State Department of Health for the Bureau of Child and Adolescent Health, he works with a program called �Making the Pieces Fit,� which builds collaborative relationships between the parents of children with special health care needs and health professionals.
He also earned six credits last summer in a separate internship with Equinox in Albany, working with young people on probation from a juvenile detention facility.
In street outreach he worked with at-risk youths ages 13 to 21, and was surprised to find people of this age group sleeping in Washington Park last summer. Working out of the Equinox van, Sanyal gave them coupons for food or a ride to a homeless shelter.
"My health interest is to work directly with people � and that includes a little bit of social work," he said. "That is actually what public health is all about � one of the main goals is to keep people from getting sick in the first place."
In addition to carrying a full load of graduate credits, the internship, and acting, Sanyal is an R.A. at Pierce Hall on the Downtown Campus.
Some days get a bit busy. One day towards the end of last semester, Sanyal rose at 5:30 to finish a paper, went to class, did an oral presentation on the paper at 1:30, a poster presentation at 4 p.m., acted in the play at 7:30 and came home to an R.A. meeting at 10:30 p.m.
His acting experiences include three plays in high school, two at Binghamton, Six Degrees of Separation last March for Albany�s Theatre Voices, and the lead last summer Justin in the New York State Theatre Institute production of Hellenback High.
CELL Gets New Name and Greater Support
One of the campus�s most advanced scientific facilities has been achieved with the financial support of one of the University�s most accomplished science graduates.
Alan T. Lefor, MD �76, program director in general surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif., was on hand on Nov. 23 for the naming of the Alan T. Lefor CELL laboratory in Chemistry Building Room 215.
"The CELL is about four years old and Dr. Lefor first saw it three years ago," said Bernard Laurenzi of the Department of Chemistry faculty and CELL�s supervisor.
"He had become a successful doctor, was very proud of his University at Albany education and wanted to do something here. His interests here had been in computing as well as chemistry, so the development office knew the perfect spot. Initially he gave a good amount of money for the CELL�s upkeep, but then about 18 months ago he visited again and said he really now wanted to make a more substantial gift on behalf of the room with a generous endowment."
Lefor has authored three books and some 20 book-chapters, and has given more than 75 presentations worldwide, as well as serving several visiting professorships. The 1995-96 chairman of the Committee on Education for the Association for Academic Surgery, he was formerly on the faculty of the University of California at San Diego and the University of Maryland in their surgery and oncology departments.
"The importance of the CELL to the learning process of the University�s chemistry students is significant," said Bernard Laurenzi of the Department of Chemistry. "It is a classroom, a research laboratory, and a nerve center for remote calculations done not only in the laboratory, but in dorms, University user-rooms and offices. It is used by undergraduate and graduate students alike and its purpose is the enrichment of their learning experience."
Lefor graduated from Albany with a B.S. in chemistry after only three years. He followed that with an M.A. in chemistry from Wesleyan University in 1978, and an M.D. from Upstate Medical College in Syracuse. He is scheduled to receive his master�s of public health in health services from UCLA this June.
Buchanan Gets Green Light to Lead Scorers
By Bob Weiner �82
Megan Buchanan became a dynamic scoring threat for Albany women�s basketball team when coach Mari Warner allowed the versatile shooter to play her own game � even if the junior forward didn�t quite measure up defensively.
Warner, who guided the Great Danes to 265 victories in 16 previous seasons, always preached that defense came first with her team. If her players couldn�t play tenacious defense, they sat on the bench in favor of others who could. Defensive deficiencies usually meant limited playing time.
But following her team�s early-season slump, Warner took a different stance and decided to take the lid off Buchanan�s game. The results were immediate. Buchanan soon became Albany�s leading scorer and her perimeter shooting blossomed. The Hornell High School graduate even learned to disguise her weaknesses.
"We got off to a 1-5 start, and it forced us coaches to define everyone�s roles better," said Warner. "Megan relaxed and played her game more. She�s not a great defender, but we asked her to play off her opponent more. By not making mistakes, like letting her opponent drive past her, we�ve been able to keep her in the lineup.
"I�ve changed my expectations. I had to recognize that not everyone can play defense like Kelly Paolino or Alison Bowe. So I play to her strength and hide her weaknesses."
After scoring just 2.5 points per game as a freshman and 9.3 ppg. as a sophomore, the 5-foot-11 Arkport, N.Y., native has taken her offensive game to new heights as a junior. She is scoring 14 points per game and is the team�s leading shooter from three-point range. Buchanan has been named the ECAC-North Division II Player of the Week twice this season.
Buchanan is not surprised by the sudden transformation. "Part of it is that I�m more confident in my game," said the left-handed shooter who was born in Boise, Idaho. "I think my versatility is my strength. The three-pointers are finally starting to drop now. I wasn�t hitting early on."
Although Buchanan scored a school-record 1,503 career points for Hornell H.S., she wasn�t allowed the range Watner is giving her at Albany.
"In high school, they wanted me to stay low in the key," said Buchanan, who once scored 43 points in a game and was a three-time Sullivan Trail Conference all-star in her scholastic days. "It�s ironic now that my strength is as an outside shooter. My high school never had much size, so I had to stay down low. I had arguments with my high school coach about getting a chance to shoot more from outside, but for us to win, I had to stay close to the basket."
Warner hasn�t pulled in the reins on her top scoring threat, and that has allowed Buchanan to emerge as a legitimate all-around scorer who draws the opponent�s top defender every game.
"First of all, Megan is a great person. She has a great personality, and is a hard worker both on and off the court," said Warner, whose Great Danes are 7-7 in the New England Collegiate Conference and 10-11 overall. "She is very studious. I think her specialty is hitting the three, but she can drive in for a pull-up jumper, or can penetrate all the way to the basket."
Buchanan, who had to sit out Saturday�s win over Sacred Heart with facial injuries suffered in the previous day�s practice, is hoping the Great Danes can make a run at an ECAC Tournament berth this season, but she is really looking forward to next year, when her team makes its debut at the Division I level.
"Albany was a great opportunity for me, and I was very excited to go here," said Buchanan. "Playing Division I basketball has always been a dream of mine, and being on the ground floor of building a Division I program is a rare opportunity for anyone."
Women�s Relay Milrose Champs
Xiomara Davila Diaz keyed Albany�s first-place finish in the women�s 4x400 relay at the 92nd annual Chase Millrose Games on Feb. 5 at Madison Square Garden. Davila Diaz and teammates Tammy Freeman, Tamirah Haywood and Oneika Randall were clocked in 4:01.18. The men�s 4x800 relay took fourth in 8:01.40, while Ben Wright was seventh in the college mile with a time of 4:18.39.
Men Growl, Heart Faints, 70-55
Freshman Will Brand scored 15 of his career-high 26 points in the first half as Albany posted a 70-55 New England Collegiate Conference victory over Sacred Heart College at the Recreation and Convocation Center on Feb. 6.
The season�s largest crowd of 2,635 was in attendance for the Big Purple Growl, the University�s winter homecoming. Albany (12-10, NECC 8-6) moved into third place in the conference standings with a decisive 13-4 run to end the opening half. Leading 23-19, the Great Danes ripped off six straight to push their lead to double figures. Brand, who added 10 rebounds, scored his team�s final seven points before intermission.
"Our defense held in check a talented team," said coach Scott Hicks of Sacred Heart�s 28 % shooting. Todd Cetnar, who missed his previous start due to the flu, finished with 16 points and five assists.
Women Win Thriller in Growl
Senior guard Kelly Paolino hit a spinning shot in the lane with four seconds remaining to lift Albany past Sacred Heart, 64-62, last Saturday evening. The Great Danes ended a four-game skid with the NECC victory.
Sacred Heart tied the contest at 62 apiece on Heather Yablonski�s free throw with 26 seconds to play. After a timeout, Paolino drove the lane and spun to her left with a short jumper. The Pioneers did not get a shot off before time expired.
"We finally put our offense and defense together," said head coach Mari Warner, who registered her 275th career victory. Paolino scored 14 of her game-high 21 points in the second half, while Liz Tucker added 17. Albany improved to 10-11 overall and 7-7 in the conference.
Ford Repeats as Coach of the Year
Head football coach Bob Ford has been selected as the Football Gazette Division II non-scholarship national Coach of the Year for the second straight season, while junior Mike Grever was chosen as Linebacker of the Year.
Ford, who has a 158-100 won-loss mark in 26 varsity seasons at Albany, led the 1998 Danes to a 10-1 record and a second consecutive Eastern Football Conference championship.
Grever posted a team-leading 129 tackles, and became the first UA defender to register 120-plus hits in back-to-back seasons since 1982. Grever and seven other Albany players were named to the Football Gazette first-team all-star unit. The list includes Jason Barra (OT), Billy Van Jura (OG), Steve Checksfield (TE), Deron Regev (PK), Shcree Lewis (LB) and Fred Daughtry (FS). Troy Rhett was picked as a kick return specialist.
