Awards
Speakers Series

Alumni Association Awards
  • Distinguished Alumni Awards
  • Distinguished Senior Alumni Awards
College Awards
  • Bene Merenti Awards and Service Recognition Awards
  • Citation of Retiress 
  • Distinguished Citizen Achievement Award
  • Donald E. Calvert Outstanding Professor Award
  • George M. Martin Advancement Award
  • Honorary Degrees Conferred
  • Kenneth L. Koessler Distinguished Professor Award
  • LaSalle Medal Recipients
  • President's Medal Recipient
College of Arts and Sciences
  • Dr. I. Joan Lorch Awards (Formerly Women's Studies Awards)
  • Dr. James H. Crowdle Award
  • Sports Hall of Fame Inductees
Wehle School of Business
  • Business Executive of the Year
  • Dr. Bernard L. Martin Award
  • Dr. Joseph R. Coppola Award
  • Outstanding Accountant Award
  • Rev. Thomas E. Fleming, S.J. Distinguished Service Award
Student Awards
  • Student Fulbright Grants
  • Senior Challenge Gifts
Speaker Series

Commencement Speakers

2007 Undergraduate Ceremony
Marv Levy, General Manager of the Buffalo Bills NFL Football franchise.

2007 Graduate Ceremony
Bishop Edward U. Kmiec DD, STL
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo NY

2006 Undergraduate Ceremony
Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, PhD, DD
Archbishop of Washington, D.C.

2006 Graduate Ceremony
Steve Forbes
Editor in Chief of Forbes Magazine
President and CEO of Forbes INc.

2005 Undergraduate Ceremony
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
Civil Rights Pioneer

2005 Graduate Ceremony
Hon. Edward V. Regan
Professor at CUNY
Former Erie County Executive

2004 Undergraduate Ceremony
Francis I. Vincent, Jr.
Eighth Commissioner of Baseball (1989-1992)

2004 Graduate Ceremony
John K. Castle
Chairman and CEO of Castle Harlan Inc.

2003 Undergraduate Ceremony
Eugene F. Jankowski ’55
Former president and chairman of CBS Broadcasting Group
 
2003 Graduate Ceremony
David Neeleman
CEO of JetBlue Airways

2002 Undergraduate Ceremony
John W. Rowe
President of Aetna Inc.
 
2002 Graduate Ceremony
Sue Ling Gin
Chair and CEO of Flying Foods Group

2001 Undergraduate Ceremony
William J. McDonough
President of Federal Reserve Bank of New York
 
2001 Graduate Ceremony
Chester Stranczek
Mayor of Crestwood, Illinois

2000 Undergraduate Ceremony
Joann Falletta
Music Director of Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
 
2000 Graduate Ceremony
Yvonne S. Monor-Ragan, Ph.D.

1999
Hon. Jose A. Cabranes
Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

1998  
James F. Lyons ‘56
President & CEO of GenRad, Inc.
 
1997  
The Most Rev. Henry Mansell, D.D.
Bishop of Buffalo

1996 
Michael R. Monin ‘65
President of United States Lighting 
 

Student Commencement Speakers

2006
Eric M. Soehnlein

2005
Jennifer L. Huer

2004
Peter V. Burakowski

2003
Kathleen M. Riley

2002
Michael J. Spillman

2001
Monique Mirshak
 
2000
Marisa Laffredo

1999
Matthew H. Watters

1998
Peter A. Cumbo

1997
Charity A. Vogel

1996 
Kathryn M. Odojewski

The William H. Fitzpatrick Chair of Political Science Lecture Series

April 15, 2008
Francis Fukuyama PhD
Bernard L. Schwartz professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitz School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University

February 1, 2007
Michael F. Scheuer '74, PhD
Former CIA officer and CBS news terrorism analyst

April 18, 2006
John Kasich
Former U.S. Congressman and host of the Television show,The Heartland with John Kasich.

2005
No Speakers

February 23, 2004
Dr Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Professor of Communications, Annenberg School for Communications and Walter and Leonore Annenberg Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania

September 23, 2004
Richard Benedetto
White House Correspondent and  columnist for USA Today

October 14, 2004
DeeDee Meyers
Former White House Press Secretary
First woman to serve as White House Press secretary.

February 11, 2003
Dr. Mary Frances Berry
Commissioner on the U.S.Civil Rights Commission 1980
Chair, Civil Rights Commission, 1993

April 3, 2003
General Anthony Zinni
Marine General and Mideast Peace Envoy
 
February 12, 2002
Morris Dees
Civil Rights Attorney

March 6, 2002
Mark Shields
Political correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
 
March 5, 2001
Joe Slade White

August 30, 2001
Jack Quinn
NY Congressman

February 11, 2000
Dr. Cornel West
Professor of Religion and Afro-American Studies
Harvard University

February 25, 1999
Rev. Bernice A. King
Renowned orator and author

April 15, 1999
James W. Michaels
Group Vice President/Editorial of Forbes
 
November 15, 1999
Senator Charles E. Schumer
United States Senate (D-New York)

March 20, 1997
Kweisi Mfume
President & Chief Executive Officer, NAACP
 
February 13, 1997
Dr. Larry J. Sabato
Election Analyst

February 20, 1997
Susan Molinari
Congresswoman, 13th District of N.Y.

Bill Paxon
Congressman, 27th District of N.Y.

October 21, 1996
Bill Bradley
U.S. Senator from New Jersey

The Frank G. Raichle Lecture Series on Law in American Society

October 26, 2007
John C. Yoo
Professor of Law
Berkeley School of Law
Previous member of Office of Legal Counsel,
U.S. Justice Department

October 24, 2006
Jeffrey Rosen
Professor of Law
George Washington University
Legal Affairs editor of New Republic Magazine
Author

October 27, 2005
Douglas M. Kmiec
Professor of Law
Former Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, US Dept of Justice
 
April 20, 2004
Dr. James Q. Wilson
Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine University

April 23, 2003
The Honorable Alex Kozinski
U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit

April 25, 2002
Chief Justice Charles T. Wells
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida

March 29, 2001
Rt. Hon. Lord Geoffrey Howe
Member of Britain's House of Lords

September 27, 1999
Samuel Dash
Professor of Law
Director of the Institute of Criminal Law and Procedure
Georgetown University Law Center

April 27, 1998
Lloyd N. Cutler
Former Counsel to the President of the United States
Partner in law firm Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Washington D.C.

April 10, 1997
John H. Langbein
Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and Legal History
Yale Law School

March 18, 1996
Hon. Janet Reno
Attorney General of the United States 

April 17, 1996
Hon. Harry T. Edwards
Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit 
 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards/Speakers

2008
Emily C. Flynn  '08 - Student Award
Rhonda Dyess-Hands - Administrator Award

2007
Brian Ricci - Student Award
Gary Everett - Administrator Award
Dr. Charles Schmidtke - Faculty Award

2006
Danielle Esposito - Student Award
Dr. Jerome Neuner - Administrator Award
Dr. Michael Gent - Faculty Award
 
2005
Aamina Edwards - Student Award
Evangeline Powell - Staff Award
LaVerne M. Seales-Saley, PhD. - Faculty Award
 
2004
Hon. Hugh Scott - Special Appreciation Award
Dr. Calvin O. Butts III - Speaker

2003
Kathy Riley '03 - Student Award
Mary Pat Leahy - Staff Award
Peter Koehneke - Faculty Award
Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, S.J. - Administrator Award

2002
Elizabeth Bocchino '02 - Student Award
Dr. Kenneth Sroka, Dr. E. Roger Stephenson - Faculty Award
Patricia Grasso - Staff Award
Dr. Ellen Conley - Administrator Award

2001
Susan L. Taylor - Speaker

2000
William St. Jean ’00- Student Award
Rev. Benjamin Fiore, S.J.- Faculty Award
Sr. Patricia Brady, SSMN- Administrative/Staff Award
Dr. Cornel West - Speaker

1999
Dr. Ruben Gomez - Faculty Award
Mr. Joe Van Volkenburg - Administrative Award
Mrs. Elaine Mrugala - Staff Award
Ms. Gerry Muir, MS ’99 - Gradutate Student Award
Ms. LaShekia Chatman ’99 - Student Award
Mr. Sababu C. Norris - Special Appreciation
Rev. Bernice A. King - Speaker

1997
Kathryn E. Philliben - Administrative Award
Terrence P. Bisson - Faculty Award
Sgt. Gwendolyn L. Johnson - Staff Award
Yolanda R. Beaton - Student Award
Kweisi Mfume - Speaker

1996 
Willie Mae Frazler - Staff Award
Stanley L. Purdie - Student Award
Patricia A. Rissmeyer - Administrative Award
Julia L. Wescott- Faculty Award

Business Awards Dinner Speakers

2004
Andrew W. Dorn
President and CEO
Greater Buffalo Savings Bank

2003
Mr. Peter F. Hunt
President and CEO
Hunt Real Estate Corporation

2002
Randall L. Clark
Chairman, Dunn Tire Corporation
 
2001
Gerald C. Saxe
President, Matthews, Bartlett and Dedeker, Inc
 
1999
Patrick P. Lee
Chairman of International Motion Control, Inc.

1998  
Paul S. Bush
Chairman of the Board, President & CEO of Bush Industries, Inc.
 
1997 
Brian J. Lipke
Chairman, President & CEO of Gibraltar Steel Corporation
 
1996
Marguerite Dispenza Hambleton
President & CEO of AAA Western & Central New York

1995 
Sal H. Alfiero
Chairman & CEO of Mark IV Industries, Inc.

Clement R. Arrison
President of Mark IV Industries, Inc. 

Dr. George E. Schreiner Pre-Medical Center Distinguished Speaker Series

Dr. George E. Schreiner Pre-Medical Center Distinguished Speaker Series

April 29, 2003
Dr. Eli A. Friedman
Distinguaished teaching professor of medicine and chief of the Renal Disease Division, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center

April 29, 1999
Lawrence Jacobs, M.D.
Professor of Neurology, University at Buffalo
Head of the Department of Neurology, Buffalo General Hospital
Chief of the Baird Multiple Sclerosis Research Center, Millard Fillmore Hospital
First Holder of the Irvin and Rosemary Smith Chair in Neurology
University at Buffalo

April 30, 1998
Joginder N. Bhayna, M.D.
Director of Heart Valve Center and attending Cardiothoracic Surgeon
Buffalo General Hospital

April 24, 1997 
Herbert A. Hauptman, Ph.D. - Recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
President, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute
Buffalo, NY

April 25, 1996
John W. Rowe, M.D.
President, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Hospital
New York City, NY