Alumni News

Dennis Clements (BA, 1967). Is CEO of Lexus USA.

Ian Reimer (BA,1968) founded ICORE, a telecommunications consulting firm (1985-present). Prior to this, he based his career in General Telephone, JSI, Inc., the New York State Telephone Association (NYSTA), the US Independent Telephone Association (USITA, and the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA). He lives in Jupiter, Florida.

David Schoales (BA, 1969) has retired in Brattelboro, VT, and has served as Clerk, Brattleboro Town Select Board; Chair, Brattleboro Town School Board

Board of Directors; Windham Southeast School District

Board of Directors; Vermont-NEA Board of Directors; and the Vermont School Board Association.

Stephen Novick (BA 1970; MSW 1973) lists his occupation as ‘gadfly’ and lives in Buffalo.  Among his career achievements, he writes: “… we have made pizzas, pumped gas [when they still paid someone to do so], was a community organizer around school desegregation efforts, spent two seasons with a travelling carnival [running games. "Hey how do you know? Give it a go! Let me show YOU! How to win THE BIG ONE!"]; became a licensed secondary social studies teacher [in Florida, where I wound up after carnie season's end.  Oh no!]; ran a group home for adolescent miscreants; held quite 'responsible' positions [like at a VP level] at three nonprofits which managed, despite best efforts and all by themselves, to go out of business anyway; got fired as an Exec. because I wouldn't give two incompetent, corrupt board members a job ["Ethics and principles", mutters the cynic, "how far did that get you?".. not without some merit of course, which all cynics seem somehow to possess]; and been laid off... a few times. Now we scrape by, having been made obsolescent simply by age...and what they think is 'early on-set dementia'.. disregarding any of my comments that I was always like this..”

Steve Puro (PhD, 1971) is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Saint Louis, Missouri.  “I taught Political Science for more than 40 years at both Boston University and St. Louis University. The special area was American judicial process and American national public policy. I conducted important initial published research in several areas: including amicus curiae briefs submitted to the United States Supreme Court, activities and roles of US Magistrates (now US Magistrate-Judges), and police decertification. I engaged in many political commentaries for local and regional St. Louis media outlets and served as a political and policy consultant to electoral campaigns. I had the opportunity to teach overseas on two occasions.”

Paul Fisk (BA, 1966; MPA, Syracuse University, 1971).  Among his career achievements are: “Seven years in local government, including City of Buffalo Budget Director under Mayor Stan Makowski.  Twenty-eight years with NY State Budget Division, including at various times Chief of the Budget Services Unit, the Information Technology Management Unit, and as Chair of the State Council on Geographic Information Systems.  Instrumental in founding the NY State Forum for Information Resource Management (now The Forum) and the Center for Technology in Government (now, CTG) at SUNY Albany.

Barry Zavah, (BA, 1969) has retired from Erie County administration and lives in Alpine, Texas.  He writes: “My background, education and training allowed a 29.5 year career as a prosecutor, retiring with the last 5.5 years assigned to the Buffalo (NY) Adult Drug Treatment Court.”

Michael Engel (BA, 1972; MA Journalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia, 1974) has retired from a career in journalism with the Philadelphia Inquirer. He lives in Philadelphia.

Steven A. Peterson (PhD, 1974). has retired as Professor of Politics and Public Affairs emeritus from Penn State Harrisburg. He has co-edited a volume (with Albert Somit—former faculty member in the department): Handbook of Biology and Politics (Elgar Publishing, 2017).

Andrew Dash (BA, 1975; Syracuse University, 1976; J.D., Brooklyn Law School, 1982) Following a three-year stint in journalism after graduate school, I returned to law school and, after graduating, practiced law as a commercial litigator in New York City for 33 years.  I retired in 2015.

Lynn Lipczynski (BA 1975) works as an account executive in Buffalo and lives in Holland, NY.  She won the “Account Executive of the Year” in 2013.

Mark Castanza (BA 1976) is President of Mark Castanza Building Corporation, a contracting business that he has been running for 43 years.

Theresa Lorenzo (BA, 1979; JD, 1982) is an attorney for children working with the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc. She was the 2009 recipient of the Michael F. Dillon Attorney for Children Award for the Eighth Judicial District.  In April 2019 she was admitted and qualified as an Attorney of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Sue Bergherr (BA 1981) is an IT Strategist at with the State of Oklahoma and lives in Yukon, OK.

Peter Pullano (BA, 1983) is Managing Partner at Tully Rinckey PLLC in Rochester, NY. He is a Criminal Defense Attorney who has handled thousands of cases at all levels.

Julie Botts (BA, 1983; MSc in Clinical Psychology) has retired after a career as Sergeant in the U.S. Army, and following that as a Clinical Supervisor of a domestic violence treatment program for the U.S. Marine Corps in Southern California.  She lives in Twentynine Palms, CA.

Claudia Daniels-Depeyster (BA, 1986; J.D., UNC Chapel Hill, 1989) “I graduated from UB with a BA in Political Science and African Studies in 1986.  I went on to UNC-Chapel Hill, School of Law and graduated in 1989. I was an attorney at the NYC Fire Dept and NYPD. I later became the Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Trials at the NYPD for ten years. I became a Criminal Court Judge in NYC in April 2015 which is my current position.”

John Persons (BA, 1989; EMBA, 2000) is President and Chief Operating Officer, Tops Markets LLC. He lives in Clarence Center, NY.

TY Wang (PhD, 1990) is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Illinois State University in Normal, IL.  He writes: ‘While my Chair responsibilities are heavy, I managed to publish a co-edited volume the Taiwan Voter (University Michigan Press, 2017) and have two forthcoming articles in Electoral Studies.  Our daughter, Jennie, graduated from Johns Hopkins about 10 years ago and has moved to LA from New York City for three years.  She is now a division head of a financial tech company.  She travels a lot and is very busy.’ TY and his wife enjoy hiking in national parks.  Out of 60 national parks in the US, we have visited 42 so far.   Visiting all 60 parks in our lifetime is on our bucket list.

Chuck Eaton (BA, 1991) is Chief of Staff for Representative Brian Higgins, a position he has held since 2005.  Prior to that, he served 2003-2005 as Legislative Director for Assemblyman Brian Higgins; 1993-2003 as Chief of Staff for the Erie County Legislature; 1993-1999 as Central Staff, Erie County Legislature.

David Bellis (BA, 1992; MSc in Educational Leadership, 1999, St. John Fisher College) is a teacher and case manager, HB Plant High School, Tampa, Florida.

Sean Lasky (BA, 1992; J.D.) is an Attorney at Lasky & Steinberg, P.C. and lives in Huntington, NY. 

Tom Kraus, (BA, 1993) is Executive Director of the New York State Assembly and lives in Clifton Park, NY.

Helen Burke (MA, 1994, J.D., 1994, PhD, 1998) is Chief Legal Officer, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Union Pier, Michigan.

Claudia Daniels-Depeyster (BA, 1986; J.D., UNC Chapel Hill, 1989) “I graduated from UB with a BA in Political Science and African Studies in 1986.  I went on to UNC-Chapel Hill, School of Law and graduated in 1989. I was an attorney at the NYC Fire Dept and NYPD. I later became the Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Trials at the NYPD for ten years. I became a Criminal Court Judge in NYC in April 2015 which is my current position.”

John Persons (BA, 1989; EMBA, 2000) is President and Chief Operating Officer, Tops Markets LLC. He lives in Clarence Center, NY.

TY Wang (PhD, 1990) is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Illinois State University in Normal, IL.  He writes: ‘While my Chair responsibilities are heavy, I managed to publish a co-edited volume the Taiwan Voter (University Michigan Press, 2017) and have two forthcoming articles in Electoral Studies.  Our daughter, Jennie, graduated from Johns Hopkins about 10 years ago and has moved to LA from New York City for three years.  She is now a division head of a financial tech company.  She travels a lot and is very busy.’ TY and his wife enjoy hiking in national parks.  Out of 60 national parks in the US, we have visited 42 so far.   Visiting all 60 parks in our lifetime is on our bucket list.

Chuck Eaton (BA, 1991) is Chief of Staff for Representative Brian Higgins, a position he has held since 2005.  Prior to that, he served 2003-2005 as Legislative Director for Assemblyman Brian Higgins; 1993-2003 as Chief of Staff for the Erie County Legislature; 1993-1999 as Central Staff, Erie County Legislature.

David Bellis (BA, 1992; MSc in Educational Leadership, 1999, St. John Fisher College) is a teacher and case manager, HB Plant High School, Tampa, Florida.

Sean Lasky (BA, 1992; J.D.) is an Attorney at Lasky & Steinberg, P.C. and lives in Huntington, NY. 

Tom Kraus, (BA, 1993) is Executive Director of the New York State Assembly and lives in Clifton Park, NY.

Helen Burke (MA, 1994, J.D., 1994, PhD, 1998) is Chief Legal Officer, Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Union Pier, Michigan.

Nancy Pelligrini (BA, Political Science & English, 1994).  Since leaving UB in 1994 with degrees in English and Political Science, I spent over two decades in England, Ireland, South Korea, and China. I gradually shifted from full-time TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) work and part-time writing to full-time writing and editing. During my eighteen years in China, I wrote and edited the stage sections for Time Out Beijing and Time Out Shanghai magazines, covering China’s theater, dance, classical music, and opera for magazines in Britain and the United States as well. I wrote a book called The People’s Bard: How China Made Shakespeare Its Own (Penguin Random House, 2016), and I edited book manuscripts for Penguin Random House and policy papers for UN Migration and United Nations Development Programme. I also ran a Beijing-based North Korean art gallery and led tours to North Korea for over ten years, as well as capitalizing on my mobile job to take working trips all over Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Although I still work in China, I left Beijing in June of 2018 and moved to Phoenix, Arizona; there, I live with my fiancé and two cats, and I run a writing and editing services business called Nancy Pellegrini Editorial Solutions, LLC (www.nancypellegrini.com).

Min Chan (BA, 1995; JD, 1994). Min writes that she is now an international attorney in New York with her own firm (Chan Law Firm, LLC, established in 2006), and is a Managing Member of SkyView Property Investors.  She has recently launched a General Counsel and Maintenance Platform (GCMP) that is aimed at serving the legal needs of middle market companies.   She describes GCMP as an “international law firm leveraging state-of-the art technology to provide middle market companies with superior, transparent and cost-effective legal services. By providing equal pay and credit to female attorneys and staff, we empower women in law, finance, and real estate. At GCMP, we take a holistic approach to legal and business issues in New York City, working with multinational corporations focusing on food and beverages and technology industries.” Min is married and is the mother of Matthew (8 years) and Chloe (4).