Our Donors

Joseph P. Esposito, BA '75

Joseph P. Esposito, BA '75

In 2015, Joseph P. Esposito, BA ’75, established a fund to provide undergraduate scholarships to students from the Greater Washington, DC area who enroll in the UB College of Arts and Sciences. Joseph Esposito is a partner with the law firm Hunton and Williams in...

Joseph P. Vacca, PhD ’83

Joseph P. Vacca, PhD ’83

Joseph P. Vacca, PhD ’83 is a recipient of the Merck Director’s Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the discovery of Crixivan, an HIV protease inhibitor that the World Health Organization lists as an essential medicine needed in any basic health...

Joyce J. and John D. Milligan and Family

Joyce J. and John D. Milligan and Family

The Joyce J. and John D. Milligan and Family Scholarship Fund was established in 1993 by Joyce J. and John D. Milligan and daughters Jacqueline, Elizabeth, Polla and Mary, to provide scholarships to full-time history majors from underrepresented minorities with good...

Karen R. Gerhardt, AS ’64, and Lester A. Gerhardt, PhD ’69, MS ’64

Karen R. Gerhardt, AS ’64, and Lester A. Gerhardt, PhD ’69, MS ’64

Karen and Lester Gerhardt treasure their three UB degrees, feeling that the fine education they represent is in major part responsible for their happy and successful life and career. The intent of this Scholarship is to provide a foundation for the future, enabling...

Karen Schupak MD '84

Karen Schupak MD '84

Karen D. Schupak passed surrounded by her loving family on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, after eight years of living fully in defiance of lung cancer. She was a passionately devoted wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, colleague and physician. Born in The Bronx on...

Kathleen F. Cellura, EDB ’59

Kathleen F. Cellura, EDB ’59

“Philanthropy is my passion. I have worked and invested all my life with the sole purpose of giving forward.” Kathleen F. Cellura, an undergraduate at UB in the mid-1950s-“when it was a private university”- spent 30 years as a teacher in Western New York State and...

Kathleen M. Hamm, BS ’85

Kathleen M. Hamm, BS ’85

Kathleen M. Hamm, BS ’85, is an accounting alumna with a distinguished and varied career as a global executive, entrepreneur, lawyer, regulator, public policy adviser and board member. She served as a senior official at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the...

Kogut Brothers of New York Mills

Kogut Brothers of New York Mills

After Joseph Kogut graduated from UB in 1966, he spent three years in the Peace Corps in Nigeria and Ethiopia. His specialty was rural development, focusing on fishponds in Nigeria and coffee plantations in Ethiopia. Following his return the United States, Joseph, a...

Lawrence and Amanda Megan, MBA ’00

Lawrence and Amanda Megan, MBA ’00

In 2004, Lawrence and Amanda Megan, MBA ’00, established a fund to provide an annual scholarship award to a student from the City of Buffalo with significant financial need who plans to pursue an education in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Amanda...

Linda and Michael Madonia

Linda and Michael Madonia

Linda and Michael Madonia established this award, named to honor Linda’s parents, to help deserving students defray book costs. Undergraduate students in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) are eligible. A faculty and staff committee from the school...

Loyal Blues Emergency Fund Donors

Loyal Blues Emergency Fund Donors

Loyal Blues value community. Day in and day out, UB faculty prepare students to step boldly into the world, eager to make it a better place for all of us. Students—who come from around the world and from varying backgrounds—are the lifeblood of the UB community. As...

Luigi “Gino” Calvi, BA '89

Luigi “Gino” Calvi, BA '89

Family and friends of Luigi “Gino” Calvi established this fund to honor his appreciation for academic excellence and leadership qualities in undergraduate students at UB. Calvi, who earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at UB, and met his wife while attending the...

Marjorie E. Winkler, PhD ’80, BS ’75

Marjorie E. Winkler, PhD ’80, BS ’75

Marjorie Winkler retired in 2013 as vice president of U.S. biologics technical development at Genentech, a leading biotechnology company. She joined Genentech in 1982 as a research scientist. Winkler says that learning how to analyze scientific problems and test new...

Mary Lou Schillinger, BA ‘80

Mary Lou Schillinger, BA ‘80

Mary Lou grew up in Buffalo and is the oldest of three siblings born to Italian parents. Her parents hoped she would attend Bryant and Stratton to become a secretary. Instead, she chose a university education and graduated six years later as she had to work to pay...

Matthew Grappone

Matthew Grappone

In 2003, friends and family honored Matthew R. Grappone, by establishing a scholarship in his memory. The scholarhship benefits students in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, with preference given to those who work at UB’s central computing services...

Matthew Scarpati

Matthew Scarpati

On July 20, 2009 evening, Matthew Scarpati, of Dix Hills, was on the Wantagh Bike Path cycling. Matt had just turned 19, had finished his first year at the University at Buffalo, had a great summer job and a Brooks Brothers suit for the upcoming interviews for...

Michelle Layer Rahal, ME '93

Michelle Layer Rahal, ME '93

Mrs. Michelle Layer Rahal’s philanthropic goal is to support individuals like herself who changed careers to go into education while working full-time. Throughout her career in education, Michelle held multiple positions within the K-12 system in the Fairfax and...

Mitchell J. Pulwer, PhD ‘80

Mitchell J. Pulwer, PhD ‘80

The fund honors Mitchell J. Pulwer’s (PhD ‘80) academic advisor, Dr. Albert Padwa, Professor of Chemistry at UB from 1966-1979. Pulwer credits Padwa, now Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Emory University with exerting a critical influence on his professional life...

Mr. & Mrs. George D. Crofts

Mr. & Mrs. George D. Crofts

George D. Crofts was born in Buffalo in 1880. His career at UB began in 1904 when he was appointed a lecturer in the UB Law School. That same year, Crofts was named the Law School’s secretary and treasurer, a position he would hold for sixteen years. On July 11,...

Nicole Soltyka, MA ’92, BA ‘88

Nicole Soltyka, MA ’92, BA ‘88

Nicole Soltyka, who earned her UB degree in Geography, established a professorship in engineering to honor the life and accomplishments of her husband, “Tony”, a graduate of UB’s School of Engineering (MS ’92, BS ’84), and to celebrate their life together....

Patricia H. Garman, MS '79 and Richard E. Garman

Patricia H. Garman, MS '79 and Richard E. Garman

Patricia H. Garman, MS ’79, School of Nursing and Richard E. Garman were long time generous supporters of UB, in particular the School of Nursing and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Mrs. Garman spent her professional life in the mental health field. ...

Paul Nussbaum, BS '67

Paul Nussbaum, BS '67

Paul Nussbaum, BS ’67 established a scholarship fund to assist financially disadvantated undergraduates in the College of Ars and Sciences, with preference to political science majors who are also first generation college students. Nussbaum is the Founder and...

Peter F. Olnowich, Jr., BS '85

Peter F. Olnowich, Jr., BS '85

Peter came to the University at Buffalo as a fun loving, gregarious, outgoing student who was always looking for a reason to socialize. He was a fiercely loyal friend with a wonderfully wry sense of humor. These qualities led to him to become a founding father of the...

President's Circle

President's Circle

The President’s Circle, established in 2013, consists of alumni and friends who generously support campus wide initiatives that bring prominence to UB, and provide impactful experiences for our students and results for our community.

Professor Bonnie S. Ott

Professor Bonnie S. Ott

Bonnie Ott, then an associate professor of architecture, established this award in 2000 as the Fenton Scholarship Fund to provide study-abroad support for all UB students, especially undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the School of Architecture and...

Professor Claude Welch and Professor Jeannette Ludwig

Professor Claude Welch and Professor Jeannette Ludwig

Claude Welch is a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor who was a member of the faculty in the Department of Political Science in the UB College of Arts and Sciences for 52 years. He retired in 2016. His academic specializations include African politics, the roles of...

Professor Lemma W. Senbet, PhD '76

Professor Lemma W. Senbet, PhD '76

Lemma W. Senbet is the William E. Mayer Chair Professor of Finance at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a founding Director of the Center for Financial Policy. He is an immediate past Executive Director/CEO of the African Economic Research Consortium...

Professor Milton Plesur

Professor Milton Plesur

Dr. Milton Plesur, was a member of UB’s History Department faculty from 1955 until his untimely death in 1987 at the age of 60. A native of Buffalo, he earned a B.S. from Buffalo State in 1947, an M.A. in history from UB in 1949, and his Ph.D. in 1954 from the...

Professor Nina M. Tretiak-Shields and Ms. Lucy Tretiak-Caruso, EdM ’75, BA ’69

Professor Nina M. Tretiak-Shields and Ms. Lucy Tretiak-Caruso, EdM ’75, BA ’69

Professor Emeritus Nina M. Tretiak-Shields, who taught Russian culture and language from 1961 to 1981 in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, established this fund in 2001 to support PhD candidates or junior faculty members from the National University of Kharkov to...

Ralph Theurer, BA ’46, EdM ’50 and Arlene Theurer

Ralph Theurer, BA ’46, EdM ’50 and Arlene Theurer

The Ralph Theurer Endowments for the College of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Education were established in 1994 by Arlene Theurer in memory of her husband, Ralph Theurer, BA ’46, EdM ’50, to provide scholarships and/or fellowships to students...