University at Buffalo (UB)
Release Date: June 25, 1997 This content is archived.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- University at Buffalo President William R. Greiner has made two interim vice presidential appointments, effective Aug. 1.
Dennis R. Black has been named interim vice president for student affairs, while Mary Harley Gresham will serve as interim vice president for public service and urban affairs.
Black, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students, will replace Robert L. Palmer, Jr., who will leave UB this summer to become vice president for student affairs at California State University at Fullerton.
Gresham, associate vice president for public service and urban affairs since the division was created in 1993, will replace Interim Vice President John B. Sheffer, II, who will direct the new Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth at UB.
Black and Gresham are "natural" choices to step in as interim vice presidents, noted Greiner.
"Dennis has a familiarity with the whole range of student affairs' concerns and priorities that few people could match. He also has a very deep and genuine commitment to serving UB's students, as well as a thorough understanding of their needs for service and support," he said.
Gresham "has a very keen sense of the key issues and priorities for (the Division of) Public Service and Urban Affairs, as well as a genuine personal commitment to public service, urban and regional outreach, and diversity initiatives -- all of which are central to the division's mission."
Black has held a variety of student-services positions since joining UB in 1978 as executive director of Sub Board I, Inc., a UB student-service corporation. He has served as dean of students since 1988 and was named associate vice president for student affairs in 1991, having served as associate vice provost for student services since 1987.
He also is an adjunct assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education.
As associate vice president, Black oversees student life, health and wellness centers, counseling, career planning and placement, multicultural affairs, student judiciary, child care and student insurance.
Editor of Perspective: The Campus Legal Monthly newsletter with a national circulation of more than 1,700 colleges and universities, he also speaks, writes and consults on student service-related issues and legal concerns at conferences and institutions nationwide.
Black received a bachelor's degree in political science and history and a law degree, both from UB.
He resides on Grand Island.
An adjunct assistant professor of counseling and educational psychology at UB, Gresham has been affiliated with the university for more than 20 years. As associate vice president, she serves as the initial point of contact and coordinator for requests for public-service projects from the Western New York community.
She also supervises minority-focused campus programs such as Cora P. Maloney College, the Educational Opportunity Program/Center for Academic Development Services, the A.A. Schomburg Graduate Fellowship Program and the Office for University Preparatory Programs (OUPP), a pre-college outreach unit serving Buffalo students through Upward Bound programs, the Science and Technology Enrichment Program (STEP) and Liberty Partnership Programs.
Gresham also has served as executive director of the OUPP and as assistant to the vice president for student affairs.
A 1995 graduate of Leadership Buffalo, Gresham is well-known for her diversity training expertise and is actively involved in the community. She serves on numerous committees and boards, including the board of directors of the Buffalo chapter of the American Red Cross, WNY Stand for Children Planning Committee, the Junior League Community Advisory Board, Horizons Health Services board of directors, the Women's Volunteer Roundtable and the board of directors of the Children's Foundation of Erie County.
She received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and psychology and a doctorate in counseling psychology, both from UB.
She resides in the University Heights section of Buffalo.