UB Faculty Experts

EXPERT CONTACT : Jerry M. Newman, PhD SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Chair, Department of Organization and Human Resources University at Buffalo School of Management Tel: 716-645-2833 jmnewman@buffalo.edu

Jerry Newman is co-author of "Compensation," which has been the leading book on that topic for the past 25 years.

Wisconsin is not alone. Many other states are facing similar challenges financing public sector employees, and the problem has been brewing for decades, according to Newman.

“In the past, people accepted lower wages in the public sector because of the high job security and great employee benefits compared to the private sector,” Newman says.

“Not so anymore,” he says. “Now, wages are higher in the public sector, as are benefits and job security, and it’s bankrupting states.”

To give a perspective, Newman cites the following “per/hour dollar amounts” from a 2009 comparison by the Employee Benefits Research Institute:

• Total compensation -- $39.60 (state/local); $27.42 (private)
• Wage and salary -- $26.11 (state/local); $19.41 (private)
• Total Benefits -- $13.49 (state/local); $8.00 (private)

Vacation, health care insurance and retirement account for most of the disparity on the benefits side.

“Something’s gotta give,” Newman says. “Baby Boomers are starting to retire and costs are only going up. Checks are being written that tax payers will have to cover.”

Sociologist Lionel Lewis has published four articles in the journal Society about how the Madoff Ponzi scheme came about, the SEC's role in the affair, and the pursuit of justice after the scheme collapsed. He is working on a book on the subject.

 Here, Lewis comments on the SEC's conflict of interest in dealing with Bernard Madoff and, in particular, on why David Becker, the SEC's general counsel, was sued last year by Madoff victim trustee Irving Picard seeking to recover assets from the estate of Mr. Becker's mother, which allegedly received $1.54 million in fictitious profits from Mr. Madoff's firm.

Lewis says, "In the fall of 2009, two months after Madoff was sentenced, the SEC Office of Investigations issued a 457-page public version of its "Report of Investigation." Titled "Investigation of Filure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff's Ponzi Scheme," it was a detailed mea culpa exploring how and why Madoff's fraud was able to last so long and grow so large.

"The SEC Inspector General appears to be open about how badly the SEC stumbled," Lewis says, "in not stopping Madoff when it might have easily done so on a number of occasions between June 1992, when Madoff caught its attention, and December 2008, when Madoff’s house of cards collapsed.

"The report is initially, and it would seem primarily, is concerned with demonstrating that there was no evidence that any of the SEC employees who investigated Madoff had any financial or other inappropriate connection with him or his family that influenced the SEC’s work. The Inspector General, in more than two dozen instances, characterized employees of the SEC as lacking experience as investors or as investigators.

"Harry Markopolos, the first whistleblower to expose Bernard Madoff," says Lewis, "described the SEC as incompetent and describes in his book, his particular difficulties with David Becker, the SEC general counsel. 

"In a meeting with the SEC Chairman and Becker," Lewis says, "the latter, according to Markopolos, 'did most of the talking. He and I did not get along at all. He was getting ready to come across the coffee table and strangle me.' Markopolos also called the staff of the SEC, 'a bunch of idiots.'

"Beyond that," Lewis says, "questions have been raised regarding whether members of the staff of the SEC have been involved in conflicts of interest.

First, Eric Swanson, the Assistant Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations for the SEC, became romantically involved with Madoff’s niece, Shana Madoff, a compliance attorney for her uncle’s investment firm in 2006 and in September of 2007, they were married with a number of SEC employees present at the wedding.

 "More recently," Lewis says, "it has been revealed that General Counsel David Becker’s mother had invested with Madoff. When she passed away, Becker and his two brothers were named executors to her asset and liquidated the two and-a-half million dollar account, more than half of which consisted of fictitious "earnings" from the Madoff investment. Becker was silent on this matter until after congressional investigators demanded an inquiry into the question of conflict of interests."

As of Jan. 1, the first baby boomers turned 65. What can American society expect as boomers retire, age and continue to be active? How will this affect the stigma of growing old?

As the birthday celebrations commence, University at Buffalo faculty experts are available to comment on tips and trends related to aging in America. Topic areas include elder law, geriatric medicine, hearing loss, mental health, television viewing and designs for living.

The thoughts of the UB faculty members are summarized below.  

Will hearing aids become a fashion statement? Rock music takes its toll 

Richard Salvi, PhD, UB professor of communicative disorder and sciences, otolaryngology and neurology and director of the UB Center for Hearing and Deafness, is an expert in deafness and hearing loss.

According to Salvi, “baby boomers now have reached an age where hearing loss and tinnitus become major health problems. Many have already lost much of their hearing and developed tinnitus (ringing in the ear) due to many years of listening to loud rock music.

“Hearing aids, not yet considered a fashion statement, will by necessity become a necessary part of the boomers dress code as the prevalence of age-related hearing loss begins to accelerate beyond age 65. While hearing aid technology and miniaturization have steadily advanced, restoring the hearing of our youth remains a formidable challenge,” he says.

“Hearing health care costs are skyrocketing due to noise exposure and aging. The Veterans Administration ranks hearing loss as one of its Top 5 major disabilities. In 2010, the Veterans Administration paid out more than $1 billion for tinnitus disability claims alone. The trends in the VA are a reflection of those in the general population.”

Severe to profound hearing loss and tinnitus associated with aging and noise exposure are not just hearing problems; they can lead to social isolation, anxiety and depression contributing to an overall decline in one’s general health, Salvi says.

Salvi can be reached by phone at 716-829-5310 or by e-mail at salvi@buffalo.edu.

Near-death continues to be a reality on TV

Today’s television lineup includes many reality shows about ESP, “true-ghost” stories and the wonder of near-death experiences. Are they aimed at the elderly? Pop culture expert Elayne Rapping, PhD, professor emerita of American studies, says that whether they are aimed at the elderly or not, her hunch is that’s who is watching them. “After all,” she says, “TV supports wishful thinking and shows that entertain the connection between the here and the hereafter may be more enticing to an aging population than to those who don’t plan on leaving the earthly plane anytime soon.”

Rapping can be reached at erapping@gmail.com

Aging-in-place may replace nursing homes in the future

Anthony H. Szczygiel, a professor in the UB Law School, has extensive experience lecturing, studying and actively taking on cases of elder law and says the elderly and near elderly are demanding changes in how society, governments and the courts deal with aging-related chronic care.

“Traditional nursing home stays are being replaced with new ways of dealing with chronic needs, such as the Greenhouse Project for rethinking nursing home facilities and care and the aging-in-place Village movement,” says Szczygiel. “A new example of this Village movement approach to elder care, Canopy of Neighbors, will open soon to serve the aging in one Buffalo neighborhood,” he says.

Szczygiel notes that in the legal arena, two recent federal court decisions give support to nursing home residents and their families challenging the warehousing of chronically ill elders, where the resident may benefit from continued physical or occupational therapy. “Too often the nursing home staff gives up on the patient and stops providing such therapy,” he says. “The cases provide a way to reverse the unintended negative consequences of Medicare's nursing home and home care coverage standards.”

Szczygiel also is knowledgeable of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which provides significant support to research and demonstration projects aimed at better handling chronic health care problems.

Szczygiel can be reached at szczygie@buffalo.edu or by contacting Charles Anzalone in UB’s Office of Communications at 716-645-4600.

Stress and the sandwich generation

Scott T. Meier, professor and chair of the UB Department Counseling, School and Educational Psychology in the Graduate School of Education, is an expert in counseling and psychotherapy.

“Traditionally, the elderly have been less interested in mental health services than younger people,” states Meier. “However, that may partially be a generational effect in that people who came of age in the 1960s and later are more accustomed to the idea of using counseling and psychotherapy for personal, vocational and family problems. Consequently, we may see the average age of individuals in counseling and psychotherapy increase over the next two decades.

“One of the issues that may cause stress for boomers is that they are more likely to have to take care of elderly parents (who are living longer) as well as their own children (who may have more trouble getting employed and established in careers and families).”

Meier can be reached by e-mail at stmeier@buffalo.edu or by phone at 716-645-1121.

Old doesn’t have to mean sick

Robert S. Stall, MD, is a UB clinical assistant professor in medicine and a specialist in geriatrics.

Stall says boomers should avoid self-prejudice ("Doctor, I'm not getting any younger!") and ignore ageist comments from friends, family, even health professionals ("What do you expect at your age?"). Aging boomers have a lot to expect in terms of health and well-being, Stall says. “You should tend to both the diseases and the dis-eases (such as pain, depression, social isolation, functional problems) that are more common as you age but not due to age, in and of itself.

“Everyone knows a 95 year old who looks and acts 75, and the 65 year old who appears to be 80. And anyone who thinks the pain in their right knee is solely age-related needs to wonder how their same-aged left knee can be pain-free.”

Stall says it’s important to remember that “gradual decline may not be Alzheimer’s disease, ageist attitudes are harmful and there is always something that can be done to help” as we age.

Stall can be reached by at drstall@stallgeriatrics.com or by phone at 716-213-4345.

Design that ages with you

Edward Steinfeld, adjunct professor of architecture and director of UB’s Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDEA), is an expert on issues of accessibility. He believes that products and services that benefit elders do not have to be stigmatizing or isolating.

“If we don’t take steps to plan our communities and homes for aging populations, older people will be isolated and their quality of life will suffer,” Steinfeld says. “Communities that feel an obligation to respond to the needs of their elder residents will proceed with specialized services like expensive paratransit, more publicly assisted housing and services like Meals on Wheels. This will increase the tax burden.”

The solution to this problem, according to Steinfeld, is universal design, design for improving usability and social engagement in response to the diversity of the population. “Universal design applies to services as well as products,” he explains. “I like to describe the key benefits of universal design by the stages of the lifespan: safety and security for children, independence and social responsibility for young adults, reducing stress for working-age adults and maintaining independence and social engagement for elders.

“Together with our partners, we founded an organization called the Global Universal Design Commission, which I think will soon take a leadership role in changing current attitudes in the business world. The commission already has members like AARP, Disney and Proctor and Gamble, which see the value of this idea. In a few years, universal design will be as well known as sustainability is today.”

“The smart sectors of the business community, including builders, developers, planners and manufacturers, are well aware that changing demographics will provide an opportunity as well as a challenge in the future. They have not addressed the aging population very well in the past because they often believe that environments, products and services targeted to older adults are stigmatized due to ageism, thus no one else will buy them,” he said.

“This, of course, leads to a separate market for things like age-restricted communities, mature market products and age-targeted services like home monitoring. Even older people don't like to identify as old in our society because ‘ageism’ is so rampant.”

Steinfeld can be reached by e-mail at arced@buffalo.edu or by phone at 716-829-5899.
 

David Westbrook is an international scholar whose research and publications focus on the social and intellectual consequences of contemporary political economy. His work influences the disciplines of law, economics, finance, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies and design, and he has spoken worldwide to academics, business and financial leaders, members of the security community, civil institutions and governments. Recent work in public diplomacy has taken him to Pakistan and Tunisia.  His most recent book is “Deploying Ourselves: Islamist Violence and the Responsible Projection of U.S. Force.”

Josh Dyck conducts research and publishes on American electoral politics, how citizens interact with the institutional and social environment, and in particular, ballot initiatives and direct democracy.

Jim Campbell is a nationally recognized and widely published political scientist who specializes in American electoral politics and forecasting. In papers presented before Labor Day in Buffalo and at the American Political Science Association Convention in Washington, DC, Campbell's  forecasting models predicted a Republican congressional seat gain higher than that of any political forecaster, and predicted that the 2010 midterm congressional election would be a massive victory for the Republican Party.

EXPERT CONTACT : Joshua Dyck, PhD Assistant Professor of Political Science University at Buffalo (716) 645-8435 jdyck@buffalo.edu

"Barack Obama delivered a speech on Tuesday that attempted to follow the two major events that have defined his presidency in the last three months: the tragedy in Tucson and the large defeats his party sustained in the 2010 midterm elections.

EXPERT CONTACT : James E. Campbell, PhD Professor and Chair of Political Science University at Buffalo 716-645-8452 jcampbel@buffalo.edu

"This was a speech that probably pleased Democrats and very much displeased Republicans. It almost seemed as though the speech was written before the rebuke of the midterm election. Viewers of the speech must wonder, after hearing from the President about both various "investments" as well as the need for deficit reduction, where the President really stands and whether his commitment to deficit reduction and competitiveness is sincere."

EXPERT CONTACT : David Schmid, PhD Associate professor and associate chair Department of English University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences 716-645-0679 schmid@buffalo.edu

David Schmid is the author of "Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture" (University of Chicago Press) and other publications addressing the historical American fascination with violence including "The Scarlet Thread: A History of Homicide in American Popular Culture" (in progress).

"Whenever an unusually gruesome or extreme act of violence takes place," he says, "many media commentators treat suspects, gunmen and terrorists as uniquely bizarre individuals, completely and utterly different from ordinary people.  They search through the details of these peoples' lives in an attempt to present them as totally different from you, me or the guy down the street.  

"We see this tendency in media reports that too often rush to find and present what's 'abnormal' about the killer and what's 'normal' about the victims.  The questions we should ask are how is this individual like other people?  In what cultural context did he develop?  How is he representative of our society?

"Treating violent individuals as freaks satisfies prurient interest, but also and ironically,  distances ourselves from them, making it easier to dismiss them as 'not one of us' when they certainly are one of us. 

"Media consumers should be very attentive to this behavior on the part of reporters.  Perpetrators of violent crimes  -- however much we want to deny it -- develop within our society and are a part of our culture.

"Media treatment that presents such perpetrators as a product of our society makes it much more difficult to dismiss them as complete anomalies and requires a much more thoughtful analysis of American society than many media outlets are prepared to offer. "

There is a political strain in U.S. history that endorses violence as a means to an end and as a fundamental expression of white American identity 

 “The shooting of Congresswoman Giffords harkens back to an era in which political assassinations were commonplace in the United States: the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era. The two periods also share a political rhetoric that legitimizes violence.

EXPERT CONTACT : Charles Patrick Ewing Professor, UB Law School 716-645-2770 cewing@buffalo.edu

Although this weekend’s killings in Tucson, Ariz. , appear to be the work of a mentally ill individual, it’s important to keep in mind that the vast majority of the mentally ill are not violent or dangerous, according to UB Law Prof. Charles Patrick Ewing.

Ewing, a national expert on criminal behavior, and author of numerous books on forensic psychology and violent criminals, says although this vast majority of the mentally ill will never commit such acts of mass murder, influential politicians and commentators who preach hatred and revenge must shoulder some of the blame for this and other violent rampages.

“These influential politicians and commentators who use violent rhetoric and images -- such as putting a member of Congress in the crosshairs, telling supporters that it is time to ‘reload’ and suggesting that voters unhappy with congress resort to ‘Second Amendment remedies’ -- must realize that they have an incredibly wide audience,” says Ewing.  “At least some members of that audience (both sane and insane) will view their inflammatory statements as an invitation to violence.

“One thing is certain,” Ewing says. “The blame for these killings does not lie with the perpetrator alone.”

Ewing is a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and a national expert on the insanity defense who is frequently interviewed on the motivation of violent criminals.

Ewing is available for interviews by contacting him by email at cewing@buffalo.edu, or calling Charles Anzalone in the University at Buffalo’s Office of Communications at (716) 645-4600.

Assistant professor of political science, James Coleman Battista, will be available to answer media questions regarding the State of the State address after it is delivered.

His research and publications specialize in state politics, and in particular, state legislative party strength, legislative voting inside committees and new methods of estimating legislative preferences.

Dr. Oak, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, says tonight's World Junior Hockey championship game between Russia and Canada recalls the famously thrilling 1972 eight-game "Summit Series"  between the two nations, won by Canada in the last round.

“Hockey is Canada’s game, so of course, we are very relieved to be heading into the World Junior gold medal round on Wednesday night,” Oak says, “and Canadians are excited to be vying with Russia for the championship because Russia is a longstanding  hockey rival.

“This title game recalls the Canada-Soviet Union Hockey Summit Series of 1972, which was a huge event for Canadians, the way the 1981 US Olympic hockey win over the USSR was for the US. In the midst of the Cold War, the whole country tuned into the games and televisions sprouted up everywhere -including classrooms.