ern New York Legal Elite. To
arrive at this listing, 1,100
nominations were made by
local attorneys for their
peers; the 161 honorees rep-
resent 81 firms and other or-
ganizations.
ment of Curriculum and Instruction in the
College of Education at The State University
of New York at Fredonia was named Environ-
mental Educator of the Year by the Nature
Sanctuary Society of Western New York. A
member of the faculty since 2001, Jabot's
teaching interests are in science education
and, in particular, how students make sense
of the physical world around them. His re-
search focuses on the development of learn-
ing progressions and the
conceptual diagnostic assess-
ments that allow for measur-
ing the impact of instruction
on student learning around
spatial thinking and climate
change. He is the co-author
of the books "Measurement.
Kids Knowledge," and "Essentials of Elemen-
tary Science" and his most recent collabora-
tion is "Science for the Next Generation."
Since 2009, he has been on the faculty of the
National Science Resource Center's National
Leadership and Assistance for Science Educa-
tion Reform (LASER) Science Education Strate-
gic Planning Institute in Washington, D.C. He
has also served on the LEAD Team for New
York state in the development of the Next
Generation Science Standards. John Santini
retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel
after 28 years of service. His final assignment
was in the headquarters of the Department of
the Army Cyberspace and Information Opera-
tions office at the Pentagon.
called Defend It, Inc., dedicated to producing
debates throughout the United States "of the
most divisive issues of our time." The debates
will be held at colleges and universities and
will be designed to provide the public with a
complete understanding of how their individ-
ual lives will be affected by the outcome of
the issue at hand. Kilmer says debaters are re-
quired to answer the question that is asked
and do so without a single reference to the
other debater's position.
three-week trip to Kenya with his son, Kevin,
in June. They helped to build a free clinic for
the Mbaka Oromo children, orphans and
community. They also purchased four sewing
machines for the Mbaka Oromo secondary
school so that the young women can begin
sale. Jablonski also began working at two
new schools to rebuild classrooms that were
previously made from cow dung and water.
Jablonski proudly sported his Bonnies T-shirt
while walking the Kenyan countryside.
evening reception at Buckingham Palace in
July given by Her Majesty the Queen and the
Duke of Edin-
burgh to cele-
brate the
companies that
won the Queen's
Award for Enter-
prise in 2014. The
award for Inter-
national Trade
was granted to
Construction Industry Solutions (COINS) in
recognition of its substantial growth in over-
seas earnings and commercial success in the
construction sector. Baumes is chief operating
officer of COINS International and responsible
for the division winning the award. Michael
J. Pendred II is principal at St. Teresa of Avila
School in Ross, Pa, which serves children in
grades pre-K through 8. Pendred most re-
cently taught social studies at Cardinal Wuerl
North Catholic High School. Mark Spencer
was named athletic director at the University
of Evansville. Spencer most recently was the
senior associate athletic director for Business
Operations at Oregon State University. He
joined OSU's staff in 2006 after stints in the
athletic departments at St. Louis University,
East Tennessee State University, and the Uni-
versity of New Mexico.
brated the 10-year anniversary of his law firm,
The Mattacola Law Firm in Rome, N.Y. Matta-
cola also serves as the general counsel and
chief operating officer of Rome Memorial
Hospital. Karen L. McHose obtained her reg-
istered nurse licensure in May 2014 at the
Western University of Health Sciences' College
of Graduate Nursing, located in Pomona,
Calif. She is now enrolled in the institution's
master's program for ambulatory nursing and
is slated to graduate in 2016.
neck injury prevention in football led him to
be named one of seven winners of the Head
Health Challenge II, which is sponsored by the
NFL, Under Armour, and General Electric.
Swartz's innovative technique, Helmetless
Tackle Training (HUTT), trains football players
to "keep their heads out of the game." With-
out the security of a helmet, players are
forced to pay more attention to the place-
ment of their heads when they tackle. The set
of drills, which include player-to-player con-
on technique than full effort. To measure the
effectiveness of the drills, the players in the
study (25 doing the tackling drills and a con-
trol group of 25) wear adhesive pill-sized im-
pact sensors behind their ears for all practices
and games. The sensors, which include ac-
celerometers and gyroscope technology,
measure the volume, magnitude and location
of hits. With the $500,000 Head Health Chal-
lenge II award, Swartz will bring HUTT
that younger players with less tackling experi-
ence might see even greater benefits from the
technique. Each award winner will also have
the opportunity to receive an additional
$1,000,000 to advance their work to better
protect football players against brain injury.
Esq., has joined Medmarc Insurance Group, a
leading underwriter of products liability insur-
ance for medical technology and life sciences
companies, as a senior claims examiner. Prior
to joining Medmarc, Kayiwa specialized in the
defense of life sciences companies and health-
care providers in Chicago, Ill. She lives in Fair-
fax, Va., with her husband, Francis Kayiwa,
'97, and their two daughters.
partner of Jensen, Marks, Langer, & Vance
LLC, an independent financial planning firm in
downtown Buffalo. He joined the firm in
2011 and his practice focuses on comprehen-
sive wealth management, including invest-
ments, insurance, and financial planning for
retirees, business owners, and
young professionals. He is a
certified financial planner and
earned a retirement planning
specialist designation from the
Wharton School of Business.
In addition to his professional
practice, Connolly serves as
the chairman of the St. Francis High School
Board, serves on the Executive Board of the
ECMC Lifeline Foundation, is the vice chair-
man of the Town of Hamburg Zoning Board
of Appeals, and serves on the Board of Direc-
tors for the Network in Aging of WNY. He
lives Hamburg with his wife, Amy, and their
three children. Deborah Fargo was ap-
pointed risk, compliance, CRA, security and
bank secrecy act officer at Cattaraugus
County Bank. Fargo, who has been with the
bank since 2007, previously was commercial
credit analyst. She is a certified management
accountant.
Army National Guard graduated from the In-
termediate Level Education Common Core
Course instructed by the U.S. Army Com-