Staff
Professor Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., Director
Professor Taylor is an internationally known scholar, founding Director of the University at Buffalo Center for Urban Studies (CENTER), and a full professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in the School of Architecture and Planning at UB. Dr. Taylor is also the coordinator of the department's Community Development and Urban Management Specialization. He teaches courses in race, class, and gender in the city and in community development and urban management.
Professor Taylor is the editor of three books and a monograph and the author of a forthcoming book on neighborhood development in Havana, Cuba. He has written more than 80 articles, book reviews, commentaries, and technical reports on urban and regional planning, has appeared on ABC Nightline and has been quoted in numerous national publications, including the New York Times, USA Today, and Time Magazine. Dr. Taylor has made presentations at a number leading universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Ohio State University, the University of Cincinnati, and the Universidad de la Habana.
Professor Taylor has received numerous awards for his research and neighborhood planning activities. Business First twice named him one of the 100 Most Influential Leaders in Western New York and he has received the Alpha Award from the Amherst, NY Chamber of Commerce. In 2001, along with Professor Sam Cole, he won the Fannie Mae Foundation Award for the best practice base paper at the American Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference and in 2005; he received the Distinguished Leadership Professional Planner Award from the American Planning Association, New York Upstate Chapter. Most recently, the Black Community Division of the American Planning Association gave him a Certificate of Appreciation for his work with the division's Task Force on Hurricane Katrina. TIME Magazine selected his quote on Americans losing sight of Martin Luther King, Jr. dream in its best quotes -of-the-week section on January 30, 2008.
As an urban planner, Dr. Taylor participates in projects on brownfield redevelopment, economic development, and neighborhood planning and community development. In 2005, he received the prestigious HUD Community Outreach Partnership Grant to launch a community development project in the Fruit Belt and Martin Luther King, Jr. neighborhoods. He is directing a major community outreach component of a New York State Brownfield Opportunity Area project in the City of Niagara Falls.
Professor Taylor's Cirriculum Vitae (pdf)
Mr. Jeffery A. Kujawa, Assistant Director/Research Associate
A graduate of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning's Master of Urban Planning program, Jeff returned to UB and joined the Center for Urban Studies in January 2000. As Assistant Director, he is responsible for overseeing all of the Center's day-to-day operations in the areas of administration, budgeting, grant management, information technology, and personnel. In addition to these responsibilities, he is the Co-Director of the Center's Department of Housing and Urban Development - Community Development Work Study Program and is the lead instructor for the Center's Urban Internship Program and its service learning component.
He participates on research and planning teams such as: "East Side Neighborhood Transformation Partnership - HUD Community Outreach Partnership Program" (2005), "Village of Depew, Main/Penora Revitalization Project" (2003), "Building a Minimum Housing Standard in Erie County, New York" (2002), "The Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural District and Cultural Corridor" (2001), "The Turing Point - A Strategic Plan and Action Agenda for the Fruitbelt/Medical Corridor" (2001), and "Universities as Sites of Citizenship and Civic Responsibility" (2000).
Jeff serves as Vice-President of the Board of Directors of Broadway-Fillmore Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc., one of the City of Buffalo's non-profit housing agencies. Recently, Jeff has been selected a peer grant reviewer for the Department of Housing Urban Development (HUD) - Office of University Partnerships. He has reviewed for the following programs: 2006 HUD - Tribal Colleges and Universities Program, 2006 HUD - Universities Rebuilding America Partnerships - Hurricane Katrina and Rita Relief Program, 2005 HUD - Community Development Work Study Program, and 2005 HUD - Community Outreach Partnership Center Program - New Directions Grant.
Ms. Frida Ferrer, Program Coordinator
Frida Ferrer coordinates the educational and activities of the East Side Neighborhood Transformation Community Outreach Partnership Center (ESNTP). She manages the ESNTP flower and vegetable community gardens as well as other gardens around the area, conducts summer outdoor classroom activities for the neighborhood children, and assists with the running and organization of local block clubs. She organizes a yearly neighborhood clean-up mobilizing the community school, CBOs, the local government, donors, volunteers, students, faculty and staff of the SUNY at Buffalo's Department of Urban and Regional Planning. In her work with the block clubs she is also aids budding entrepreneurs/organizations by sourcing and/or providing technical and administrative support to their projects.
Ms. Ferrer has a long record of providing support to various projects, such as the HUD-funded Buffalo Community Development Work Study Program (1998 to 2007), the SUNY at Buffalo Minority and Women Emerging Entrepreneurs Mentoring Program (2002 to 2005) and the UB Center for Urban Studies' Health Status of the Near Eastside Community and Neighborhood Conditions Project (1999 to 2000).
Prior to joining the Center for Urban Studies, she was involved in rural development research at the Philippine Department of Agriculture, Projects Preparation Unit, Office of the Minister (1977 to1989). She served as Program Coordinator to the fact-finding and feasibility missions of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded Highland Development Program for Benguet Mt. Province in northern Philippines. She also assisted in the design of the Training Component for the Philippine Agricultural Support Services Project funded by the International Bank for Reconstruction & Development (IBRD). Further, she facilitated a number of planning sessions among farmers and assisted in the review and evaluation of support programs to pilot projects in farming technology.
In 1985, with distinction, Ms. Ferrer earned a diploma in Project Development from the Research Institute for Management Science (RVB) at the Delft University, Netherlands. In 2000, Ms. Ferrer earned credits towards a diploma in Urban Planning from the SUNY at Buffalo's Department of Urban and Regional Planning. She graduated with a business degree from St. Paul College, Philippines in 1973 and earned credits in liberal arts and elementary education at Maryknoll College, Philippines from 1968-1970.
Ms. Jacqueline N. Hall, Project Director- ESNTP
A graduate of the University at Buffalo's School of Social Work, Jacqueline returned to UB and joined the Center for Urban Studies in June 2006. As Project Director, she is responsible for setting up and managing the Neighborhood Transformation Community Outreach Partnership Center and for coordinating day-to-day activities. In addition to these responsibilities, she chairs the Community Advisory Committee and manages the development of the COPC website and newsletter.
Jacqueline serves as a board member for the Buffalo Perinatal -Prenatal Network and is a member of the March of Dimes Program Services Committee. She also is a representative for the School Based Management Team at the Dr. George E. Blackman School of Excellence Buffalo Public School 54. Jacqueline is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., a public service organization.
Professor Robert Silverman, Senior Research Associate
Robert Silverman is a Senior Research Associate in the Center for Urban Studies and an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo. His research and teaching focus on citizen participation, nonprofit management and community development. He has published a number of journal articles on these topics and is the editor of Community-Based Organizations: The Intersection of Social Capital and Local Context in Contemporary American Society. Before coming to Buffalo, he was a faculty member at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI and Jackson State University in Jackson, MS.
Professor Silverman's Cirriculum Vitae
Ms. Sharon K. Bailey, Communications Director
Sharon K. Bailey is responsible for the development, editorial and management of web content for the Center for Urban Studies and Community Partners and Neighborhood Initiatives websites as well as readership and recognition expansion of ADVANCE, the CENTER newsletter.
Ms. Bailey is an active participant in the performing arts, local community and not-for-profit organizations. Sharon also serves as a member of the Buffalo Association of Black Journalists and the Digital Media and Communication Advisory Board at Hilbert College.
