Paterson Receives Bernice Poss Award

Wendy Paterson, dean of the School of Education, received the Bernice Poss Award from the Western New York Regional Committee of the Network for Women Leaders in Higher Education during the group's annual conference on May 1. 

The award recognizes women in higher education who exemplify noteworthy involvement in organizing and planning activities for the advancement of female professionals, commitment to and participation in community services and programs for women, and professionalism as evidenced by support for colleagues and compassion in their daily conduct.

Paterson worked at Buffalo State for 21 years as a developmental and educational technology specialist, faculty member, and chair. She received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service in 1996. The University at Buffalo named her Distinguished Alumna of the Graduate School of Education in 2005.

From 2009–2012, she served as dean of the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. School of Education at St. John Fisher College in Rochester. She returned to Buffalo State in 2012 as the dean of the School of Education.

Paterson’s first book, titled Unbroken Homes: Single Parent Mothers Tell Their Stories (2003), was selected for the Innovations in Feminist Research series by Haworth Press. Her second book, The Forgotten Parent: Divorced Dads on Parenting Through and Beyond Divorce, was released in 2010 by the Cambridge Scholars Press and focused on the inequities of divorce and custody from the father’s perspective, complementing her first book where those same inequities are examined from the feminist lens.

Paterson is an internationally-published scholar with an award-winning article on instructional technology and early literacy published in Reading Research Quarterly, a comprehensive review of reading research presented from the Oxford Roundtable on Reading in Oxford University’s Forum on Public Policy Online, and a critical analysis of the negative effects of historical promotion and tenure practices on female faculty in the International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations.

Her eclectic interests in teaching, instructional technology, women’s issues and leadership all contribute to her high profile work in teacher education and educational leadership. Her most recent accomplishment was to secure a Race to the Top grant from SUNY to develop the Center for Innovation in Clinically Rich Teacher Preparation through Professional Development Schools for SUNY colleges in the Western New York region. 

The conference program praised Paterson, noting, "Women in higher education find her a stalwart champion and tireless advocate."