Retirements

Janice DeLucia retired in May 2021 after 34 years as a faculty member in the Department of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology. For the last 23 years, she was program director for the school counseling program.

DeLucia’s area of expertise was group counseling and psychoeducational groups, particularly for children and adolescents. Her work focused on the empirical validation of group techniques, and the development of guidelines for effective implementation of group interventions.

She served as editor of the Journal for Specialists in Group Work, president of the Association for Specialists in Group Work, co-editor of several volumes of group activities including “Group Experts Share Their Favorite Activities” and “School Counselors Share Their Favorite Activities” and author and co-author of several group counseling books.

DeLucia was a fellow of the American Counseling Association, the Association for Specialists in Group Work and a member of the American Psychological Association Society of Group Psychology and Group Psychotherapy.

In retirement she hopes to catch up on her reading list and continue to consult with schools about how to implement effective school counseling programs.

Stephen L. Jacobson, UB Distinguished Professor, is retiring after a 35 year career. He began his career at UB, in 1986 after he completed his PhD in educational administration at Cornell University. Prior to his studies at Cornell, he was a special education teacher for the New York City Public Schools and then worked with substance abusers for the Renaissance Project in Ellenville, New York.

Over the course of his career, he served as Coordinator of the Educational Administration programs, chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy and the associate dean for academic affairs. He has chaired over 60 doctoral dissertations and served on the committees of nearly 50 more.

His initial research focused on teacher labor market behaviors and compensation, which earned him considerable recognition. His research interests turned to the reform of school leadership preparation and practice, and successful leadership in high poverty schools in the U.S. and abroad. 

His work on these issues has an international following and, in addition to over 100 publications, he has given presentations in Australia, Austria, Barbados, Canada, China, Cyprus, England, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Israel, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Tanzania. In 2019 he was a Fulbright Scholar in Educational Management and Leadership at Aleksander Moisiu University in Durres, Albania.

Of all of his accomplishments, he’s most proud of his participation in the design, implementation and on-going development of the Leadership Initiative For Tomorrow’s Schools (LIFTS). The LIFTS program began more than 25 years ago as an attempt by UB to create an innovative approach to the preparation of school leaders. The goal was to engage area school districts and attract outstanding candidates to collaboratively introduce cohorts of educators to the field with the intellectual and technical skills needed to improve the life chances of school aged youngsters across Western New York. There are now over 200 alumni of LIFTS including some of the very finest school leaders to be found anywhere. “What these leaders are doing every day in our schools is the finest legacy anyone could hope for,” said Jacobson.