A few years ago, Dr. Neal Buffaloe, a retired faculty member from the Department of Biology, was introduced to someone who commented on how nice it was that the university had named its alumni hall after him.
?I said, ?No, that?s my 11th cousin that that?s named for.? Frankly, I was holding out for a statue.?
While he didn?t get a statue, a science education laboratory in Lewis Science Center was named in honor of Buffaloe on April 15.
?I?ve come to realize that a room is a lot bigger than a statue and the plaque will be inside away from the birds and the weather,? Buffaloe told a room full of friends, former colleagues and family.
The dedication in Buffaloe?s honor came about because of a gift to the university by Drs. Jerry and Stella Cash, both alums of the university who have since retired from 20-plus year careers at Michigan State University.
Jerry said it was Buffaloe who made him the dedicated educator and successful researcher and consultant he is today.
In 1962, Jerry enrolled at UCA as a freshman. ?I went to the freshman assembly that day and I had skipped breakfast and the assembly was at lunchtime, so I was pretty hungry. Before we could leave, we were told to select a major. Since I wanted to go to lunch and I had no idea what I wanted to major in, I chose biology because it was at the top of the list, alphabetically.?
Jerry thought he might regret that decision as soon as he entered his first biology class with Buffaloe as his professor, but Jerry managed to pass the class with Buffaloe?s wife, Inez, as his lab partner.
Jerry stayed in the biology program and completed his degree in 1965. A newlywed, Jerry entered the workforce upon graduation despite urgings from Buffaloe to earn his master?s degree.
Jerry recalled, ?Just before I graduated, Neal asked me, ?What are you gonna do when you graduate?? and I said, ?Gotta get a job, and gotta make some money.? Neal said, ?I hoped you?d get your master?s degree?.?
Two years after receiving his bachelor?s degree, Jerry did return to the university to earn his master?s degree while working as Buffaloe?s lab assistant.
About the time Jerry received his master?s degree, Buffaloe approached him once again and asked what he?d do after graduation. Jerry, once again, told his professor, ?Gotta get a job, and gotta make some money.?
Buffaloe planted the idea that perhaps Jerry should continue his education and earn his doctorate. In fact, he even lined up a graduate assistantship for Jerry at the University of Arkansas.
Jerry and Stella moved to northwest Arkansas where Stella worked as a school teacher while Jerry worked on his doctorate, which he earned in 1975.
Jerry realized that he probably never would have earned his master?s or doctorate without the support of Buffaloe, so last fall he contacted the university about endowing a gift to UCA in Buffaloe?s honor.
After visiting with a development officer at UCA and learning about the needs in the biology department, the Cashs decided to endow the science education laboratory in Buffalo?s honor.
?We looked at the possibility of setting up a scholarship or an assistantship, but we knew that would only touch the lives of one or two students each year, so we decided to direct our gift to the laboratory for furnishings and equipment so that many future science educators would benefit,? Jerry said.
The Neal D. Buffaloe Laboratory for Science Education is now equipped with 20 new graphing calculators and six new stations of Cambridge Physics equipment that include machinery such as pendulums and pulleys, which demonstrate laws of physics.
Students in science education courses rotate through the stations and now are able to gain hands-on experience that will be valuable once they become classroom teachers.
-Jennifer Boyett
