UB faculty members Thomas Russo, Frank A. Scannapieco and Bianca Weinstock-Guttman have been named SUNY Distinguished Professors, the highest rank in the SUNY system. They were appointed to the distinguished professor rank by the SUNY Board of Trustees at its April meeting. The rank of distinguished professor is an order above full professorship and has three co-equal designations: distinguished professor, distinguished service professor and distinguished teaching professor. Russo, Scannapieco and Weinstock-Guttman were all named Distinguished Professors in recognition of their international prominence and distinguished reputations within their chosen fields. According to SUNY, “this distinction is attained through significant contributions to the research literature or through artistic performance or achievement in the case of the arts. The candidate’s work must be of such character that the individual’s presence will tend to elevate the standards of scholarship of colleagues both within and beyond these persons’ academic fields.”