UH received a special award from the Association for Continuing Higher Education for its Second Start program, a 10-week compressed semester for students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

The Mayor’s Office and Keep Houston Beautiful recognized the University of Houston for the second consecutive year. UH received two 2006 Mayor’s Proud Partners honorable mention awards for its landscaping projects at the M.D. Anderson Library and the Science and Engineering Research and Classroom Complex.

Tatcho Mindiola Jr. (’67, ’70), Center for Mexican American Studies director and associate professor of sociology, received the 2006 Mayor’s Hispanic Heritage Award for his contributions to higher education. Mindiola earned a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s degree in sociology from UH. He joined the UH faculty in 1974 and became the center’s director in 1980. The Houston Alumni Organization presented Mindiola with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005.

Alumni

Maria Carandas (’06), a math and science teacher at Houston Independent School District’s Kolter Elementary, received the National Student Teacher Award from the Association of Teacher Educators and Kappa Delta Pi, an international honor society in education. Carandas is the university’s first national-award winner in this category.

Fatyn Khawaja (’06) was named one of two Texas Student Teachers of the Year by the Texas Directors of Field Experiences. She was a student-teacher in the Galena Park Independent School District during the spring.

Jane MacNeil (’06) won the Center for Public Policy Government Internship Award. She was a government intern in Houston Councilwoman Carol Alvarado’s office.

Linda P. McKenzie (’06) won the Florida Bar Health Law Section’s William Trickel Jr. Writing Contest for her paper “Not Completely Out of Luck: Court Leaves Open Possible ERISA Remedy.”

Vesna Mirkovic (’99) received the Houston Intellectual Property Law Association Outstanding Inventor Award for exploring the logistical aspects of using hydrogen as a fuel source at Chevron Technology Ventures.

Faculty

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environmental Division presented its Best Environmental Paper Award to Vermuri Balakotaiah, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

Alessandro Carrera, associate professor of modern and classical languages and director of Italian studies, received the 2006 A. Bertolucci International Poetry Prize for literary criticism for his book “I poeti sono impossibili” (Poets Are Impossible). The city of Parma, Italy, awarded the prize.

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers bestowed its Kuo K. Wang Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award to Gary Cheng, assistant professor of industrial engineering and engineering technology.

Yale University Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition nominated Steven Deyle, associate professor of history, for its Eighth Annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize for “Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life.” Deyle was one of three finalists.

Gerald Horne, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History, wrote the book “The Final Victim of the Blacklist: John Howard Lawson, Dean of the Hollywood Ten.”

James Kirby Martin, Distinguished University Professor of History, co-wrote the book “Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution.”

Barry Moore, adjunct associate professor of architecture, received the Texas Society of Architects 2006 Award for Outstanding Education Contributions in Honor of Edward J. Romieniec, FAIA. Moore also is the director of the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture’s Workshop for Historic Architecture.

Dana Rooks, libraries dean, was elected to a three-year term on the Association of Research Libraries board of directors.

Vincent H. Tam, assistant professor of pharmacy, received the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) 2006 Young Investigator Award. Tam will present a lecture on his research on infectious diseases and microbial resistance to antimicrobial agents at the 2007 ACCP Spring Research and Practice Forum.

Staff

Staff members at KUHT-TV, HoustonPBS, received several community service awards. Patricia Gras, senior host and producer, received the Houston Citizens Chamber of Commerce Early Loggins Award, the Center for the Healing of Racism Ally Award and the North American Taiwanese Women’s Association Community Award. KTMD-TV, Channel 47, presented her with the Willy Velazquez Award for Community Service. Gras and Julie Coan, managing producer; Ernie Manouse, anchor and producer; and Laura Lucas, assistant producer, received the first Interfaith Dialogue and Peace Community Service Award for their work on the show “the connection.”

Students

Pradeep Buddharaju, computer science graduate student, received the Summer School on Advanced Biometrics Outstanding Student Paper Award. His paper will be published in Springer Verlag Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

Students enrolled in the School of Communication’s World Internet News in fall 2005 won six Houston Press Club awards. Curtis Delaney won first place for his radio story “Houston Flooding Could be Related to Local Standards” and second place for the TV story “Public and Private Information Up for Grabs Online.” Delaney also received the Press Club of Dallas Katie Award for best student news story for “Houston’s Water Quality Improving.” Matt Dougherty earned first place for his TV story “A Day in the Life of a Male Prostitute” and third place for “Questions Linger Over the Effectiveness of Proposition 12.” Jenny Yau placed second for her radio story “AFL-CIO Splits Over Do-or-Die Unionizing Strategy.” Delaney and Yau are recipients of the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards.

Law students Heather Harris and Erica Thonsgard received the American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects 2006 Best Brief Award. The organization recognizes the best brief submitted in moot court competitions nationwide.

The German Association of Contact Lens Specialists/ Optometrists presented its 2006 Peter-Abel Preis Award to optometry student Jason Marsack and co-authors Katrina Parker, clinical assistant professor of optometry; Bill Donnelly, optometry student; and Raymond Applegate, professor of optometry, for their research project “Uncorrected wave-front error and visual performance during RGP wear in Keratoconus.” The award recognizes excellent innovative scientific work and practical usage of contact lens optics.

The University Council for Educational Administration named Allegra McGrew, graduate education student, a Barbara L. Jackson Scholar. The scholar program provides outstanding students of color who intend to become professors or leaders with mentoring and career development opportunities.

Law student Bhavani S. Reddy placed first in the 2005- 2006 American College of Legal Medicine Bioethics Writing Competition for her paper “The Epidemic of Unrelieved Chronic Pain: The Ethical, Societal, and Regulatory Barriers Facing Opioid Prescribing Physicians.” The Journal of Legal Medicine will publish the paper.

Archana Venkataramanan, an environmental engineering graduate student, received a $5,000 fellowship from the Ivanhoe Foundation for her research on drinking water purification.

The university received the International Special Events Society-Houston chapter’s award for best event produced for a nonprofit under $100,000 for its Red Rose Ball 25th anniversary.

The National Science Foundation awarded a two-year, $900,000 grant to Richard Alo, executive director of grants and contracts for the Center for Computational Sciences and Advanced Distributed Simulation. The grant will fund his proposal “Minority-Serving Institutions — Cyberinfrastructure Empowerment Coalition.” The project will provide communication, support and training linkages through a cyberinfrastructure-enabled distributed education and research network for minority-serving institutions, executives, administrators, faculty, students and researchers nationwide.

Faculty

Ronald Barnes, professor of computer and mathematical sciences, and Linda Becerra, associate professor of computer and mathematical sciences, received the Mathematical Association of America’s Trevor Evans Award for expository writing in honor of their article “The Evolution of Mathematical Certainty.”

Pamela Behan, assistant professor of sociology, recently published the book “Solving the Health Care Problem: How Other Nations Succeeded and Why the United States Has Not.”

Anisul M. Islam, professor of economics, received the 2006 Outstanding Educator Award in Economics given by the Southwestern Society of Economists and the Federation of Business Disciplines.

The Society for Technical Communication, Houston presented its Woman of the Year Award to Ann Jennings, associate professor of English, for her dedication in promoting professional writing skills and education.

Lucille Pointer, assistant professor of marketing, was elected president of the American Marketing Association Collegiate Division board.

The Environmental Institute of Houston, housed at UHCL, received a $20,000 grant from the Meadows Foundation to enhance the institute’s school-based environmental education program. The institute’s WaterSmart School Habitat Demonstration Lab received a 2006 Mayor’s Proud Partners Certificate of Recognition Award in the Keep Houston Beautiful initiative.

The National Science Foundation gave a four-year, $477,200 grant to Kwok-Bun Yue, professor of computer science and computer information systems, and Sharon Perkins Hall, associate professor of computer science and computer information systems. The award will benefit undergraduate students in computer science, computer information systems, computer systems engineering and mathematics.

Sadegh Davari, professor of computer science and computer information systems, received $91,192 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Technology Workforce Development grants program for his proposal titled “Computer Science Scholars: Recruiting, Retention and Mentoring.”

Alumni

Lynne Cleveland (’83, ’90, ’91) was appointed the Galveston Independent School District superintendent.

Craig Cordola (’98) was named Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital’s chief executive officer.

Bernard A. Harris Jr. (’99) was elected to Sterling Bancshares I nc. board of directors.

Heather Rarick (’92) was selected as NASA Mission Control’s flight director.

Faculty

Suzanne Brown, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, received a $170,000 grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Teacher Quality Grants Program for the UHCL Mathematics Institute.

Raj Chhikara, professor of mathematics and statistics, received $40,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Division for his project “Develop and Evaluate Model Procedures to Estimate the Stratum Variance Used in Allocating Area Frame Samples for the 2007 Agriculture Census.” The project will aid the USDA in estimating the number of farms for the 2007 agriculture census.

George Guillen, executive director of the Environmental Institute of Houston, received a $14,961 award from the city of Galveston for his proposal “Bacteriological Survey of Lake Madeline, Galveston, Texas.” Guillen also received a $10,000 award from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for another project, the “Galveston Bay Habitat Conservation Blueprint Update.”

The Allied Academies in the Academy of Educational Leadership bestowed its Distinguished Research Award to Lawrence Kajs, associate professor of educational leadership; Dan McCollum, assistant professor of educational foundations; and Norma Minter, lecturer in bilingual and multicultural education, for their manuscript “A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the School Administrator Efficacy Scale.”

Jack Lu’s article “Crystal Engineering of Cu-Containing Metal Organic Coordination Polymers under Hydrothermal Conditions” was one of Coordination Chemistry Reviews 50 most-cited articles. Lu is associate professor of chemistry.

Brenda Weiser, director of environmental education for the Environmental Institute of Houston, received a $25,000 award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for her proposal “Linking TEKS to Your School Habitat.”

Students

Graduate student and alumna Shara Appanaitis received the International Sculpture Center’s 2006 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. She will participate in the Grounds for Sculpture’s fall/winter exhibition, and her artwork was included in Sculpture magazine’s October edition.

UHV was approved for membership in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The university anticipates hosting its first baseball and softball games in spring 2008. The teams, pending approval, will compete as members of the Red River Athletic Conference, which includes Houston Baptist, Huston-Tillotson and Texas Wesleyan universities.

UHV and the Coastal Bend College received a $3.5 million federal grant to fund a collaboration that could affect nearly 3,000 low-income, Hispanic and first-generation college students. The grant will funnel $985,898 to UHV to help build a program aimed at increasing enrollment and education attainment levels among underserved students.

The American Book Review, an award-winning literary journal, will relocate to UHV. The journal’s editorial offices have already made the move, which should be completed within a year.

Shyang-Yun Pamela K. Shiao began teaching this semester as UHV’s first endowed professor. Shiao earned a doctorate from Case Western Reserve University in 1994. Her major areas of research include neonatal critical care and physiological monitoring. Prior to becoming the M.G. and Lillie A. Johnson Professor of Nursing at the university, Shiao was the director of nursing research at Houston’s Christus St. Joseph Hospital.

Alumni

Beth Dow (’96) was named the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District’s elementary principal of the year for 2005-2006.

David Kabela (’83), office manager of the Texas Child Support Division in Victoria, received the Office Manager of the Year Award from the state of Texas.

Faculty

Nagarajan Ramamoorthy, associate professor of management, was named a consulting editor to the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

Phi Delta Kappan, a professional journal for education, will publish Steven Trowbridge’s article “Education Rituals: Questioning How We Educate Our Children.” Trowbridge is an associate professor of reading.

Jim Walton’s article “The Internationalization of American Business Education: Are U.S. Students Less Ethnocentric?” appeared in Business Review’s September edition. Walton is an assistant professor of marketing.

Staff

Wayne Beran, vice president for administration and finance, was named president-elect of the Texas Association of State Senior College and University Business Officers. Beran will become president of the organization in 2008. He is the first person from a UH System institution to be elected to the position.

Richard Phillips, associate vice president for university advancement, was named to the Texas Task Force on Dropout Prevention.

Recent staff employees of the month include Debbie Tillotson, senior secretary in the School of Business Administration (June); Larry Steen, mail services clerk in the Office of Business Services (July); and Shelley Ressman, senior secretary in the Office of LEAD: Letting Education Achieve Dreams (August).

Students

Van G. Garrett, a graduate student, was among the poets selected by the Hurston/Wright Foundation to participate in this year’s Writers’ Week in Washington, D.C.