The Black Leadership Network (BLN), an organization of African-American faculty and staff, received The Texas Association of Partners in Education Gold Award in the Texas Collegiate Partnership category for The Event, the organization’s college readiness conference. The award recognizes BLN as a leader in developing innovative partnerships with area high schools.

The David M. Underwood chapter of American Humanics received the national American Humanics Management Institute Program Excellence Award.

The College of Technology received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. Region Five Student Branch Membership Growth Award for 2005.

Stephen T. Zamora, Leonard B. Rosenberg Professor of Law, received the Decoration of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, Mexico’s highest award given to a foreign national. The award recognizes Zamora’s dedication to scholarship and teaching that promotes U.S.-Mexico understanding. He directed the UH Law Center’s Mexican Legal Studies Program. Zamora is a founding director of the North American Consortium on Legal Education, and he is the principal author of the leading English-language treatise on Mexican law.

Alumni

The Houston Area Pharmacy Association named Frank Koen (’95) Pharmacist of the Year and Renee Prescott (’02) Young Pharmacist of the Year.

The Texas Pharmacy Association named state Rep. Chuck Hopson (’65) Pharmacist of the Year; Stephanie Erwin (’02) Young Pharmacist of the Year; and Heather Lewandowski (’91) Outstanding Consultant Pharmacist.

Carol Lewis (’89, ’92), Olympic athlete and sports commentator; Jack B. Moore (’77), president of Cameron Inc.; and state Sen. John Whitmire (’75, ’76) received Houston Alumni Organization (HAO) Distinguished Alumni awards. Jeff Fuller (’95), UH’s associate director of admissions, received HAO’s Outstanding Volunteer Award. The organization’s Distinguished Service Award went to Cathy Coers Frank (’80), co-founder of Reunions by Class Act.

Hattar Samer (’00), Johns Hopkins University Department of Biology assistant professor, received a five-year, $625,000 Packard Foundation Fellowship for Science and Engineering. Samer also was named an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow.

Faculty

Andy Achenbaum, professor of history and social work, was named an Association for Gerontology in Higher Education Fellow.

Karim Alkadhi, associate professor of pharmacology, was appointed to the Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology editorial board.

Stanko Brankovic, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Paul Ruchhoeft, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, received a U.S. Department of Defense grant worth up to $1.6 million to create a new type of magnetic field sensor.

Hua Chen, assistant professor of clinical sciences and administration, received a 2006 New Investigators Program for Pharmacy Faculty research grant from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education. The grant will help support Chen’s research on the “Impact of the FDA Antidepressant Black Box Warning on the Utilizations of Psychotherapy, Psychotropic Medications and Antidepressant Follow-up Care among Children and Adolescents.”

E. James Essien, associate professor of clinical sciences and administration in the College of Pharmacy, was appointed to the AIDS and Behavior journal editorial board.

Ronald S. Harwerth, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Optometry and chair of the Department of Vision Sciences, received the American Academy of Optometry Charles F. Prentice Medal Award in honor of his contributions in vision sciences. The academy’s Cornea and Contact Lens Section presented its Max Schapero Memorial Lecture Award to Jan P.G. Bergmanson, professor of optometry.

Thomas T.C. Hsu, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Civil Engineering, received the American Concrete Institute and the Reinforced Concrete Research Council 2007 Arthur J. Boase Award. The award recognizes his extensive research advancing the understanding of torsion in structural concrete members and his contributions to codification of design for shear and torsion.

Fazle Hussain, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, received a $300,000 National Science Foundation grant to research ways to reduce flight delays by saving time between aircrafts during takeoffs and landings.

Kristopher Innanen, assistant professor of physics, received the Society of Exploration Geophysicists’ J. Clarence Karcher Award in honor of his significant contributions as a young geophysicist of outstanding abilities under the age of 35.

Nicolás Kanellos, Brown Foundation Professor of Hispanic Literature and Arte Público Press director, received the 2006 Texas Association for Bilingual Education Award for contributions to higher education.

Martin Melosi, Distinguished University Professor of History and Center for Public History director, received a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award. Melosi will give a keynote address at the Fifth International Water History Association Conference in Finland. He also will participate in a postgraduate research program sponsored by Finland’s Tampere University of Technology

Nancy B. Rapoport, professor of law, was named to the American Board of Certification board of directors.

Lynn Rehm, professor of psychology, was elected to the National Academies of Practice.

Staff

Michelle Boule, assistant librarian, was selected as a member of the 2006-2007 American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders program.

Head football coach Art Briles was named Conference USA Coach of the Year.

Doug Robertson, audio specialist at KUHT-TV, HoustonPBS, won an Emmy from the National Television Academy Lone Star Chapter for outstanding audio for his work on “Art is All Around Us, Downtown.”

Students

Maureen Alika, Gloria Orozco and Mesias Pedroza received awards for research they presented at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students organized by the American Society for Microbiology.

Heather Anderson, Ling Huang, Jason Marsack and Danielle Robertson received American Academy of Optometry William C. Ezell fellowships.

Candice Bailey, Charisse Birdwell, Karyn Hemphill and Roy Hendley placed third in the National Community Pharmacists Association’s Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition. Hendley, Andrew Laegeler and adviser Heidi Bragg, clinical assistant professor, placed third in the Texas Pharmacy Association’s 2006 Innovative Pharmacy Practice Project competition.

Kevin Kolb was named Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year and 2006 Media Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year.

The UH Forensics and Debate Team achieved great success at the 41st Annual Colorado College Al Johnson National Invitation Forensics Tournament. UH placed second in individual events and fourth overall among 60 universities. Chris Hunter earned first place in dramatic interpretation, prose interpretation, poetry interpretation and program of oral interpretation. No other contestant won more than one first-place award. Sunita Dharani placed third in prose interpretation. Whitney Mickel and Myi Watson were finalists in prose interpretation and program of oral interpretation, respectively. Other participants were Michelle Abii, Robert Flores, Blake Gilson, Katie Hunt, Jonathon Morales, Bela Pate and Helen Vo.

UH-Downtown signed an agreement to partner with the Service of the Emergency Aid Resource Center for the Homeless to conduct research, evaluation and program development at the House of Tiny Treasures through the College of Public Service. The partnership will include a Center for the Study of Homelessness at UH-Downtown to address the impact of incarcerated or drug-addicted parents on a child’s development and education.

UH-Downtown was one of four projects nominated for Central Houston Inc. Allen Award for Civic Enhancement. The women’s volleyball team captured the North Harris Montgomery Community College District Sports Conference championship, making it three league titles in the last three semesters.

The women’s volleyball team captured the North Harris Montgomery Community College District Sports Conference championship, making it three league titles in the last three semesters.

Arely Gonzalez (’05), who worked at Baylor College of Medicine’s Human Genome Sequencing Center to analyze the genome of a pathogen, co-authored “Chromosome Rearrangement and Diversification of Francisella Tularensis Revealed by the Type B (OSU18) Genome Sequence” in the Journal of Bacteriology. She did most of the work while she was a student.

Faculty

“Building an International Resource Center Web Site – A Capstone Senior Project Course Experience” by Shohreh Hashemi, associate professor of finance, accounting and computer information systems; and Gail Kellersberger, director of the English Language Institute, received the Information Systems Educators Conference Distinguished Paper Award. The Information Systems Education journal will publish the paper.

“Eco Partnership” by Faiza Khoja, assistant professor of management, and Shabnam Lutafali, management lecturer, was selected as one of the 10 best papers submitted to the U.N. Academy of Management Global Forum.

Janice Nath, associate professor of urban education, was elected Consortium of State Organizations for Texas Teacher Education chairwoman.

Staff

UH-Downtown Testing Services, in conjunction with University College, delivered the first large-scale testing session with ACCUPLACER, The Next Generation, a new version of the popular admissions test. Gary Greer, University College associate dean, and Po Chu Leung, Testing Services director, hosted a training conference for other schools in southeast Texas.

Students

Adolfo Aranzales and Zahid Hossien were selected to participate in the Georgia Institute of Technology 2007 FOCUS scholars program.

Vanessa Benavides, Colin Carandang, Kyle Garmany and Tek Williams won awards from the Annual More Graduate Education at Mountain States Alliance Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities Student Research Conference.

Three students won scholarships from The University Center, a partnership of six universities including UH-Downtown and the private sector. Benjamin Masud received The University Center – Sterling Ridge Village Association Scholarship. Jennifer Bernhardt was awarded The University Center – Follett Scholarship. James Ridgway Jr. received the North Harris Montgomery Community College District – The University Center Degree Completion Scholarship.

 

UHCL 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are Robert C. Garcia (’76), executive director of Communities in Schools – Joint Venture, Southeast Harris and Brazoria counties; Lucille Pack Gedies (’93), United Space Alliance director of financial planning and analysis; and Darla Schneider McKitrick (’92), assistant professor and clinical coordinator in The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston’s School of Dental Hygiene. Chris D. Wagner (’02), ExxonMobil senior information systems analyst, received the university’s Early Achievement Award. Retired School of Science and Computer Engineering dean Charles McKay was honored with the first Outstanding Professor Award.

Susan Sorenson, assistant professor of accounting, received the American Women’s Society of Certified Public Accountants Educator of the Year Award for excellence in teaching in accounting by a college faculty member.

Alumni

Stephanie Hawley (’89) was named Morton College’s vice president of academic affairs.

Timothy B. Jones (’89) was named chair of the Texas A&M University-Commerce Department of Educational Leadership.

David Kester (’89), Harris County director of risk management, was named 2006 Public Risk Manager of the Year by the Public Risk Management Association.

Faculty

Glenn Freedman, associate professor of educational leadership, received the Clear Creek Independent School District George Carlisle Distinguished Service Award for significant contributions to the school district.

George Guillen, executive director of the Environmental Institute of Houston and associate professor of biology and environmental science, received a three-year, $75,000 award from the Harris County Flood Control District for his proposal “Evaluation of the influence of various stream substrates on aquatic biota within Harris County.”

Jeff Lash, assistant professor of geography, received a $44,129 award from the National Geographic Society Education Foundation for his proposal “Growing Geography Teachers in Texas Soil.”

Assistant professor of humanities Daniel Silvermintz’s article “Reading Philosophy with Friends: Introducing Reading Groups into the Philosophy Classroom,” was published in the Teaching Philosophy journal.

Brenda Weiser, lecturer in curriculum and instruction, received a second-year award of $110,000 from The University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Regional Collaborative for Excellence in Science Teaching.

Craig White’s book “The Student Companion to James Fennimore Cooper” was published by Greenwood Press. White is associate professor of literature.

Students

The Association of Business and Professional Women (ABPW) presented ABPW/Carrie Lee Warren scholarships to Michelle R. Espinoza-Flores and Jenna I. Zucha. The organization also gave the ABPW Rosemary Pledger Scholarship to Vy Tuong Trinh.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, added six ceramic sculptures made by graduate student Terri Foltz-Fox to its Helen Williams Drutt permanent collection.

In the 2007 edition of its Best 282 Business Schools, the Princeton Review rated the School of Business Administration second overall among the nation’s 500 accredited business schools in terms of providing opportunities for minority students.

Terry Puhl was hired as UHV’s first head baseball coach. A former Houston Astros player, Puhl is the Canadian Olympic baseball team head coach. He was named to the 1978 National League All-Star team and holds Major League Baseball’s all-time record for lifetime fielding percentage by an outfielder. Keri Kubala Lambeth was named head softball coach. She was first assistant softball coach at George Washington University. Lambeth, a UH graduate, competed as a catcher on the UH softball team.

Alumni

Dorothy Alcorn (’86) was honored with the university’s first Distinguished Alumni Award.

Amy Floyd (’05) was named the Special Olympics’ Greater Houston Area Volunteer of the Year.

Faculty

Jeffrey R. Di Leo, interim dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, was elected vice president of the Southern Comparative Literature Association.

Jane Fry, associate professor of education, and Teresa Le Sage, assistant professor of education, delivered presentations at the Texas State Reading Association 35th Annual Literacy Conference.

Richard Gunaskera, associate professor of arts and sciences, and Barba Patton, assistant professor of education and development, delivered presentations highlighting their use of Internet-based applications as education tools at the 2006 UH Faculty Showcase.

Steven Trowbridge, associate professor of education, had an article titled “Education Rituals: Questioning How We Educate Our Children” accepted for publication in the Phi Delta Kappan journal.

James Walton’s article “The Internationalization of American Business Education: Are U.S. Students Less Ethnocentric?” was published in the Business Review, Cambridge journal. He is assistant professor of marketing.

Andria Young, associate professor of education and human development, and Chari Norgard, Office of Student and Academic Services senior director, conducted a survey of online students. The results were first presented at the 2006 Texas Computer Education Association conference and published in The Internet and Higher Education journal.

Staff

Recent staff employees of the month include Dyana Hons, senior administrative secretary in the School of Education and Human Development (September); Deborah Westbrook, certification analyst in the School of Education and Human Development (October); and Mary Mahan, lead custodian in the Department of Facilities Services (November).

Summer Leibensperger, Academic Center coordinator, published the article “An Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets” in the Writing Lab newsletter.

Students

Lacey Bonner, psychology and biology student, received the university’s first Leadership Award. The award was created to recognize a student with a cumulative 3.0 GPA who has demonstrated exemplary leadership and initiative on behalf of the university.