The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston was honored with the Buildings Magazine Citation of Excellence Award, while the UH Welcome Center was the recipient of the publication’s Projects Innovations Award. Both buildings are featured in the October issue of the magazine.

Tyler Priest, professor of management and director of Global Studies in the C.T. Bauer College of Business, will receive the American Association of Petroleum Geologists 2007 Geosciences in the Media Award for his book “The Offshore Imperative: Shell Oil’s Search for Petroleum in Postwar America.” The award is given annually to recognize a journalistic work that contributes to the public understanding of geology, energy resources or the technology of oil and gas exploration.

Alumni

Ed Horton (’74), owner of Tanglewood Pharmacy, was installed as Texas Pharmacy Association president.

Lourdes M. Cuellar (’73, ’79) was re-elected as president of the Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists Research & Education Foundation.

Carrie M. Sacky (’80) received the Texas Pharmacy Association Pharmacy Enhancement Award for rendering exceptional service to support the pharmacy profession through industry public media.

Julie Spier (’86), Randalls regional pharmacy manager, received the College of Pharmacy Dean’s Special Recognition Award for her numerous volunteer activities for the college.

Faculty

Christine Agnew, assistant professor of law, was elected to the Council of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation.

Kim K. Birtcher, clinical associate professor of pharmacy, was awarded diplomate status with the Accreditation Council for Clinical Lipidology. Birtcher is one of the first pharmacists in the nation to earn the clinical lipid specialist credential.

Joel Bloom, associate professor of health and human performance, was selected chair of the Mayor of Houston’s Wellness Council Senior Wellness Committee.

Albert M. K. Cheng, associate professor of computer science, received a $765,000 National Science Foundation Award to fund a collaborative project with researchers at Rice and Yale universities to build physically safe embedded systems.

David R. Dow, University Distinguished Professor, was elected to the Houston Philosophical Society. He also received the Harris County Democratic Lawyers Association Third Annual Clarence Darrow Award.

The U.S. Office of Naval Research awarded a $400,000 grant to Kirill Larin, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering, to develop a noninvasive tool that can diagnose decompression sickness for scuba divers, submarines and airplane pilots. Larin also was selected to participate in the Office of Naval Research’s Young Investigator program.

Stuart Long, associate dean of educational activities in the Cullen College of Engineering, received the Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.’s Antennas & Propagation Society Outstanding Service Award. Long also is professor of electrical and computer engineering and associate dean of undergraduate research and of The Honors College.

Norma Olvera, associate professor of health and human performance, received the Houston chapter of Phi Delta Kappa’s Advocate for Education 2007 Bridge to the Future Award. The organization promotes high-quality education, in particular, publicly supported education.

Howard Pollack’s book “George Gershwin: His Life and Work,” won an Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Best Research in Recorded Popular Music. Pollack is the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Music.

Pradeep Sharma, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Ramanan Krishnamoorti, associate dean for research and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the Cullen College of Engineering, are part of a research team that received a $1.22 million National Science Foundation grant. The grant funds the development of a novel class of meta-materials that generate electricity when placed under physical stress.

Gerhard Paskusz, electrical and chemical engineering professor emeritus, received the DuPont Minorities in Engineering Award from the American Society for Engineering Education. The award honors an engineering educator who shows leadership in the conception, organization and operation of pre-college and college activities designed to increase participation of underrepresented students in engineering and engineering technology.

Jerry J. Waite, associate professor of information and logistics technology, received the International Graphic Arts Education Association Fred J. Hartman Award. The award recognizes outstanding service to the organization and contributions and accomplishments in graphic arts teaching, research and/or service.

Staff

Jerald Strickland, assistant vice chancellor for international studies and programs, was elected Distinguished Scholar in the National Academies of Practice in Optometry for his significant and enduring contributions to health care practice. Strickland also is director of UH reaffirmation of accreditation for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. He also served as interim senior vice chancellor/senior vice president for academic affairs and provost and dean and professor in the College of Optometry. The National Academies of Practice is composed of 10 academies representing health care practices. Only 150 active distinguished practitioners may be members of each academy.

Students

Pharmacy students earned awards and other honors. Kandi Icenhower and Simi Bassett won first and second place, respectively, in the Patient Counseling Competition at the Texas Pharmacy Association’s (TPA) annual meeting. Ngocanh (Jennifer) Phan placed second in the TPA Innovative Pharmacy Project competition for “Proper Assessment of Smoking Status for Hospitalized Patients.”

The C. T. Bauer College of Business’ National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) Chapter took first place at the NABA National Case Study Competition—the first time a team from a non-historically African American college won. George Gamble, professor of accounting, coached the team. Student team members were Jerrica Lewis, Ayodeji Ebunlomo, Chrystal Osborne, Brittany Washington and Brittany Webb.

The 2006 Department of Student Publications staff received the Lone Star and the 2006 Best Student Newspaper awards from the Houston Press Club.

 

UHD is the new home of the European-American University Forum, an academic conference that brings together administrators and faculty from the Americas and Europe annually to share professional papers on higher education issues on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Houston Pre-Freshman Enrichment Program has received $7,500 from the Nielsen Co. for the pre-college program serving high-achieving Houston area middle and high school students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The gift supports one teacher and engineering supply kits that will help encourage the youth to investigate, discover and prepare for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The program reports to Richard Aló, executive director for the Center of Computational Sciences and the Advanced Distributed Simulation.

Alumni

Harmony Kartchner (’05) was named assistant principal at Decker Prairie Elementary School in Tomball.

Imi Mosaheb (’94) has been appointed Advanced Micro Devices country manager for the Sub-Saharan region of South Africa.

Faculty

Ariana N. Mrak and Edwin K. Padilla, assistant professors of Spanish, have written a book of university-level Spanish for heritage learners.

Penny Morris Smith, associate professor of natural sciences, received an $800,000 National Science Foundation grant to support a new program to increase geosciences student participation and careers at minority institutions. The grant will fund student field work with NASA weather balloons gathering data for ozone research along the East and Gulf coasts.

Edwin Tecarro, assistant professor of mathematics, received a five-year, $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for interdisciplinary biological, computer and mathematical sciences research. The grant sponsors up to 10 students a year in research projects using both disciplines.

Staff

The U.S. Department of Education awarded a $380,000 grant to UHD Educational Talent Search Program. The grant allows the university to continue working with Aldine Independent School District, providing campus visits, academic advising, college tours and online and on-site tutoring. Jennifer Hightower is program director.

Students

Kristopher Overholt, Safety and Fire Engineering Technology major, received second place for his research presentation at the More Graduate Education at Mountain States Research Conference. Overholt’s research studied relationships and concepts from physics, fire dynamics and thermodynamics for fire model verification and validation work on a fire modeling program called Fire Dynamics Simulator, which is maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Mike Powell was awarded The ServiceMaster Clean-Shane Battier Franchise Scholarship. The $29,000 award will allow Powell to own a ServiceMaster Clean franchise and receive free training, mentoring and a $5,000 advertising budget.

Stephanie Vaughan won a $28,500 scholarship from the U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps to complete her undergraduate education in chemistry with a minor in criminal justice. The award, which includes books, tuition and a monthly stipend, totals $41,500.

 

The U.S. Department of Education National Professional Development Program awarded $2.5 million for bilingual programs at UH-Clear Lake. Associate professors of bilingual and multicultural education Judith Marquez (right) and Laurie Weaver (center) received a five-year, $1,255,824 award for the Collaborative Teaching of English Language Learners program. Cheryl Sawyer, associate professor of counseling, (left) received a five-year, $1,325,762 award for the Collaborative Bilingual Counselors Training Project III program.

Alumni

JoAnne Burgdorff (’78) was named North Carolina’s Outstanding County Attorney of the Year by the North Carolina Association of County Attorneys.

Texas Directors of Field Experience recognized Brittnie Coveney (’06), Falcon Pass Elementary teacher, as the Texas Elementary School Student Teacher of the Year.

J. Chris Edelen (’94) was named flight director for human space flights from Mission Control at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The UHCL Alumni Association 2007 Distinguished Alumni awards were presented to Marilyn Kurtz Lunney (’93), special judge for the Harris County Justice of the Peace Courts; Keith Parrott (’95), Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital chief executive officer; and Rosalind Marie Calvert Perez (’93), Bay Area Charter School Inc. superintendent of schools. The association also honored Sameer Pande (’02), assistant director for intercultural and international student services, with its Early Achievement Award; Cheryl Evans (’82), UHCL School of Human Sciences and Humanities adjunct faculty member, with its Leadership Service Award; and Naveed Saleem, School of Business Professor and Management Information Systems chair, with its Outstanding Professor Award.

Russell Meyers (’86, ’98), Midland Memorial Hospital president and chief executive officer, was appointed to fill a one-year term on the Texas Hospital Association board of trustees.

Jeffrey Murrah (’81, ’84) published his second book, “Texans Always Move Them: A True History of Texas.” He also was the keynote speaker at the 100th anniversary of the Terry’s Texas Ranger monument.

Steve Phelps (’80, ’03) has been re-appointed to the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority for a two-year term. He is Port of Houston Authority Pension Committee chairman.

Alfred Ray (’86, ’89) has been appointed Duncanville Independent School District superintendent.

Faculty

Raj Chhikara, professor of mathematics and statistics, received $30,000 of a $110,000 award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Services for his proposal “Develop and Evaluate Model Procedures to Estimate the Stratum Variance Used in Allocating Area Frame Samples for the 2007 Census of Agriculture.”

Sadegh Davari, interim School of Science and Computer Engineering dean and professor of computer science and computer information systems; James Dabney, associate professor of systems engineering; and James Helm, associate professor of software engineering, received a $109,272 subaward for “Meeting Industries’ Critical Workforce Needs/ Aerospace.” The Texas Workforce Commission granted the subaward. Dabney and Thomas Harman, professor of computer engineering, also received a $27,000 award from the Institute for Space Systems Operations for the UH/UHCL research proposal “Intelligent Aerospace Structures with Solid State Sensors and Actuators.”

Vance Etnyre, associate professor of management information systems, and Terry Feagin professor of computer science and computer information system, received the 2007-2009 UHCL Distinguished Professorships.

Dorothea Lerman, professor of psychology, received $38,937 from Pasadena Independent School District, $36,554 from Pearland Independent School District and $19,999 from Clear Creek Independent School District to establish School of Human Sciences and Humanities’ graduate psychology student assistantships.

Kathryn Matthew, associate professor of reading and language arts, received a National Writing Project $45,000 continuation award for the Greater Houston Area Writing Project.

Sally Wall, Environmental Institute of Houston curriculum specialist, received the El Paso Corp. Distinguished Mentoring Award from the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching. The award recognizes members who have provided mentoring, technical assistance, peer coaching and professional development to their colleagues, as well as mentoring a substantial number of science teachers.

Brenda Weiser, curriculum and instruction lecturer, has been appointed as a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Environmental Education Advisory Council for a three-year term.

Alumni

K. Arvid Johanson, Jr. (’78) was awarded the Instrumentation Systems and Automation Society Life Achievement Award Life Achievement Award, which recognizes individuals with a history of dedication to the instrumentation, systems and automation community.

New Amber Library published “Necessary Arrangements” by Tanya Micha (’98).

Faculty

Longman Publishing in Great Britain published Hal Smith’s revised and enlarged edition of “The British Women’s Suffrage Campaign, 1866-1928.”

Staff

Joe Dahlstrom, senior director of libraries, was appointed the Texas Council of Academic Libraries chairman.

Darin Kazmir, marketing and creative services coordinator, was named Victoria Advertising Federation Member of the Year.

Margaret Rice, executive assistant to the president, participated in the 69th National Leadership Forum held at the National Center for Higher Education.

Sandra Wood, School of Arts and Sciences senior secretary; Kathy Rumbo, School of Education and Human Development on-line support technician; and Alma Alvarado, School of Arts and Sciences degree plan counselor, were selected as employees of the month for June, July and August, respectively.

Students

Biology major Jeff Cokenour traveled to Tibet, China, to discover causes or treatments of Kashin-Beck disease as part of his bachelor’s thesis. Richard Gunasekera, associate professor of biology and lab director, accompanied Cokenour.