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 The
University of Houston recently received a $5.5 million Texas Emerging
Technology Fund grant. The grant enabled UH to recruit
Jan-Åke Gustafsson, a renowned figure in the study of hormones
and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Nobel
Assembly. The grant also supports the creation of the Center for
Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling by UH and The Methodist
Hospital Research Institute. Gustafsson will lead the center,
which will focus on the development of next-generation pharmaceuticals
and medical technologies.
Alumni
Katya Casey ('95) received the National Association
for Women in Computing Houston Chapter 2008 Leadership in Technology
Award.
Jill Finke ('07) received the 2008 Leadership
Award for the Western Group Ambulatory Surgery Division of HCA
Health Care.
Houston’s Lawndale Art Center selected El
Franco Lee II ('07) as one of three participating
artists in the Lawndale Artist Studio Program. More than 70
artists were in the running.
Christie McWilliams, Cy-Fair High School teacher,
and David Stroup, principal investigator graduate
assistant for the Supporting Urban Science and Math Educators
grant at UH, have been selected to the 2008-2009 Phi Delta Kappa
(PDK) International Emerging Leaders.
Shelia Redmon-Jones ('96) was one of 37 recipients
honored as a Federation of Houston Professional Women 2008 Woman
of Excellence.
Alumna Yulia Pakhalina ('05) and senior Anastasia
Pozdniakova won silver medals in the
synchronized diving competition for Russia at the Olympics
in Beijing. Pakhalina also captured silver in the women's
three-meter springboard diving.
Paige Vincent ('93) was honored with the Texas
Pharmacy Association 2008 Local Association Leadership Award
Faculty
Andrew Achenbaum, professor of social work
and history, has become a member of the World Economic Forum's
Global Agenda Council, which engages international leaders in
partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
Associate professor and architect Geoffrey
Brune and William
Truitt, assistant professor and architect, received
the Texas Society of Architects Design Award. Brune was honored
for his vision of the Burdette Keeland Design Exploration Center.
Truitt was recognized for his planning study on Houston's near
Northside neighborhood.
Ji Chen, associate professor of electrical
and computer engineering, has been named a distinguished lecturer
by the Electromagnetic Compatibility Society, a division of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is among
two nationwide chosen to hold the post until Dec. 31, 2010.
David Francis, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen
Distinguished Professor, was named an American Educational Research
Association Fellow.
Yuriy Fofanov, associate professor of computer
science, biology and biochemistry, and Lennart
Johnsson, Cullen
Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Mathematics, and
Electrical and Computer Engineering, are winners of the second
annual Itanium Solutions Alliance Innovation Contest for the
humanitarian applications of their team's research.
Fazle Hussain, Roy & Lillie Cranz Cullen
Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, was named
a Gordon Moore Distinguished Scholar by the California Institute
of Technology. Hussain is the sole recipient of the award for
2008-2009 in the division of engineering and applied sciences.
Additionally, Hussain was among five elected to the Academy of
Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas board of directors.
Elizabeth Gregory, English professor and director
of the Women's Studies program, was named one of the 50 most
influential women
in Houston by Houston Woman Magazine.
William Fitzgibbon, College of Technology dean,
has been named a visiting scholar at the University of Delhi
Lady Shri Ram College, one of India's highest-ranked colleges
in undergraduate education in the humanities, social sciences
and mathematics. The visiting scholar program is sponsored by
the Mathematical Sciences Foundation.
The National Science Foundation has awarded $780,000 to a team
of researchers to support the project "Building Geometric
Databases for Anatomy-Based Spatial Queries." Ioannis
Kakadiaris, Eckhard Pfeiffer Professor in the computer
science department, is co-principal investigator.
Dmitri Litvinov, professor of electrical and computer engineering,
has received grants totaling more than $500,000 to purchase Houston's
first production-quality nanofabrication tool.
Robert H. McPherson, College of Education executive
associate dean, will receive the 2008 Association for the Advancement
of Psychology Advocacy Award. McPherson also was presented with
the Houston Psychological Association Lifetime Contribution Award.
Montgomery "Monte" Pettitt, the Hugh
Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Professor of Chemistry and Professor
of Physics, Computer Science, Biology and Biochemistry, has been
awarded the distinction of Fellow from the American Association
for the Advancement of Science.
Tyler Priest, professor and director of Global
Studies at Bauer College of Business, received the Alice Hamilton
Prize for Best Article Outside Environmental History for 2007.
The award is one of four granted each year by the American Society
for Environmental History (ASEH) and recognizes Priest's
article "Extraction
Not Creation: The History of Offshore Petroleum in the Gulf of
Mexico" as the best article on environmental history published
in a scholarly journal other than ASEH's Environmental
History.
Jon Schwartz, associate professor of educational
psychology, has been selected to receive the 2008 Researcher
of the Year Award from the Advancement of Psychology Society
for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity, Division
51. Schwartz also was elected to the Counseling Psychology Training
Programs' Board
of Counseling.
Staff
Alumna Diane Trippel ('93), manager of
Web technology, received the International Association of Business
Communicators, Houston Electronic and Digital Communication Bronze
Quill Award of Excellence for the new UH.edu Web site.
Students
Cindy Arispe, student in the Graduate College of Social Work,
has been appointed to serve on the Committee on Leadership in
Aging, part of the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education.
Tom Chang, business student, was selected to be the Texas Society
of Certified Public Accountants’ Outstanding Student for
2008. The organization also presented him with the 2008 Accounting
Excellence Award. Additionally, he was one of three recipients
of the 2008 Ascend/Houston Society of CPAs.
Hayan Charara, creative writing student, has received a $25,000
National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship.
The men's cross country team received the Conference USA
Sport Academic Award. The team finished the 2007-2008 school
year with a cumulative 3.5 grade point average for the highest
team grade point average among the league’s men’s
cross country teams.
Stephen Magness was named a C-USA Academic
Medal winner. He, Ahmed Harb, Anthony Keller and Adrian Slusher
also are members of the C-USA Commissioner's honor roll.
The Hispanic Business Student Association was named the 2008
National Hispanic Business Association Leadership Chapter of
the
Year.
Babu John Mariadoss, business student, received
the 2008 Doctoral Dissertation Award from the American Marketing
Association Selling and Sales Management Special Interest Group
for best dissertation in the field of selling and sales management.
Business student Dan Neely won the Government
and Nonprofit Section 2008 Outstanding Dissertation Award of
the American Accounting Association for his dissertation, "The
Effectiveness of Governance Regulation in the Tax-Exempt Sector:
Evidence from the Nonprofit Integrity Act of 2004."
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Wells Fargo Bank is donating $100,000 to the College
of Business for scholarships.
UHD Learners Community project, "Connections:
A Mentoring Program" received a $66,950 grant from the Texas
Grant's
Public Benefit Grant Program. The grant supports a pilot mentoring
program for participants in the Freshman Summer Success Program,
a weeklong summer orientation for entering freshmen.
 The
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in the department of natural sciences
recently received the American Chemical Society (ACS) approval
for meeting the standards for excellence of undergraduate chemistry
programs from the ACS Committee for Professional Training. Tyra
Montgomery, associate professor of chemistry, is the degree coordinator.
Alumni
Anna Calvo ('02) was awarded Houston United
Way’s
2008 Dorothy F. Caram Commitment to Leadership Award for her
work in serving people with disabilities.
Autumn Jodzia ('08) was named the recipient
of the UH Center for Public Policy’s spring 2008 Government
Internship Award.
Steve Jones (’99) was named vice president with Merrill
Lynch Commodity Partne'02) was selected for membership into
the Houston A+ Challenge Regional Principal Leadership Academy.
Mario Salinas ('08) was selected for the 2008
Class of City Hall Fellows, a national program to develop leadership
skills among young people.
Faculty
Kirk Hagen, associate professor of humanities,
has written a new research book, "Second Language Acquisition:
An Evolutionary Linguistics Approach," which was published
recently.
Bhikkhu Basnagoda Rahula’s book "The
Buddha's
Teachings on Prosperity: At Work, At Home, In the World" was
published. He is a
lecturer in English.
Thomas Workman, assistant professor of communication
studies, published "The Real Impact of Virtual Worlds; How Digital
Culture Shapes Students Minds," in The Chronicle Review.
Staff
Lucy Bowen, Web developer and publication specialist
in the office of academic affairs, won the 2008 Distinguished
Staff Merit Award for productive activity benefitting the university.
Students
Ben Khoo, Claudia Jimenez, Josie
Nava and Natalie Sirisaengtaksin presented research at the Geological Society of America 2008
Joint Annual Meeting. Poonam Gulati, associate professor of biology
and microbiology, and Penny Morris-Smith, associate professor
of biology and geology, served as faculty research mentors.
Diana Lopez won a bronze medal in taekwondo at the 2008 Beijing
Olympics. Lopez won the medal in the 126-pound weight class.
The UHD Power Lifting Club won the World Association of Benchers
and Dead Lifters National Collegiate Championship. Olga
Hernandez,
Chanel Lewis, Tommy Nguyen, Corina
Sosa and Robert Nguyen placed
first place in their weight class for either bench press or dead
lift, or both. Gabriel Perkins is the team captain. John Hudson,
assistant professor of English, is the coach.
Juan
Diaz won the International Boxing Organization Lightweight Championship
recently.
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 The
Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded a $906,104 Laura
Bush 21st Century Library Program grant to Jane
Claes, assistant
professor of school library and information science, for her proposal “School
Librarians and Administrators Working Together: A Key to Student
Success, Collaborative School Librarian Training.”
Alumni
Matthew Legg ('99) was named Chevron Corporation’s
manager of employee relations, compliance and policy in Houston.
Steve Phelps ('80, '91) was re-appointed to the
Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority. He serves as
chairman of the Port of Houston Authority Pension Committee.
Faculty
Assistant professor of industrial hygiene and safety Magdy
Akladios served as a contributing author
and section editor of the recently published "The Safety Professionals
Handbook."
Anne Coppenhaver, director of the Center for
Educational Programs and lecturer in educational leadership,
received a $16,569 award from the Texas Workforce Commission
for her proposal, "Summer
Merit Program at UHCL."
Sharon K. Hall's book, "Raising Kids in the
21st Century: The Science of Psychological Health for Children,"
was published. Hall is associate professor of psychology.
Professor of accounting Cynthia D. Heagy and Constance
M. Lehmann,
associate professor of accounting, collaborated on the sixth
edition of "Accounting Information Systems: A Practitioner
Emphasis."
Sandria Hu, professor of fine arts, recently had two one-woman
shows running concurrently—one at The Grace Museum and
the other at the Gallery Millennium in Prague, Czech Republic.
Assistant professor of economics Valery
Lazarev received a $12,888
extramural award from the UH subcontract/National Science Foundation
project "The Political Economy of Repression:
Stalin and His Organs of State Security."
Kathryn I. Matthew, associate professor of
reading and language arts, co-authored "Puppet Magic."
Charles McKay, professor emeritus and retired
dean of the School of Science and Computer Engineering, presented
"Why a System-of-Systems Engineering Approach is Essential for
the Future of Space Exploration" to
the Southwest Aerospace Professional Representative Association
at Space Center Houston.
Camille Peres, assistant professor of psychology,
received a one-year, $66,700 Schlumberger Collaborative award
for her project "Software Ergonomics Assessment Tools."
Shreerekha Subramanian, assistant professor
of humanities, received the Marilyn Mieszkuc Professorship in
Women's Studies, the first privately funded professorship established
at the university.
Jonathan W. Zophy, professor of European history,
is having the fourth edition of his book, "A Short History of
Renaissance and Reformation Europe: Dances Over Fire and Water,"
published.
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The Greater Texas Foundation awarded two grants to UHV. A three-year,
$492,672 grant will fund the Access to Success program, which provides
scholarships, tuition and books to area school district employees
who want to become certified teachers. A $25,000 grant will fund
the Generation Proud Scholarship Program, which gives scholarships
to first-generation college students.
The Alcoa Foundation presented UHV with a $15,000 grant to fund
three outreach efforts: the Letting Education Achieve Dreams Fiesta
Day, College 101 Open Houses and Math and Computer Science Awareness
Day.
The first Association of Independent Institutions 2009 Baseball
Championship Tournament will be hosted by UHV. The tournament will
allow nonconference-member baseball teams a clear path to the national
championship in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
The School of Education & Human Development received a rating
of accredited from the Texas Education Agency under its Accountability
System for Educator Preparation.
 Business
professor Stephanie Solansky co-authored the paper
"Radical Change Accidentally: The Emergence and Amplification of
Small Change," which received the 2007 Best Paper Award from the Academy
of Management Journal.
Alumni
Hernan Jaso ('00) was named 2008-2009 chairman
of the President’s Regional Advisory Board, which serves
as UHV's
principal external advisory body. Jean Herman ('85), chief
quality officer for the DeTar Healthcare System, also was named
as a new board member.
Faculty
Biology professor and researcher Siva Somasundaram received
a $10,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to continue his
cancer research.
Kathryn Tart, School of Nursing dean, received
the Scientific Poster Award for a presentation she made during
the Parry Lectureship and Research Day at the Texas Woman's University
Institute of Health Sciences-Houston Center.
Thomas Williams, author and chair of the humanities division
in the School of Arts & Sciences, will conduct workshops
during The Writer's Edge conference at the Universidad Internacional
in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Staff
President Tim Hudson received the annual African American Chamber
of Commerce/Victoria Education Award. Hudson also helped craft
a new report issued by the Council of Public University Presidents
and Chancellors.
Rosemary Baker, registration/scheduling assistant in Admissions
and Records; Ana Laura Pineda, admissions analyst in Admissions
and Records; and Harry Bashaw, an Internet technician in Information
Technology; were selected as employees of the month for June, July
and August, respectively.
Students
The Jaguars softball team was named a 2007-2008 National Association
of Intercollegiate Athletics Scholar Team for maintaining a team
grade-point average above 3.0.
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