UH received a grant of up to $2.4 million to improve teacher education in math and science through the teachHOUSTON program. The grant is one of only 12 to be awarded by the National Math and Science Initiative following a competition that included submissions from more than 50 universities nationwide.

The C. T. Bauer College of Business recently received three national rankings. BusinessWeek listed the college’s evening M.B.A. program No. 27 on its 2007 list of the 30 Best Part- Time M.B.A. Programs. The program is the only Houston program in the ranking and is No. 4 in the Southwest. The Princeton Review ranked the college’s entrepreneurship program No. 2 among the nation’s undergraduate business schools in Entrepreneur magazine. Academic Analytics ranked the college’s Department of Marketing ninth for faculty members’ contributions to books and journals, as well as citations and financial and honorary awards.

UH received The Park People of Houston Preservation Award in recognition of the relocation of several oaks trees near the Bauer College of Business, where Calhoun Lofts is being built, to the median on Calhoun Road between University Drive and the UH Law Center. Plant Operations grounds crew and employees Darrell K. Bunch, senior project manager in the Office of Facilities Planning and Construction; Sam Arrez, supervisor of grounds 2; and Alex Alexander, director of custodial and grounds services, were involved in the project. UH received the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers 2007 Outstanding Drive-in Workshop Award for its Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning program. The workshop was coordinated by Cora Day, auxiliary services manager, and Maria Honey, auxiliary customer services coordinator, both in the Division of Administration and Finance’s Department of Business Services. The College of Pharmacy 2005 annual report and its Ph.D. student recruitment brochure, both produced in 2006, have won four awards from local or regional public relations/ marketing communications organizations. The annual report and brochure received a total of three 2007 Bronze Quill Awards from the International Association of Business Communicators-Houston chapter. The annual report also won a Council for Advancement and Support of Education-District IV Grand Award.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse grant awarded a five year, $2.3 million grant to the Graduate College of Social Work Office of Drug and Social Policy Research. The funds will support the creation of the Minority Institutions’ Drug Abuse Research Development Program.

Adriana Kugler, associate professor of economics, has been named the 2007 recipient of the John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Award. The Labor and Employment Relations Association presents the award annually to recognize outstanding academic contributions to research by entrants to the labor field in the past 10 years.

Alumni

James Bray (’80) was elected the American Psychological Association president for 2009.

Harris County Department of Education trustee Ray Garcia (’64,’88) was selected to participate in the Leadership Texas Association of School Boards Leadership program.

Charles E. Schultz received the 2007 Texas Directors of Field Experiences State Student Teacher of the Year Award.

Josh Willis (’96) was a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s fourth assessment report of the science of global warming. The panel shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore for its efforts to disseminate information about “man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.” Willis’ work focuses on the rise of sea level and ocean warming.

Faculty

Andrew Achenbaum, professor of history and social work, is the 2007 recipient of the prestigious Donald P. Kent Award. The honor is given by the Gerontological Society of America each year to a person who exemplifies the highest standards for professional leadership in gerontology through teaching, service and interpretation of gerontology to the larger society.

Sharon Bode, Dietetic Internship Program director and associate clinical professor of health and human performance, received the 2007-2008 Houston Area Dietetic Association (HADA) Outstanding Dietetics Educator Award. She is HADA’s nominee for the Texas Dietetic Association Award.

The Houston Alumni Association bestowed its 2007 Outstanding Faculty Award to Kathleen A. Brosnan, associate director of the UH Center for Public History and associate professor of history, and its 2007 Outstanding Staff Award to Jane Figueiredo, head diving coach.

Audrius Brazdeikis, research assistant professor of physics, received the Best Technology Award in the first Innova Awards competition sponsored by Magnetics Business & Technology magazine.

Kirill Larin, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, received a $250,000 grant from the Wallace Coulter Foundation to develop an imaging device that could increase the success of in-vitro fertilization.

Gino Lim, professor of advanced linear optimization, received the Moving Spirit Award from the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science.

Joy Lloyd, director of the Center for Logistics and Transportation Policy in the College of Technology, was named one of Gulf Shipper’s Outstanding Women in Transportation for 2007. Lloyd is one of eight women singled out for distinction in her field.

Physics professor John Miller, director of the High- Temperature Superconducting Device Applications and Nano-Biophysics Laboratory in the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston, received a three-year, $623,425 exploratory research grant from the National Institutes of Health in a joint program with the National Science Foundation focusing on biosensors for energy balance and obesity.

Kamel Salama, professor of mechanical engineering, was inducted into the Materials Information Society 2007 Class of Fellows in recognition for his distinguished contributions to materials science and engineering.

Eric H. Walther, professor of history, received the Southern Historical Association’s first James A. Rawley Award for his book “William Lowndes Yancey and the Coming of the Civil War.” This award is for distinguished books published over a two-year period, dealing with secession and/or the sectional crisis.

Lois Zamora, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of English, received honorable mention from The Modern Language Association of America for her book “The Inordinate Eye: New World Baroque and Latin American Fiction.”

Staff

Karen L. Bradshaw, University Career Services senior career counselor, has been elected Houston Area Consortium of Career Centers president.

Students

Houston Cougars wide receiver Donnie Avery and running back Anthony Alridge were named All-Americans by College Football Preview magazine.

Simi Bassett, pharmacy student, has been elected regional delegate of the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists.

Austin Head, biomedical engineering student, participated in Rice University’s NanoJapan program, a research-intensive program funded by the National Science Foundation.

Law students Nathan Hennigan, Andrew McBurney and Sabrina Neff captured the regional championship cup and “Best Brief ” honors in the National Moot Court Competition. Hennigan was cited for authoring the competition’s best brief.

Rashim Singh, pharmacy student, received a $30,000 Pharmacoinformatics Fellowship from the Gulf Coast Consortia in support of her research on fl avonoids, a class of compounds long suspected of possessing anti-aging and anticancer health benefits.

 

President Max Castillo joined 415 other university and college presidents across the nation in signing the “American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.” The commitment is a pledge to move toward elimination of harmful greenhouse gas emissions and toward greater campus sustainability.

The College of Business plans to open a new Center for Insurance and Risk Management in conjunction with the offering of a new baccalaureate degree in the subject in the fall. UHD signed an exchange agreement with the Université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3 in Bordeaux, France.

Ralph Weatherspoon (left) and J.P. Cortez (right) political science students, were selected for this spring’s Mickey Leland Congressional Internship Program in Washington, D.C. Weatherspoon is interning with Chet Edwards. Cortez is working with Gene Green’s office.

Alumni

Charles Kennedy’s (’07) paper on his experience as a standardized patient will be published in the spring 2008 issue of the ASPE Quarterly (Association of Standardized Patient Educators).

Demetrios Perezous (’07) won first place in the Student Power Presentation at the annual conference of the Association for Computer Educators in Texas. He created a computer trouble-ticket software system that helps a local nonprofit manage computer-related trouble requests and maintain all of its information in a centralized database.

Kathrine M. Silver (’96) is a new partner in the litigation section of the Houston law office of Jackson Walker L.L.P.

Faculty

José Alvarez, associate professor of history, has written a new book: “A Military History of Modern Spain.”

Mark Cervenka, O’Kane Gallery director and assistant professor of art, and Beth Secor and Mick Johnson, both adjunct lecturers, presented the exhibition “Suddenly One Summer” at space125 gallery at the Houston Arts Alliance.

Aaron Gillette, assistant professor of history, had his book “Eugenics and the Nature-Nurture Debate in the Twentieth Century” published.

Viola Garcia, associate professor in urban education, received the Leadership Texas Association of School Boards (LTASB) Celebration of Leadership Award for her contributions as a LTASB alumna.

Elizabeth Walden, assistant professor of psychology, published the article “An Exploration of the Experience of Lesbians with Chronic Illness,” in the Journal of Homosexuality.

Staff

Lucy Bowen, Web developer and production specialist in the Division of Academic Affairs, is the third person from UHD to be selected for Leadership Montgomery County.

Janet Heitmiller, director of community relations and conference services, was elected as the president of the Society of Government Meeting Professionals Houston-Gulf Coast chapter.

Students

Ashton B. Bowie, criminal justice major, is a recipient of the Loss Prevention Foundation Scholarship.

Moriam Ojelade, chemistry student, co-wrote the paper “Thiol-Ene Free-Radical and Vinyl Ether Cationic Hybrid Photopolymerization” as part of his summer research at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Department of Polymer Science. The findings were published in the American Chemical Society’s Macromolecules.

Oluwole Sokoya, marketing student, and Qisheng Zhang, international business major, were among the top five finalists for the 14th Annual Capstone and Foundation Challenge hosted by Management Simulations Inc. Stephen Maranville, associate professor of management, is the faculty sponsor.

 

The Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership presented its Quasar Award for Economic Development Excellence to UHCL President William A. Staples. The award recognizes an outstanding elected official or business leader who demonstrates a strong continual effort to support the business foundations and economic development of the greater Bay Area/Houston communities.

Alumni

Carolyn Praytor Boyd (’83) was a juried poet at the 2007 Houston Poetry Fest and will be its featured poet for 2008.

Rita Karl (’01) has been named director of educational programs for the Challenger Center for Space Science in Alexandria, Va.

Faculty

Nick de Vries, professor of fine arts, and colleagues at the University of Michigan and the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, presented an exhibit of their ceramic art at Slovakia’s U.S. embassy.

George Guillen, executive director of the Environmental Institute of Houston and associate professor of biology and environmental science, received a $75,600, two-year award from the Houston-Galveston Area Council Clean Rivers Program for his proposal “Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment.” He also received a $22,687 award from the Harris County Soil and Water Conservation District for phase two of the Greens Bayou Wetland Mitigation Bank Project.

Jack Lu, chair and professor of chemistry, received a $135,000, three-year award from The Welch Foundation for the Chemistry Departmental Research Grant.

Charles McKay, professor emeritus and retired dean of the School of Science and Computer Engineering, made two presentations: “System of Systems: A Basic Tutorial” and “A Process Model Approach to the Development of a System of Systems” at the Houston System of Systems Seminar at the NASA Johnson Space Center.

Brenda Weiser, lecturer in curriculum and instruction, received a $127,000 sub-award from The University of Texas at Austin Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science Teaching.

Students

The Association of Business and Professional Women presented Rosemary Pledger Scholarships to Peggy Capps and Erin Smith and Carrie Lee Warren Scholarships to Laura Davis and Jackie Morgan.

 

UHV signed a series of agreements with five Chinese universities for student exchanges and other opportunities. Through the agreements, students will attend classes in the U.S. for one year after completing their bachelor’s degrees and Global M.B.A. foundation courses with the Chinese partner universities.

Richard “Dick” Phillips, vice president for university advancement, has been named associate vice chancellor for the UH System at Sugar Land. In this capacity, he will carry his combined 26 years of experience in all aspects of university management to oversee the operations of the UH System at Sugar Land and UH System at Cinco Ranch multi-institution teaching centers. He will continue to serve as vice president for university advancement at UHV.

Alumni

Beth Dow (’96), became principal of Velasquez Elementary School in the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District.

Mark Seaman (’02) received the American Association of Teaching and Curriculum Dissertation of the Year Award.

Faculty

Jeffery Di Leo, School of Arts and Sciences dean, was appointed to the American Book Review national advisory committee.

The Texas State Reading Association board of directors approved housing its publication, “Texas Reading Report,” at UHV. Steve Trowbridge, associate professor of education and human development, is the journal’s new editor.

Staff

Gloria Espitia, media librarian, received the African American Chamber of Commerce Victoria Education Award.

Suzanne LaBrecque, provost and vice president for academic affairs, has been appointed to two Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board committees: The Accountability Measures for Masters Comprehensive Institutions and the Texas Common Course Numbering System.

Kathy Walton, administrative assistant to the president; Mary Ann Rivera, Information Technology applications programmer/database analyst; Rhiannon Davila-Smith, School of Business Administration international student services coordinator; and Zoeann Byerly, coordinator of Student Activities and Services; were selected as employees of the month for September, October, November and December, respectively.

Students

Outstanding undergraduate students were Heidi Suzanne Hammermiller and Carolyn Stott, School of Education and Human Development; Tamarah Kay Coffey and Griselda Zacek, nursing program in UH-Victoria and UH System at Sugar Land, respectively; Amy Hatmaker, School of Arts and Sciences; and Alva Bryan, School of Business Administration. Outstanding graduate students were Jeff Kana, School of Education and Human Development; Gwendolyn Spaulding, School of Arts and Sciences; and Kazeem Adegbola, School of Business Administration.

Delores White, Student Senate president, received the Student Leadership Award.