INSTITUTIONAL
HoustonPBS received a My Source Community Impact Award from
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The award recognizes
the station’s commitment to education through its Ready
to Learn Family Literacy workshops.
Online Degree World ranked the University
of Houston No. 2 in
its list of top 100 education tweeters. The list is posted at
www.onlinedegreeworld.
com/blog/2009/top-100-edu-tweeters/.
ALUMNI
Janice Nath (’85), associate professor
of urban education at UH-Downtown, received the Robert B. Howsam
Award from the Texas Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
This award honors individuals who have demonstrated leadership
at the state and national levels and have made significant contributions
to education.
Terry Rugeley (’92) received the Regents
Distinguished Research Award from the University of Oklahoma,
where he is the Presidential Professor of History.
Sara Stolt (’06), a graduate assistant
at Michigan State University, received the prestigious Rasmussen
Fellowship and the Topliff Scholarship in clarinet and will study
and perform at the Centro di Studi Carlo della Giacoma in Todi,
Italy, this summer.
FACULTY/STAFF
Geoffrey Brune and Donna
Kacmar, associate professors of architecture,
have been elevated to the American Institute of Architects College
of Fellows, one of the highest honors the organization can bestow
upon a member.
Chris Burkhalter, associate athletics director for communications,
has been selected to serve as a member of the NCAA Division I
Softball Committee. Burkhalter will represent Conference USA
from September 2009 to September 2013.
Sandra Guerra Thompson, Law Foundation Professor of Law and
Criminal Justice Institute director, has been selected as one
of the Hispanic Business Magazine’s 25 Elite Women for
2009. Martha Haun, associate professor of communication, co-authored
the article “Saving Face in Meetings” published in
the Parliamentary Journal.
Bob Heath, emeritus professor of communication, co-authored
the book “Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public
Relations II,” which has been published recently.
Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, associate professor of economics, received
the European Central Bank 2008 Wim Duisenberg Research Fellow.
The honor recognizes leading economists in academia, central
banks and top research institutions who are international experts
in their field. Kalemli-Ozcan also was given the Marie Curie
Reintegration Award from the European Commission. The award is
designed to attract top-class researchers who work outside Europe
to undertake research in the continent.
Nicolás Kanellos, Brown Foundation Professor of Hispanic
Studies, was recently inducted as a member of Real Academia Hispanoamerica,
the Spanish American Royal Academy for Literature, Arts and Sciences.
Sanja Korman, lecturer in health and human performance, won
the title of the National Dance Association 2008 K-12 National
Dance Educator of the Year.
Juan Madera, assistant professor of hotel and restaurant management,
is the author of the paper “Gender and Letters of Recommendation:
Agentic and Communal Differences.” The
Journal of Applied Psychology has accepted the paper for publication.
Peter Norton, associate professor of psychology and director
of the Anxiety Disorder Clinic, was named the recipient of the
2009 American Psychological Foundation Theodore Blau Early Career
Award. This honor is presented to clinical psychologists for
their accomplishments within the practice and carries a $2,000
prize.
Michael Olivas, William B. Bates Distinguished Chair in Law
and director of the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance,
received Stetson University College of Law inaugural William
A. Kaplin Award for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy
Scholarship. Olivas’ book “Colored Men and Hombres
Aqui: Hernandez v. Texas and the Emergence of Mexican American
Lawyering” was made into a film by the Public Broadcasting
System.
G. Thomas Schanding Jr., assistant professor of educational
psychology, was selected to participate in the 2009 School Psychology
Research Collaboration Conference as an Early Career Scholar.
Jonathan Schwartz, associate professor of educational psychology,
received the 2007 Outstanding Contribution Award given by the
Counseling Psychologist. Schwartz was co-author of the winning
article, “Guidelines on Prevention Practice, Research,
Training, and Social Advocacy for Psychologists.”
Pradeep Sharma, Bill D. Cook Chair Associate Professor of Mechanical
Engineering, is the recipient of the 2009 Thomas J.R. Hughes
Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers.
STUDENTS
Stephanie Ace, political science major, is the 2008 recipient
of the Women Professionals in Government Beverly Kaufman Scholarship.
Clarissa Hinojosa, doctoral history candidate, won the History
Essay Prize from the Western Conference on British Studies for
the best paper given at its annual conference. Her essay is titled “Justice
Overdue: An Historically-Based Critical Reinterpretation of Alice
Overdo in Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair.”
Rehan Momin, senior electrical engineering major, was among
a group of students to win the “Extreme Engineering Challenge” competition
at the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers national conference.
Natalie Nguyen, education major, was named Scholar of the Week
by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars for the week of
March 16. The organization is an honor society for freshmen and
sophomores with 233 chapters nationwide and in Puerto Rico.
