ACCOLADES :: ACHIEVEMENTS :: AWARDS

Eric R. Pianka, the Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professor in Zoology, won the $10,000 grand prize in this year’s University Co-op Robert W. Hamilton Book Awards competition. The Hamilton awards are the highest honor of literary achievement given to published authors at the university. Pianka won for “Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity,” which he co-authored with Dr. Laurie J. Vitt of University of Oklahoma. Four other faculty members were recognized in the competition with $3,000 prizes: Ricardo Ainslie, Department of Educational Psychology, for “Long Dark Road: Bill King and Murder in Jasper, Texas”; Joanna Brooks, Department of English, for “American Lazarus: Religion and the Rise of African-American and Native American Literatures”; Toyin Falola, Department of History, for “A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt: An African Memoir”; and Jeffrey Chipps Smith, Department of Art and Art History, for “The Northern Renaissance.” The University Co-op also recognized David L. Lambert, Department of Astronomy and director of the McDonald Observatory, with a $10,000 Career Research Excellence Award for maintaining a superior research program over many years at the university. Other award recipients were: Inderjit Dhillon, Department of Computer Sciences, and Joydeep Ghosh, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, honored with the $5,000 Best Research Paper Award for their collaborative work titled “Clustering with Bregman Divergences,” and Yacov Sharir, Department of Theatre and Dance, who won the $3,000 Fine Arts Award for outstanding achievement.

Two College of Pharmacy faculty members have been named to assistant deanships, effective June 1. Richard Wilcox, professor of pharmacology and toxicology, will become assistant dean of admissions. He replaces Joanne Richards who has held the position since 1985. Diane Ginsburg, clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice, will replace Angela Solis in the role of assistant dean of student services.

The University of Texas at Austin won two Grand/Gold awards in the recent District IV Council for Advancement and Support of Education competition. Universities and colleges in a five-state area competed in categories ranging from special events to  design, photography and writing. Nancy Neff of the Office of Public Affairs won first place in the General News category for an article titled "Moderate Drinking in Older Women has Positive Influence on Memory." Claudette Campbell of the Office of Resource Development in the McCombs School of Business won first place in the Best Student Program category for "Hermes Spring Fling."

Laurence Chalip, coordinator of the Sport Management Program and professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, has received the Dr. Earle F. Ziegler Award from the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM). The award is the NASSM's highest honor and recognizes Chalip's research on sport policy and sport marketing as well as his service to international sport organizations in Asia, Australia, Europe and North and South America.

Photo by Sasha Haagensen

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES, OF COURSE
Greg Reinert, a history and Italian senior, rides through the ‘snake pit’ portion of an obstacle course during the 12th annual Wheelchair Wash & Tune event held March 30 at the West Mall Rally Area. The goal of the event, which was sponsored by Services for Students with Disabilities in the Office of the Dean of Students, was to highlight accessibility issues on campus. In adddition to the wheelchair obstacle course, the event included demonstrations of helping dogs and adaptive recreational devices.

Clay Falls, Joanna Jenkins and Tracy Watler are recipients of the Fox News Channel College Challenge for a television report on the death penalty in Texas. This national award was presented by a panel of Fox News Channel staff members who are integral to the daily news gathering and presentation process, judging on objective presentation, lack of bias, execution of the idea, quality of presentation and overall quality. The students receive a total of $10,000. The university receives a matching $10,000 from Fox News Channel. The winners are undergraduate journalism students who have worked in the news department of KVR-TV, UT's student television station, for about two years, producing a live 30-minute weekly newscast.

Texas softball's Alexis Garcia (Covina, Calif.) was chosen to work as an intern at the White House this summer. Garcia's assignment is in the Office of Presidential Correspondences and will commence in June upon the completion of the Longhorns' softball season and run through mid-August. The senior sports management major and team captain plans to enroll in the master's program at the LBJ School of Public Affairs upon completion of her internship.

Richard Graw has been named director of development for the College of Communication. He previously worked at the University of California at Davis where he was director of development for major gifts in the School of Veterinary Medicine.

The family of the late Mary Alice Davis, who was a columnist and editorial writer for the Austin American-Statesman, is establishing a lecture program in journalism at the university. Davis, a 1965 graduate of the School of Journalism, died last year after a 22-month battle with ovarian cancer. The Mary Alice Davis Distinguished Lectureship will bring notable journalists to campus to discuss the role of journalism in society

C. Michael Walton, a civil engineering and public affairs professor, has received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Education from the American Society of Civil Engineers. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Walton studies intelligent transportation systems, transportation policy and systems analysis. He has published more than 250 articles and reports, and has lectured extensively, including testifying before the U.S. Congress.