Awards and Accolades
Arizona Public Media [1] was presented with the Media Leadership Award during the Arizona Community Action Association Annual Conference [2] in Phoenix this month. The ACAA's mission is to advocate, educate and partner with organizations to prevent and alleviate poverty, and the Media Leadership Award recognizes AZPM's commitment to eliminating poverty. AZPM put on the "Community Interactive: Poverty – The Working Poor [3]" event on Feb. 12 at the Fox Theatre in Tucson. The event educated residents about poverty in Tucson and Southern Arizona. Neal Conan, award-winning journalist, producer and former host of NPR's "Talk of the Nation," hosted the event, which also featured a panel of educators, researchers, social service professionals and others working to help those in need.
Cindy Rankin, a lecturer in the Department of Physiology [4], is one of 15 undergraduate educators in the country selected to serve as a fellow of the American Physiological Society Physiology Education Community of Practice [5], also called PECOP. The PECOP project is designed to build a growing, dynamic community of undergraduate physiology educators who collaborate on an ongoing basis and apply effective scientific teaching methods in their classrooms. As a PECOP fellow, Rankin will develop ongoing relationships with other fellows to support excellence in teaching, as well as learn about scientific teaching methods to apply in her classroom.
The Crossroads Collaborative [6] at the UA has received an honorable mention for the 2014 Annual Community-Campus Partnerships for Health Promoting Health Equity and Social Justice Award. This award recognizes organizations that have worked to improve higher education, civic engagement and the overall health of their communities. Adela C. Licona, associate professor in the Department of English [7], and Stephen T. Russell, director of the Frances McClelland Institute [8] and interim director of the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences [9], serve as co-directors of the Crossroads Collaborative. The collaborative is dedicated to advancing research, graduate training, public conversation and social change in the areas of youth, sexuality, health and rights. Its goal is to research how young people learn about sexuality as it is implicated in their health and well-being.
John G. Hildebrand, Regents' Professor of Neuroscience, has been elected a member of the American Philosophical Society [10]. In 1743, Benjamin Franklin founded the society for the purpose of "promoting useful knowledge." The society advances its mission through support of scholarly research, professional meetings, support of young scholars, publications, library resources, a museum and community outreach. Selection as a member demonstrates extraordinary accomplishments. Hildebrand's research interests combine anatomical, behavioral, chemical and neurophysiological methods to approach issues related to the development of the insect nervous system.
James H. Moore Jr., president and CEO of the UA Foundation [11], is one of six honorees being celebrated at this year's Fathers of the Year Awards Dinner and Gala. This event is presented by the Father's Day Council Tucson [12], an organization that honors outstanding male role models in the community. Moore is the father of three children and was chosen for the honor because of his ability to balance career, fatherhood and civic involvement. All proceeds from the event benefit Type 1 diabetes research and endowment at the UA's Steele Children's Research Center. Over the last 18 years, the council has raised more than $2.8 million. More information and tickets for the event are available at fdtucson.org [12].
Tech Parks Arizona [13] has won the Metropolitan Education Commission Crystal Apple Award for its efforts to encourage local youth to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Tech Parks Arizona is a unit of Tech Launch Arizona [14], which is dedicated to moving the discoveries and inventions developed through University research into the marketplace for increased economic impact and social benefit. Since its inception in 1994, Tech Parks Arizona has collaborated with local educators and has been growing its educational outreach efforts steadily over the years.
We want to know about your good news. If you, your department or a colleague have won any major awards, been honored nationally or internationally, or accomplished some other major feat that deserves recognition, let us know about it.
To submit your news, please send us an email with the following information:
- Name of the person or team receiving the honor.
- Name of the organization granting the honor.
- A description of the honor.
- When the honor was announced and when it will be presented (or was presented).
- A photo of the honoree. If others appear in the photo, please provide their names and affiliations.
Questions? Please contact Amanda Ballard at 626-4407 or amandaballard@email.arizona.edu [15].