Andreas Theodorou, chief medical officer for the UA Medical Center, has been selected as chair-elect of the American Association of Medical Colleges Chief Medical Officer Group's Steering Committee. The AAMC represents all 141 accredited medical schools in the United States. The Chief Medical Officer Group is responsible for providing information, networking and professional development resources for the organization. Theodorou, a professor of pediatric critical care of the UA Department of Pediatrics, also serves as interim director of the UA Interprofessional Education & Practice curriculum. As a researcher at the UA Steele Children's Research Center, he focuses on research related to reducing medical errors in addition to treating critically ill children. In Arizona, Theodorou has been widely recognized for his expertise in treating children with traumatic brain injuries. He was selected as chair-elect at the AAMC's annual meeting and will serve through 2015.

At its 223rd semiannual meeting last week in Washington, D.C., the American Astronomical Society awarded George Rieke, UA Regents' Professor of Astronomy and deputy director of Steward Observatory, the Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award. This award is given to the author of an outstanding advanced undergraduate or graduate-level textbook. In his book, "Measuring the Universe: A Multiwavelength Perspective," Rieke reviews underlying operational principles of current instrumentation and techniques for observation in modern astronomy, as well as historical perspectives to help readers become more well-informed astronomers. In its awards announcement, the society stated that "books like Rieke's serve a vital role in astronomers' professional development." Currently, Rieke is leading the science team for the mid-infrared instrument that will be used on the James Webb Space Telescope, a device designed to study the birth and evolution of galaxies, stars and planets in the universe.

Leslie Ritter, professor at the UA College of Nursing and the UA Department of Neurology, has been inducted as a fellow of the American Heart Association. Ritter, who is also the William M. Feinberg Endowed Chair for Stroke Research at the UA Sarver Heart Center and faculty coordinator of the Primary Stroke Center at the UA Medical Center, conducts research on how inflammation can interfere with recovery after a stroke. In 2000, she received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Institutes for Health for her innovative findings regarding inflammatory response in the brain's blood vessels after a stroke. Since then, she has worked to find ways of decreasing inflammatory damage after a stroke. As an American Heart Association fellow, Ritter joins a select group of health-care professionals who have demonstrated significant and productive interest in cardiovascular diseases and strokes.

The American Council of Learned Societies has awarded a collaborative research fellowship to Jeffrey Banister, assistant research social scientist and research professor for the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences' Southwest Center and the School of Geography and Development and Stacie Widdifield, professor at the UA School of Art. This fellowship is given to small teams of two or more scholars that are collaborating on a substantive project in the humanities and related social sciences. Banister was awarded the fellowship for his project titled "Seeing Modern Mexico City: The Visual Culture of Hydraulic Control in the Early Twentieth Century." The project examines the culture of water in Mexico City. Banister and Widdifield will hold the ACLS fellowship from July through December.

Four UA professors have received the 2013 Humanities Seminars Program Superior Teaching Awards. Now entering its 30th year, the Humanities Seminars Program has served 14,000 people in the Tucson area. The teaching awards are designed to honor those committed to the study and exploration of the humanities. Winners receive a cash award, which is paid from an endowment created by the Humanities Seminars Program donors. Fabian Alfie, head of the Department of French and Italian in the College of Humanities, received the award for his teaching of "Dante's Purgatorio." Professor emeritus Richard Hansen, who created the nationally known musical theater program in the School of Theatre, Film and Television, was honored for teaching "Dancin' Fools – The Art of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly." Paul Ivey, professor of art history at the UA School of Art in the College of Fine Arts, was recognized for his "Twentieth Century Art Movements" course. Tom Miller, professor of English and associate provost for faculty affairs, was honored for his "What's Good in Party Politics?" course. This year's awards bring the total payments to UA faculty members from the Humanities Seminars Endowment for Superior Teaching to $231,000.

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• Name of the person or team receiving the honor.
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Questions? Please contact Amanda Ballard at 626-4407 or amandaballard@email.arizona.edu.