Milestones

APPOINTED

Thomas M. Best, associate professor in orthopedics and rehabilitation, and in family medicine, has been named to the External Advisory Council for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. The NSBRI, funded by NASA, studies the health risks related to long-duration space flight. The institute’s External Advisory Council is composed of leaders in relevant research fields and advises management on strategic issues and programmatic effectiveness.

Larry Nesper, assistant professor, anthropology and American Indian Studies, received an American Council of Learned Societies/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Junior Faculty Fellowship for 2004-2005 for research on Ojibwa Tribal Courts in Wisconsin. This research is an extension of work Nesper began years ago on tribal hunting and fishing trials.

Steve Smith was appointed associate director of the Global Studies Program in July. He is a Ph.D. student in Portuguese and has several years of experience at the Land Tenure Center. he succeeds Kim Rapp, who recently moved to California.

GRANTS

Julie Mitchell, assistant professor in the departments of biochemistry and mathematics, received a three-year, $3.7 million grant from the Department of Energy. The grant will fund a major computational biology center to analyze the genome sequence, structure and molecular function of proteins in two species of photosynthetic bacteria. Mitchell plans to fund 10 student researchers, and will hold an informational meeting in the fall for interested students. Students can write to the program’s associate director, Christine Heitsch at heitsch@math.wisc.edu to be added to the invitation list for the fall meeting.

Douglas H. Thamm, assistant scientist, veterinary medicine, and medical sciences, received in July an American Cancer Society grant of $690,000 during next three years to study the safety and effectiveness of PEGylated tumor necrosis factor (PEG-TNF) in dogs with tumors.

HONORED

Alan S. Gurman, professor of psychiatry, and director of family therapy training, was selected by the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers for its 2004 national award for Excellence in Internship Training. APPIC is the national standard-setting organization for internship and postdoctoral training in clinical and counseling psychology, with more than 600 member training centers.

Sally Sieloff Magnan, professor of French and director of the Language Institute, gave a plenary address in July at the 2004 World Congress of the Fédération internationale des professeurs de français (International Federation of Professors of French) in Atlanta. The congress meets every four years. The title of Magnan’s address was “Objectifs et enjeux de la diversité pédagogique.”

Michael Newton, professor of statistics, and biostatistics and medical informatics, was awarded the 2004 Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies Presidents’ Award in August at the Joint Statistics Meetings in Toronto. The COPSS committee consists of presidents of the American Statistical Association, the Biometric Society, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the Statistics Society of Canada. This award is given annually to the top statistician under the age of 40.

Ninety UW student-athletes in 12 sports were named to the Big Ten’s 2003-04 Spring Academic All-Conference Team. The selected Badgers are letterwinners that have achieved a career grade-point average of 3.0 or better and are at least in their second academic year at the UW. The honorees are: Luke Kohtala, men’s ice hockey; Anders Boyd, Jason Devlin, John Dyreby, Mike Kuklinski, Tyler Resch, Mike Tupek, Peter Turney and Shawn Wanta, men’s rowing; Nikki Burish, Sharon Cole, Leah Federman, Kathryn Greaves, Stephanie Millar, Nicole Uliasz and Amy Vermeulen, women’s ice hockey; Anaya Drew, Alexandra Endress, Candice Hansey, Mary Higgins, Eva Payne, Lindsey Rongstad, Andrea Ryan and Claire Wallace, women’s lightweight rowing; Ryan Conn and Kevin Tassistro, men’s golf; Malinda Johnson, Lindsay McMillan and Jackie Obermueller, women’s golf; Kim Ackerbauer, Meghan Bradshaw, Katie Culp, Meghan Cummings, Amanda Frederick, Shannon Gedman, Leah Gordon, Colleen Gosa, Katherine Lawson, Malika McCormick, Alissa Miller, Julie Quoss, Elizabeth Redfearn, Bryana Seifert, Megan Stevens, Christina Strasser and Nicole Weir, women’s openweight rowing; Emily Friedman, Katie Layne, Natalie Phillips, Kaitlin Reiss and Melissa Trainor, softball; Ward Bortz, Alex Conti and David Hippee, men’s tennis; Lexi Goldin, Teresa Gonzaga, Lindsay Martin, Shana McElroy, and Katie McGaffigan, women’s tennis; Nate Brown, Joe Detmer, Ashraf Fadel, Scott Hogseth, Drew Hohensee, Jon Mungen, Ben Roland, Josh Spiker, Mike Sracic, Colin Steele, Ryan Tremelling and Wes Ulfig, men’s track and field; Courtney Bauer, Greta Bauer, Linsey Blaisdell, Erin Brueggeman, Hilary Edmondson, Tara Halls, Lindsey Heinzmann, Kym Hubing, Angie Kolanko, Katie Kolpin, Sarah Kolpin, Heidi Lane, Lauren Lasseter, Andrea Lopez, Lisa Oikarinen, Yael Peled, Erica Schoeller, Julie Stefan and Megan Thomas, women’s track and field.

The Institute for Research in the Humanities announced the results of its fellowship applications.

The two new senior fellows are Lee Wandel, history, and John Niles, English. The institute’s eight senior fellows are appointed for five years and have a half-time teaching release. An open house on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 4-5 p.m., will explain the senior fellowship application process.

Six annual resident fellowships provide a one-semester release from teaching to work on a major research project in the humanities. The 2004-05 recipients and their projects are Anne Enke, women’s studies, “Locating Feminist Activism: Sexuality and Contested Space in the Upper Midwest”; Judith Kornblatt, Slavic languages, “Divine Sophia: Russian Visions of the Eternal Feminine”; Monica Macaulay, linguistics, “The Amos Striker Letters: Menominee Language, Customs and History”; Cynthia Miller, Hebrew and Semitic Studies, “Elliptical Structures in Biblical Hebrew Poetry”; David Morgan, history, “Ghazan Khan and His Historian”; and Mary Louise Roberts, history, “Eccentric Women: Gender, Oddness and the Orient.”

Aliko Songolo, French and Italian, is the first faculty member appointed to an institute sabbatical fellowship. Supported by the Humanistic Fund, this fellowship supplements a faculty member’s sabbatical salary with an additional 35 percent.

Human Ecology Outreach Awards
Three School of Human Ecology faculty and staff members were recognized for their sustained outreach contributions. A cross-campus awards committee selected the three from a pool of nominees.

Mary Ann Fitzgerald was recognized for her work as the curator of the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection.

Karen Goebel, professor of consumer science, was honored for modeling an outstanding career of the work of a faculty member and UW Extension outreach specialist.

Michael Hunt, professor of environment, textiles and design, was recognized for his work with Oakwood Village Retirement Communities of Madison.

The award provides a $500 grant from the Meta Schroeder Beckner Homemaker Endowment and the Morgridge Center. Funds provide travel, publications, student assistance, equipment and other uses to pursue professional development and work.