University Times

Beth M. Piraino, professor of medicine and director of the Peritoneal Dialysis Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, was given the medical Gift of Life Award. The award was created to extend public recognition to individuals in the Pittsburgh community who have made extraordinary contributions in the areas that are part of the National Kidney Foundation's mission of education, patient services, professional and public education, research and organ donor awareness.

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The School of Engineering has honored seven of its graduates with Distinguished Alumni Awards. The recipients are: Richard P. Clark, vice president of the AMP Global Wireless Products Corp.; Mahmoud K. Derbies, president and chief executive officer of the Improved Petroleum Recovery Group of Companies; Michael A. Gross, retired civil engineer who worked as a project engineer, senior design engineer, and consulting engineer in the design of bridges, highways and related industrial facilities in the transportation, chemical, steel and aluminum industries; William J. O'Donnell, president of O'Donnell Consulting Engineers, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in the design and analysis of mechanical components; Teofilo J. Ramos, dean of engineering and architecture at the Instituto Technologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico; James T. Staley, technical director of Alcoa Technical Center, where he directs alloy development for the aerospace and automotive industries, and George W. Whetsell, president of Whetsell & Associates.

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The Titusville campus has named Peter Jerebko its athletic director and head basketball coach for the 1996-97 academic year. Jerebko will lead a varsity sports program reactivated after an eight-year hiatus.

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The Johnstown Campus Women's Association has awarded Justine George with the UPJ Women's Association Book Award. The award is presented to a UPJ student who has earned 60-90 credits, two-thirds of which must be earned at UPJ, and has a minimum quality point average of 3.5.

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K.D.Verma, associate professor of English at the Johns- town campus, has been appointed book review editor of the Journal of South Asian Literature. The journal is published by Michigan State University, East Lansing.

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Two Pitt professors have been named Guggenheim fellows.

George Reid Andrews, professor of history and research professor in the University Center for International Studies, and Bell Yung, professor of music, were named John Simon Gug-genheim Memorial Foundation Fellows. Fellows are appointed on the basis of unusually distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. n The School of Medicine was ranked 17th nationally among research-oriented medical schools, according to the U.S. News and World Report's annual survey of graduate schools. Research activity was based on the total dollar amount of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants awarded to the medical school and its affiliated hospitals.