University Times

Five college graduates were selected by the School of Education and the Pittsburgh Public Schools to receive this year's African-American Teaching Fellowships. They are: Ramona Carr, mathematics; Charisse Merchant, English literature; Eunity Rooths, liberal studies; James Collins, political science; and Diwana Chapman, French.

In its seventh year, the fellowship is designed to increase the number of African-American teachers working within Pittsburgh public schools. The fellowship, funded by the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh public schools, provides full tuition plus a $5,000 stipend for up to five individuals. Participants must hold a bachelor's degree and be willing to teach for two years in the Pittsburgh public schools after earning their master's degree and their teacher's certification.

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The American Liver Foundation (ALF) presented John Fung, associate professor of surgery and chief of transplantation surgery at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute, with its Special Award.

The Special Awards are part of ALF's Awards Program, which honors people who have made outstanding contributions on behalf of people affected by liver diseases. Fung's Special Award was presented for his leadership in transplantation and organ donation and for his compassionate commitment to the care and well-being of patients.

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E. Jackson Allison was named vice president and chief medical officer of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's (UPMC) Emergency Resource Management Inc. (ERMI). He is also serving as a visiting professor of emergency medicine at the School of Medicine.

ERMI is a UPMC corporation that provides professional emergency medicine services to hospitals throughout the region. Allison will guide medical aspects of the delivery of professional emergency medicine services at the hospitals. He will be responsible for quality improvement at each site and will work with the medical directors to establish acceptable standards of practice.

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Lowell Shaffer, retiring Johnstown vice president of student affairs, received the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Region II Award for Outstanding Performance.

The award is given to a dean in Region II who has demonstrated sustained professional service in student affairs work, high-level competency in administrative skills, innovative response in meeting students' varied and emerging needs, effectiveness in developing junior staff members and leadership in community and university affairs.

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The Nationality Rooms Program awards grants for faculty members to conduct research abroad relating to classes currently taught or in planning. The endowment was established in 1973 in the memory of John Gabbert Bowman, the Univer-sity's 24th chancellor and the person behind the building of the Cathedral of Learning.

This year's awardees are: Joseph Adjaye, Africana studies, researching in Ghana; Robert Altamura, geology/planetary science Johnstown campus, Egypt; Walter Carson, biological sciences, Costa Rica; Susan Falsenfeld, communication science and disorders, Australia; Jane Harris, Slavic languages, Russia; Karen Peterson, public health, Equador; Jeffrey Schwartz, anthropology, Kenya; M. Allison Stones, history of art and architecture, Italy; Sekai Turner, psychology in education, Namibia, and Sabina von Dirke, Germanic languages and literature, Germany.

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Annagene Yucas, director of the Study Abroad Office, received the Lily von Klemperer Award for NAFSA: Association of International Educators. This national award is for "consistently maintaining the highest standards of professional ethics and performance, for demonstrating a concern for helping and guiding newcomers to the field of study abroad" and "for displaying in professional activities an eagerness to meet new challenges and an openness to new ideas." At Pitt, Yucas is largely credited with turning a small Study Abroad Office into a thriving department which is sending nearly 400 Pitt students overseas per year. She has been instrumental in establishing the $1 study abroad fee, which College of Arts and Sciences undergraduates pay with their tuition. This $1 fee has been funneled into a scholarship fund with matching funds from the Chancellor's office, enabling many students to afford a study abroad option. Yucas serves as Pitt's Ful-bright and National Security Education Program adviser, assisted many students in their pursuit of these scholarships.