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August 29, 2013

People of the Times

ed mccord“The Value of Species,” written by University Honors College staff member Edward McCord, has been selected by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) as a Choice outstanding  academic title 2012 for biology in the Science and Technology category.

Choice, an ACRL publication, lists outstanding academic titles that were reviewed during the previous year. The list contains approximately 10 percent of some 7,000 works reviewed in Choice each year.

In awarding outstanding academic titles, the editors apply several criteria to reviewed titles:

• overall excellence in presentation and scholarship;

• importance relative to other literature in the field;

• distinction as a first treatment of a given subject in book or electronic form;

• originality or uniqueness of treatment;

• value to undergraduate students, and

• importance in building undergraduate library collections.

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Maureen A. Barcic, director of cooperative education in the Swanson School of Engineering, has been elected a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The ASEE board of directors confers the rank of fellow upon an ASEE member with outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and experience in engineering or engineering technology education or an allied field, who has made appropriate and important individual contributions.

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WilliamWagnerWilliam Wagner will receive the 2013 Senior Scientist Award during the Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS-AM) conference this November.

Wagner is director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and faculty member in surgery, bioengineering and chemical engineering.

The award is based on an individual’s contributions to the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine field.

Individuals nominated for the Senior Scientist Award must have received their terminal degree 10 years or more before the time of the award, be contributing to the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine field, and have their contributions as a body of work be well recognized within the community.

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Peter Brusilovsky, faculty member at the School of Information Sciences, has been selected as the Fulbright-Nokia Distinguished Chair in Information and Communications Technologies at the Helsinki Institute of Information, the University of Helsinki and the Aalto University in Finland.

Brusilovsky will hold this Fulbright position through November.

During his time in Finland, Brusilovsky will conduct research and lecture on learning technologies and adaptive systems.

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Morton,SallySally Morton, chair of the Department of Biostatistics in the Graduate School of Public Health, received the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) 2013 Distinguished Service Award.

The award was established by the NISS board of trustees to recognize extraordinary service that significantly advances the NISS and its mission to identify, catalyze and foster high-impact cross-disciplinary research involving the statistical sciences.

Morton was given the award in acknowledgement of her long-term service to NISS as a member of the board of trustees, the executive and nominating committees, as well as for chairing the national presence committee.

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Rory Cooper, director of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, was awarded the U.S. Army  Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for his contributions to veterans by leveraging science, clinical research and advanced engineering technology to improve the mobility of wounded and disabled veterans.

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Linda Dudjak, faculty member in the School of Nursing, received the Blackboard Catalyst Award for Exemplary Course Program, which annually recognizes outstanding development of community best practices through course design.

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Judith A. Erlen, chair, Department of Health and Community Systems in the School of Nursing, was named as one of 20 Sustained Influential Members of the Eastern Nursing Research Society (ENRS).

The selection was based upon sustained contributions to ENRS through leadership, mentoring, scholarship and programs of research that advanced the discipline and the advancement of nursing knowledge.

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The School of Nursing’s Ann M. Mitchell, faculty member and vice chair for administration, and Kathy Puskar, faculty member and coordinator of the psychiatric mental health clinical nurse specialist area of concentration, both of the Department of Health and Community Systems, along with Helen K. Burns of Excela Health, were selected for the 2013 Sigma Theta Tau International Evidence Based Practice Award for their work on SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment), a universal prevention model for those dependent on substances or those at risk for developing a substance dependency.

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The Department of Emergency Medicine’s Donald M. Yealy, chair, and Richard J. Wadas, faculty member, were recognized by the Pennsylvania chapter of American College of Emergency Physicians (PaACEP) for their professional contributions to emergency medicine.

Yealy received the 2013 PaACEP Meritorious Service Award and Wadas received the 2013 PaACEP Emergency Physician of the Year Award.

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Douglas B. White, faculty member in critical care medicine and director of the program on ethics and decision making in critical illness in Pitt’s Center for Bioethics and Health Law, was named a member of the societal and ethical issues in research study section of the Center for Scientific Review of the National Institutes of Health. Appointment to an NIH study section demonstrates competence and achievement in ethical disciplines as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, as well as other scientific achievements and honors received.

White will serve in this role until June 30, 2017.

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Shanta M. Zimmer, faculty member in medicine and director of the internal medicine residency training program in the School of Medicine, was selected for the 2013-2014 class of fellows for the Hedwig van Ameringen executive leadership in academic medicine (ELAM) program of Drexel University’s College of Medicine.

This year-long program is dedicated to preparing women for senior leadership roles in academic health science institutions.

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Two faculty members from the Swanson School of Engineering have been selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) annual Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium. Cheryl Bodnar, chemical and petroleum engineering, and Vikas Khanna, civil and environmental engineering, were two of only 75 engineering faculty selected nationwide.

According to the NAE, the symposium brings together some of the nation’s most engaged and innovative engineering educators in order to recognize, reward and promote effective, substantive and inspirational engineering education through a sustained dialogue.

Bodnar’s research interests relate to the incorporation of active learning techniques such as problem-based learning and games and simulations in undergraduate classes as well as the integration of innovation and entrepreneurship into the curriculum.

Khanna’s research and teaching interests are in the general areas of sustainability science and engineering, industrial ecology and the role of environmental policy in engineering decision-making.

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Gerald D. Holder, U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering at the Swanson school, has been elected vice chair of the Engineering Deans Council executive board of the American Society of Engineering Educators for a two-year term.

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Bopaya Bidanda, Ernest E. Roth Professor and chair of industrial engineering at the Swanson school, was honored with the Institute of Industrial Engineers’ 2013 Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award, which recognizes those who contributed significantly to the profession through teaching, research and publication, extension, innovation or administration.

The award is especially significant to the Swanson school because it is named for a Pitt alumnus who was a former chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering and the first industrial engineer elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

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Kelley, MarkMark Kelley, Pitt-Bradford faculty member who directs UPB’s sports medicine program, is this year’s winner of the Pitt-Bradford Alumni Association Teaching Excellence Award.

Kelley has taught at Pitt-Bradford for nine years; he also has served as director of the freshman seminar for several years.

Before joining UPB’s faculty, he was a graduate teaching assistant in the anatomy lab at Slippery Rock University. He has worked with the Bradford Family YMCA developing a diabetes program through a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Kelley holds a doctorate from Capella University in leadership for higher education, a master’s degree in exercise and wellness promotion from Slippery Rock and a BS in sports medicine from Pitt-Bradford.

His research interests include physiological responses to endurance athletes, high altitude and body composition.

“Mark is an extremely qualified and inspirational individual,” wrote Kate Hetherington ’08, one of the alumni who nominated Kelley. “When teaching, he makes sure that everyone is involved and fully understands the subject matter. Outside of the classroom, Mark is a professor who is easy to talk to and is more than willing to help guide a student through his or her academic journey.”

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The People of the Times column features recent news on faculty and staff, including awards and other honors, accomplishments and administrative appointments.

We welcome submissions from all areas of the University. Send information via email to: utimes@pitt.edu, by fax at 412/624-4579 or by campus mail to 308 Bellefield Hall.

For detailed submission guidelines, visit “Deadlines” page.


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