Wayne T. Davis, dean of the College of Engineering, has been elected vice-chair/chair-elect of the American Society of Engineering Education’s Engineering Research Council (ERC) for 2009-2010. Davis will serve a two-year term in the post. The ERC provides opportunities for discussions of issues related to engineering research. The organization also works to improve the effectiveness of research operations at member institutions and helps to establish and maintain ties with other organizations.
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William M. Dunne, the current associate dean for research, facilities and graduate student policies in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been named the associate dean for research and technology in the College of Engineering. The change is effective July 1.
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G. Kurt Piehler, an associate professor of history, has been selected from a national applicant pool to attend a summer study opportunity supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Piehler will participate in a seminar titled “Religious Diversity and the Common Good,” a six-week program held at Boston College. Piehler and the other participants in the seminar each will receive a $4,400 stipend to cover their travel, study and living expenses. The NEH is offering a total of 19 summer seminars on topics such as American engagement with Russia, English literary culture, Black resistance in the tropical Atlantic, experimental philosophy and the rule of law.
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Jered Sprecher, an assistant professor of art, has received a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in fine arts. Sprecher will study painting during the fellowship, which lasts from six to twelve months at the discretion of the recipients, to give them as much creative freedom as possible. The Guggenheim fellowships for 2009 were granted to 180 artists, scientists and scholars from a pool of almost 3,000 applicants in the United States and Canada.
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Sam Swan, a professor of journalism and electronic media, has been honored with the University of Montana’s 2009 Edward L. Bliss Award for Distinguished Broadcast Journalism Education. The award recognizes an electronic journalism educator who has made a significant and lasting contribution to the field in the areas of teaching, service and scholarship.
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Erik Zinser, an assistant professor in microbiology, has been invited to join the editorial board of the academic journal Environmental Microbiology/Environmental Microbiology Reports.