U-M’s Plant Operations received the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers’ (APPA) Award for Excellence in Facilities Management. The award is APPA’s highest institutional honor and provides national and international recognition for educational institutions with outstanding achievements in facilities management.
Barry Rabe, a professor at the U-M Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the School of Natural Resources and Environment, was awarded the Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious Climate Protection Award for his work documenting and analyzing how and why U.S. states are taking the lead on climate protection.
Henry M.Wellman, research professor in the Center for Human Growth and Development and developmental psychologist, received a National Institutes of Health Merit Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to support his ongoing research of children’s cognitive development for five years.
The academic title Distinguished University Professor, the highest honor conferred upon a faculty member at the University of Michigan, has been awarded to C. K. Prahalad, the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
Three U-M professors have been elected fellows by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Judith T. Irvine, professor of anthropology; Richard Janko, the Gerald F. Else Collegiate Professor of Classical Studies, and professor and chair of the Department of Classical Studies; and Robert K. Lazarsfeld, professor of mathematics.
Two U-M alumni and adjunct faculty members were named MacArthur Fellows by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for their creativity, originality and potential. Aaron P. Dworkin, who holds an appointment at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and Steven M. Goodman, an adjunct research investigator in the Museum of Zoology, will each receive $500,000 during the next five years to supplement current activities or to take their work in new directions.
Life Sciences Institute Director Alan R. Saltiel, the John Jacob Abel Collegiate Professor in Life Sciences and professor of internal medicine and physiology, was elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Saltiel researches the molecular and cellular biology of the actions of insulin and growth factors. His lab staff uncovered the importance of spatial compartmentalization in signal transduction, cloned and characterized the first molecular scaffolding proteins and identified key pathways in the regulation of glucose metabolism. Saltiel also discovered a molecule that became a template for a new anti-cancer drug.
University of Michigan Professor of English Language and Literature William “Buzz” Alexander was honored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for The Advancement of Teaching for his commitment to undergraduate education with a $5,000 prize. He was selected as one of four national winners from a pool of more than 300 nominees.
U-M English Professor Eric S.Rabkin received the 16th annual Golden Apple teaching award, which designates professors who “teach every lecture as if it were their last,” by the Students Honoring Outstanding University Teaching group.
Five University of Michigan faculty members were awarded prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships for distinguished service and “exceptional promise” for future accomplishments in research: Gillian Feeley-Harnik, the Kathleen Gough Collegiate Professor of Anthropology; Dena Goodman, professor of history and women’s studies; Donald S. Lopez, Jr., the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies; Jonathan M. Metzl, associate professor of women’s studies and psychiatry, and director, Program in Culture, Health, and Medicine; and Andrew J. Shryock, associate professor of anthropology.
Six University of Michigan faculty members were honored with Arthur F. Thurnau professorships for outstanding contributions to undergraduate education and will retain the title throughout their University careers: Alec Gallimore, professor of aerospace engineering, College of Engineering (CoE), and associate dean for academic programs and initiatives, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies; Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, the Jean and Charles R. Walgreen, Jr. Professor of Reading and Literature and professor of education; Thad A.Polk, associate professor of psychology, LSA, and associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, CoE; Peter D. Sparling, professor of dance, School of Music, Theatre & Dance; Steven J.Wright, professor of civil and environmental engineering, CoE; and Georgette M. Zirbes, professor of art, School of Art & Design.
Kathleen Wade, assistant dean of hospital social work services in the School of Social Work, was named the 2006 Social Work Leader of the Year from the Society of Social Work Leadership in Health Care.
University of Michigan professor and composer William Bolcom’s epic “Songs of Innocence and Experience” was awarded four Grammy Awards, including Best Classical Album, Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and Producer of the Year, Classical.
The University Photographers’ Association of America (UPAA) named U-M Photos Services’ photographer Martin A. Vloet University Photographer of the Year. Two other U-M photographers Scott R.Galvin and Lin Jones also received awards from UPAA.