Calling her an “institutional cornerstone,” the Middle East Studies Association of North America recently presented its annual Jere L. Bacharach Service Award to Distinguished Professor Suad Joseph. The award recognizes outstanding service to the association and the profession, and is named after the University of Washington historian who received the honor in 2004.

Joseph has appointments in the departments of Anthropology, and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, and is the founding director of the Middle East/South Asia Studies Program.

She is a past president and served on numerous committees of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, an organization in which she has been involved since graduate school.

“She has routinely led and developed many major professional and academic initiatives, with impressive success in fundraising for their long-term sustainability,” the association said in a write-up on her award. “In all her endeavors, she has included, encouraged and empowered women scholars from North America and across the Middle East.”

Joseph is the founder of the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies and co-founder of the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies. She is the founding editor of the Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, six volumes examining Muslim women globally and non-Muslim women in Muslim-majority societies.

“It is an honor to recognize Suad Joseph as a dedicated and generous colleague who has built connections and institutions both in the US and in the region, promoting some of the best scholarly and educational networks across the globe in our field,” the association stated.

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Heghnar Watenpaugh, professor of art history, has been named the recipient of a Society for Armenian Studies Outstanding Book Award for The Missing Pages: The Modern Life of a Medieval Manuscript, From Genocide to Justice.

The award recognizes outstanding scholarship on Armenian society, culture and history from ancient times to the present, and is sponsored by Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian, director of the Armenian Studies Program at California State University, Fresno, and a past president of the society.

Read about the book in this article on the College of Letters and Science website.

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U21, formerly Universitas 21, a network of research universities, recently announced Professor Diana Farmer, a pediatric and fetal surgeon, as the recipient of a 2020 U21 Award for advancing global perspectives in her field.

“Collaborating across disciplines and borders has become increasingly important, and Dr. Farmer’s pioneering leadership, both at UC Davis and around the world, has been instrumental in advancing global opportunities in medical education,” said Joanna Regulska, vice provost and associate chancellor of Global Affairs at UC Davis. “At home and abroad, her commitment, advocacy and innovation are nothing short of inspiring.”

Regulska presented Farmer’s nomination for the U21 Award. The awards are presented annually in recognition of individual or team efforts at U21 universities.

Farmer is chair of the Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief of UC Davis Children’s Hospital. She first recognized the importance of a global view in surgery as a medical student, when she accepted an opportunity to study in Asia.

As a surgeon, she has worked continuously to correct inequities that exist globally in health care. Her work has focused on access to surgical treatment, particularly for children. As a mentor and educator, she has created unique opportunities for surgical students to learn abroad and address global health challenges.

Read more in this UC Davis Health news release.

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Bill Buchanan’s radio program, Davisville, is a winner for the second year in a row in the San Francisco Press Club’s journalism awards contest, earning first place and third place for public-affairs programming.

By day, Buchanan is a writer and editor in Information and Educational Technology; in his off time, he produces and hosts Davisville, a public-affairs program on KDRT 95.7 FM. His brother, Jim Buchanan, is the sound engineer for Davisville.

A year ago, the brothers earned a second-place award for public-affairs programming on noncommercial radio (for programs with staffs of one to four people). Competing in the same category this year, the brothers earned:

• First place for an interview with World War II infantry combat veteran Francis Resta.
• Third place for an interview with Mary Northup, whose father and stepmother were murdered in their Davis home by Daniel Marsh, then 15, in 2013.

The San Francisco Press Club awards program recognizes work in print, television, radio and digital media, and in graphic design, photography, documentary film and public relations materials.

More about Davisville, including an archive.

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Dateline UC Davis welcomes news of faculty and staff awards, for publication in Laurels. Send information to dateline@ucdavis.edu.

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