For the first time, the Academic Senate and Academic Federation are presenting a combined ceremony to honor their members for teaching, research and public service.

The event is scheduled for April 16 in the Activities and Recreation Center Ballroom. The program lists a no-host bar, light refreshments and hors d’oeurves from 5 to 5:45 p.m., followed by the awards presentation.

The Academic Senate is presenting three Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Awards, and five Distinguished Teaching Awards. The reception also will honor Charles H. Langley, Distinguished Professor, evolution and ecology, as the recipient of the senate’s Faculty Research Lecture Award. (See separate story.)

The Academic Federation is giving three awards, one for Excellence in Teaching and two for Excellence in Research.

ACADEMIC SENATE

Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award

One of the awards in this category is a joint award for Monique Borgerhoff Mulder and Timothy Caro in recognition of their efforts to conserve the cultural and natural environments of the Mpimbwe people of the Rukwa Valley in southwestern Tanzania. Borgerhoff Mulder is a professor of anthropology and Caro is a professor of wildlife, fish and conservation biology, and both are affiliated with the Center for Population Biology.

Gail Goodman, Distinguished Professor, psychology—Her research deals with children as victims, in particular how they are interviewed in connection with crimes that may have been committed against the them, and their experiences in court proceedings. Her public service has not only benefitted child victims and their families, but mental health and legal professionals who deal with child victims.

Marc Schenker, professor, public health science, and the Center for Health and the Environment, and a practicing physician in occupational and pulmonary medicine—Colleagues note that he is an articulate advocate for better health care for migratory farmworkers and their families in California’s Central Valley, and has taken a leadership role in working for improved occupational health training internationally, especially in developing countries.

Distinguished Teaching Awards

The Academic Senate announced its latest round of Distinguished Teaching Awards (for 2008) almost a year ago, but the senate delayed the ceremony so that it could be combined with the public service awards ceremony and the federation awards ceremony.

Dateline UC Davis’ June 13 edition included an article about these award winners, and that information is repeated here:

Distinguished Teaching Awards: Undergraduate

David Block, associate professor, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and Viticulture and Enology — He has "an extraordinary sense in teaching practical skills that can be applied almost immediately after completing the course," a student nominator noted. Block teaches a course on facility design and regulatory compliance in biotechnology, and a course on wine technology and winery systems. For the biotechnology course, he brings equipment vendors to class for demonstrations and takes students on tours of local biotech facilities. For the winery course, he guides students through designing and laying out a complete winery.

Randy Dahlgren, professor, Land, Air and Water Resources — Dahlgren, his citation reads, "takes the most pedestrian of topics, the soil under our feet, and elevates it to one of the most scintillating courses on campus." A senior colleague who also is known as an outstanding teacher said he has seen no one with Dahlgren's mix of enthusiasm, energy and mastery of speaking. Dahlgren developed the environmental track in the Science and Society Program and a course to help teach nonscience majors how science is used to understand and solve environmental issues. Furthermore, he instituted the first undergraduate internship program at the Kearney Foundation of Soil Science.

Peter Wainwright, professor, Evolution and Ecology, and Center for Population Biology — He plays a pivotal role in teaching Introductory Biology 1, a required class for a wide range of majors and prehealth sciences courses. The course typically enrolls as many as 500 students; despite the difficulties of managing such a large class, Wainwright has received an "overall instructor" rating of 4.78 out of 5 on student evaluations. Wainwright also has extended mentoring to undergraduate students in these classes, discussing research opportunities with individual students and inviting some to join his laboratory studying the biomechanics of fish feeding.

Distinguished Teaching Awards: Graduate and Professional

Roy Doi, Distinguished Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology — He helped to establish the Biotechnology Program at UC Davis, was principal investigator on the first training grant in biotechnology awarded to the campus by the National Institutes of Health in 1991, designed the curriculum for the program and developed the Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology for graduate students. Among the graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who have passed through his lab are three people who are now UC Davis professors: Chester Price, food science and technology; Valerie Williamson, nematology; and Ken Burtis, molecular and cellular biology and dean of the College of Biological Sciences. In 2006, Doi was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Bruce Hammock, professor, Entomology and Environmental Toxicology, and MIND Institute — His nominators described him as "first and foremost a talented scientist" who creates a "lab culture" and "research environment" thoughtfully designed to train and mentor students. His colleagues noted that, as a result of his tireless commitment, his students emerge "as top-notch independent scientists, skilled at conducting and communicating collaborative, integrated research." In addition, Hammock, who is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, has developed two federally funded training programs, and, during his more than 30 years at UC Davis, has mentored hundreds of students and professional researchers.

ACADEMIC FEDERATION

Excellence in Research

Alison Van Eenennaam, Cooperative Extension animal genomics and biotechnology specialist in the Department of Animal Science — Using DNA technology, Van Eenennaam has conducted research on marker-assisted selection in beef cattle to obtain information about various genetically complex traits. She also has taken a transgenic approach to improving the nutritional profile of milk and developing biological containment methods for transgenic fish to prevent any negative ecological impacts from those fish.

Excellence in Teaching

Marlene Clarke, continuing lecturer, University Writing Program — Clarke has been a lecturer in what is now the University Writing program since 1983. A master teacher, she carefully crafts and manages her courses (like an orchestra conductor, one nominator wrote) so that her students grow as thinkers and writers in a lively and challenging environment. She is also an expert advisor to graduate students just beginning to develop their own teaching styles and an invaluable and generous resource for her colleagues.

Norma López-Burton, lecturer, Spanish and classics — As director of the First Year Language Program, she has developed innovative approaches to teaching language and culture. She has trained and supported countless teaching assistants, sharing her passion, enthusiasm and methods. Dedicated to her students as much as to the subjects that she teaches, López-Burton, a lecturer in Spanish since 1984, “has never stopped listening and reflecting on her skills, and this is what makes her exceptional,” one nominator wrote.

People planning to attend the April 16 reception are asked to arrange reservations with Bryan Rodman, (530) 752-3920 or bdrodman@ucdavis.edu.

Law professor and Academic Senate stalwart Dan Simmons is the recipient of the Charles P. Nash Prize for 2009.