Faculty Awards

Three Entomology Department faculty members received top awards this past year. Associate Professor John Wenzel received the 1998 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching and Professor Clive Edwards received the 1998 Distinguished Scholar Award. These are Ohio State's highest awards for faculty. Wenzel studies parasitic wasps, and Edwards is an internationally-known expert in soil ecology. Professor Susan Fisher is the 1998 (announced November 1999) recipient of the Louis Nemzer Award, given by the Ohio State chapter of the American Association of University Professors, for achievements in the preservation and protection of faculty rights. Dan Crawford, Professor of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology; received the Merit Award from the Botanical Society of America at the International Botanical Congress in St. Louis this past August. Given to only two or three of the world's outstanding botanists each year, this lifetime achievement award is based on a career of exemplary research, teaching, mentoring of students, and professional service. Crawford was a recipient of the University's Distinguished Scholar Award in 1994.

Student Awards

Two of our outstanding undergraduates received top national awards. Biochemistry major, J. Alex Feng, received the Pfizer Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship to work in biochemist Richard Swenson's laboratory during summer 1999. This competitive award of $5,000 provides support & supplies for students interested in a career in research. Brad Blaser, majoring in both molecular genetics and Latin, is one of three Ohio State recipients of a Goldwater Scholarship. Universities are limited to four student submissions; only 304 awards are made nationally. Blaser works with molecular geneticist Hay-Oak Park. The award, established by Congress in 1989 and given to undergraduates in math and natural sciences, is analogous to the Truman Scholarship in the social sciences.

Appointments

Caroline Breitenberger, associate professor of biochemistry, was appointed Associate Dean for curriculum, student services and diversity in the College of Biological Sciences in 1998. Breitenberger is a natural choice for the position, having received the Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award in 1995 and the Sphinx and Mortar Board Outstanding Faculty Award in 1997. She brings a high-level of enthusiasm and dedication to the College Office. She says, "One of my major responsibilities over the past year was to develop an assessment plan for our majors. I look forward to implementing that plan in the coming years. It is exciting to know that we are working hard to improve the undergraduate experience, using the assessment results for quality improvement of the majors in the College of Biological Sciences." Under her leadership, the Undergraduate Research Colloquium was successfully revived in April 1999. Breitenberger came to Ohio State in 1986. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a postdoctoral researcher at M.I.T. from 1981-86.

Roy Stein, Director of the Aquatic Ecology Laboratory and Professor of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology; was appointed Great Lakes Commissioner by President Clinton in September 1998. The Great Lakes Fisheries Commission consists of four Canadian Commissioners appointed by the Privy Council and four U.S. Commissioners and one alternate, appointed by the President. Stein is an expert on the community ecology of fish populations.

Dean Alan Goodridge assumed additional duties as the Executive Dean of the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences in April 1999. Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray, in announcing the appointment, stated "I am confident that Dean Goodridge can provide...energetic and effective leadership...while continuing his outstanding leadership of the College of Biological Sciences." The Arts and Sciences cluster consists of five colleges: Arts, Biological Sciences, Humanities, Math and Physical Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Expressing gratitude for the vote of confidence, Goodridge says, "I look forward to working to continue to improve the quality of the undergraduate experience."

Reaching Out

For the second successful year in a row, microbiology staff members Betsy Wrobel-Boerner and Kaethe Sandman presented Welcome to the Microbial World!, a workshop for twelve preteen girls as part of Ohio State's annual Take a Daughter to Work Day. The event included talks, hand-on science projects, tours, and a final sample of the microbial world-frozen yogurt, courtesy of the microbes!