Notables
Geoffrey
Adams, assistant professor, School of Architecture and Planning,
is a recipient of the 2003 Association of Collegiate Schools
of Architecture/American Institute of Architecture Students
(ACSA/AIAS) New Faculty Teaching Award, announced Roger Schluntz,
dean of the School of Architecture and Planning.
The selection
process includes a review of formal nominations of new faculty
members from professional architecture programs in both the
United States and Canada, Schluntz said.
This
award is meaningful in that it demonstrates the huge priority
the architecture program places on high quality teaching,
Andy Pressman, director of the Architecture Program, said.
Pressman
said that currently many in academia place great value on research
and creative works, and yet teaching is not valued in
research-based institutions even though it is the fundamental
mission of working with students.
Associate
Dean Gabriella Gutierrez is a previous recipient of the award,
Pressman said.
The Association
of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, a nonprofit, membership
association founded in 1912 to advance the quality of architectural
education, has honored several UNM faculty, Pressman said. They
are George Anselevicius, Anne Taylor and Don Schlegel.
This
is an extremely competitive award program. Congratulations go
out to Geoffrey on his excellent work in the classroom and this
extraordinary accomplishment. This is a very important recognition
for the UNM Architecture Program, Schluntz said.
The award
will be formally presented by the ACSA president at the awards
luncheon on Saturday, March 15, coinciding with the 2003 ACSA
annual meeting in Louisville, Ky., March 14-17, 2003.
***
College
of Education Professor Ginger Blalock, Ph.D., and Associate
Professor Deborah Rifenbary-Murphy, Ph.D., are recipients
of the Educator in the Workplace Award for 2002 awarded by the
Middle Rio Grande Business and Education Collaborative (MRGBEC),
a non-profit regional school-to-careers partnership for Central
New Mexico. MRGBEC is also the Central Area Workforce Investment
Boards Youth Council.
The award
is given annually to a business, organization or individuals
who best contribute toward systemic reform in education by connecting
educators with professional development through work-based learning
experiences.
MRGBECs
Educator in the Workplace program exposes educators in the mid
Rio Grande region to careers and occupations through workplace
tours, job shadowing and externships.
Blalock
and Rifenbary-Murphy have proposed a new Academy of Career Awareness,
Exploration, and Education, in collaboration with MRGBEC, area
schools and colleges, and state and local agencies.
Their long-range
goal is to help teachers, counselors and administrators understand
and incorporate career development principles and strategies
in their work with K-16 students.
These
initiatives help educators learn how to provide a real world
context to help motivate students to stay in school and achieve
higher academic standards by seeing the connection between content
learning and their own long-range goals, Blalock said.
***
Judith
M. Espinosa, director of the ATR Institute, presented at
the 2003 Meeting of the Transportation Research Board of the
National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC.
She discussed
how a transit management system bridged the gap between rural
New Mexico transit providers and governmental funding agencies
to provide affordable, reliable public transportation.
Espinosa's presentation paper is online at www.unm.edu/~atr/crraft1-8-03.
Paul
Nathanson, director of the School of Laws Institute
of Public Law, has been elected chair of the board of directors
for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
With several
million members and additional supporters across the nation,
including 20,000 in New Mexico, the committee is a premiere
advocacy group devoted to the retirement security of U.S. citizens.
Nathanson has been a board member since 1998.
This
is a critical time for social insurance programs, Nathanson
said. Many in Washington favor proposals that would partially
privatize Social Security - trading off the guaranteed benefit
of Social Security for personal retirement accounts invested
in the stock market.
There are
similar proposals afoot in Washington that would make Medicare
more reliant on private insurance companies.
This
is a first step toward privatization of the one program that
ensures healthcare for almost all seniors in this country,
Nathanson said.
Barbara
B. Kennelly, committee president and CEO and former U.S. congresswoman
(D-CT), when announcing the appointment said As an attorney
and activist, he has been a tireless defender of the rights
of seniors throughout this country. He is a recognized expert
on aging issues and elder law, having written extensively on
geriatrics, healthcare and financial issues of concern to seniors.
He has been an important voice on our board, Kennelly
said.
Nathansons
goals as chair include intensifying efforts to educate young
people.