Honors & Other
Things
Women
of Color Awards
The
16th Annual Women of Color luncheon,
was held on March 7 to recognize
the contributions made by women of
color to the University and the broader
community. As part of a day of events
the following awards were presented.
Helen
O. Dickens Award
Gloria
M. Gay,
associate director of Penn Women's Center, has received
the Helen O. Dickens Lifetime Achievement Honor
for her contributions as a nurse, teacher, mental
health worker, drug counselor, social worker, and
a leader. Ms. Gay has worked as an advocate and
social change agent in the Philadelphia area for
over four decades. "She is one of the most
widely known and respected individuals committed
to promoting social justice, working to confront
individual and institutional racism, heterosexism,
sexism and class oppression. She believes in the
theory of one: of reaching out and helping one person
at a time, and making a difference with every encounter."
Prior
to arriving at Penn in 1986, Ms.
Gay served as the Director of Professional
Training for Planned Parenthood of
Philadelphia and as a clinical social
worker for the Navy Family Service
Center, Naval Base, Philadelphia.
For many years, she has also served
as a volunteer at the Philadelphia
Black Women's Health Project. That
organization recognized her service
with a special award last year. Ms.
Gay's commitment to stopping violence
against women has led her to become
a highly sought after trainer on
domestic violence. Her expertise
in coalition building resulted in
travel abroad to assist women in
Serbia. "Ms. Gay is known as
a trusted listener and confidant
to faculty, staff and students across
the Penn campus."
Faculty/Staff
Award
Dr.
Marilia Marien,
staff pyschologist, counseling & psychological
services since 1997, provides
individual, group and career
counseling, among many other
responsibilities. Dr. Marien
works with young women of color
in the areas of empowerment,
ethnic identity development,
leadership, networking, and
career decision making and planning. "She
has been a tremendous influence,
mentor, leader and teacher for
students."
Graduate
Student Award
Nisha
Botchwey, GSFA'03,
city & regional planning,
is a Ph.D. candidate who is
expected to graduate in May
2003. She is the co-founder
of Trinity Center, a faith-based
organization in West Oak Lane
and Body Building God's Way,
a nutrition and exercise lifestyle
program. She has also participated
in Growing in Faith Together,
a breast cancer support group.
On campus, she has had active
roles in a multitude of organizations
that include being a Senior
Fellow Associate in Du Bois
College House, a coordinating
committee member of the Fontaine
Society, a committee member
for City and Regional Planning
Department faculty search and
cofounder of W.E.B. Du Bois
Fit.
Undergraduate
Student Award
Trina
DasGupta,
C'03, strives to bring about
movement, progress and understanding
of the issues of marginalized
individuals, groups and communities.
In addition to being an intern
with the NPR show Justice
Talking, Ms. DasGupta was
selected as a Cultural Change
Intern at the White House Project
in New York City. She gives
back to the community through
teaching English as a second
language, mentoring and tutoring
at University City High School
and orchestrated the revitalization
of the Leadership Education
and Achievement Program.
Dr.
Strom: Rawls-Palmer Award
Dr.
Brian Strom,
chair and professor of biostatistics
and epidemiology, professor
of medicine, professor of pharmacology,
director of the center for clinical
epidemiology and chair of the
graduate group in epidemiology
and biostatistics, has been
selected to receive the Rawls-Palmer
Award from the American Society
for Clinical Pharmacology and
Therapeutics (ASCPT).
During
the ASCPT Annual Meeting, April 2-5,
Dr. Strom will deliver the Rawls-Palmer
Lecture on the topic, What Are
Our Drugs Doing to Our Patients:
Lessons From Pharmacoepide-miology.
Jerry
A. Jacobs: Editor, American
Sociological Review
Dr.
Jerry A. Jacobs,
Merriam Term Professor of Sociology,
has been appointed editor of the American
Sociological Review (ASR), the
flagship journal of the American
Sociological Association. ASR features
topics across the range of sociology
and has the highest circulation in
the discipline. It is also a top-ranked
journal, in terms of its impact in
the field, according to the Institute
for Scientific Information. Dr. Jacobs
chaired the graduate program in sociology
for most of the 1990s. He has published
over 60 articles and two books. His
third book, The Time Divide: Work,
Family and Policy in the 21st Century,
co-authored with NYU's Kathleen Gerson,
will soon be published.
Dr.
Tran: Optical Imaging Award
Dr.
Phong T. Tran,
associate professor of cell and developmental
biology, was selected as a recipient
of the Optical Imaging Association
Award for Achievement in Optical
Microscopy. Dr. Tran received his
award for his research of cytoskeletal
architecture and cellular pattern
formation. Presented by the Microscopy
Society of America, this award was
established to honor a young investigator
in the field of optical microscopy.
Dr.
Strauss: President, SGI
Dr.
Jerome Strauss,
the Luigi Mastroianni Jr. Professor
of Obstetrics and Gynecology, associate
chair of the department of obstetrics
and gynecology and founding director
of the Center for Research on Reproduction
and Women's Health, has been installed
as president of the Society for Gynecologic
Investigation (SGI).
Genomics
Institute Seed Grant Awards
Penn
Genomics Institute awarded the first
cycle of Seed Grant Awards for Spring
2003. The recipients are:
Junhyong
Kim, Biology, SAS; Paul Sniegowski,
Biology, SAS; Developing New Tools
for Micro Array Analysis Using Comparative
Time-series.
Jeffrey
Ming, Pediatrics, CHOP; Barbara
Weber, Medicine, Medicine; Genomic
Analysis of Kabuki Syndrome.
Zissimos
Mourelatos, Pathology, Medicine; Artemis
Hatziegeorgiou, Genetics,
Center for Bioinformatics, Medicine; Prediction
and Verification of Micro-RNA
Targets.
Philip
Rea, Biology, SAS; Isotope-coded
Affinity Tagging for Quantitative
Proteomics: the Yeast Vacuome
as a Model.
New
award opportunities will be available
in the fall. Please refer to www.genomics.upenn.edu/resources/granthome.htm for
seed grant guidelines.
Youth
Development Award
The
University-Assisted Community School
Program, developed by the Center
for Community Partnerships has
won the first Youth Development Award
from the William T. Grant Foundation.
The Program includes the Philadelphia
School District's West Region and
the West Philadelphia Partnership.
The National Academies' Board on
Children, Youth and Families oversaw
the nomination process and selected
the winner from almost 300 entries.
The Foundation created the $100,000
prize to recognize high-quality organizational
work to improve children's lives. "This
magnificent award is testimony to
the enormous potential of university-community-school
partnerships and problem-focused
research to improve both the quality
of life and the quality of scholarship
and learning of children in our community," said
President Judith Rodin. "We
could not be more delighted that
the University-Assisted Community
Schools Program has been selected
for this award," said Dr. Ira
Harkavy, director of the Center for
Community Partnerships. "It
recognizes the success of the collaborative
work of our faculty and students
and their school and community partners
to increase opportunities for young
people in West Philadelphia and to
generate knowledge," The Program
focuses on solving community problems
in areas including environmental
health, health and nutrition and
literacy. Penn faculty members Dr.
William Labov, Dr. Frank Johnston
and Dr. Robert Giegengack ofSAS and
their students have developed multi-year
projects focused primarily on these
areas. For example, the programs
have successfully reduced exposure
to lead paint through preventive
instruction and improved the nutrition
of neighborhood children by creating
produce stands, community gardens
and farmers markets. In addition,
a cultural reading program has helped
solve some common reading problems
within the African-American community.
Penn
Alexander: Science Fair
Winner
Five
students from the Sadie Tanner Mossell
Alexander University of Pennsylvania
Partnership School, won awards in
this year's Carver Science Fair. First
place for a Team Project was awarded
to 5th grade students Ciara Myatt
(front middle) and London
Eley (front right). A 6th
grade student Xuijie Guo (front
left) won a first place in Life
Science. Honorable Mentions were
presented to 6th grade students Fogia
Mukta (back row) for Consumer
Education and Samuel Settle (middle
row) for Physical Science.
This
is the first year the Penn Alexander
School has been eligible to participate
in the George Washington Carver Science
Fair sponsored jointly by the School
District and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
The largest of its kind in the country,
the fair provides opportunities for
students to gain enriched learning
experiences through scientific inquiry
and discovery.
Penn
Alexander Principal Sheila Sydnor
said, "This is the best praise
we could ever receive. It shows that
our school is dedicated to children
reaching the high standards that
we have for them." According
to Nancy Streim, associate dean of
GSE, "We are very proud of the
students and of Penn Alexander. Our
vision in creating the School was
to provide a rigorous academic program
for the children in this neighborhood,
and these awards serve as a testimonial
to the success of the partnership."
A
model PreK-8 neighborhood public school,
the Penn Alexander School was created
in partnership with Penn, the Philadelphia
School District, and the Philadelphia
Federation of Teachers.
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