Honors & Other Things

Honorary Degree: Dr. Anderson

Dr. Elijah Anderson, the Charles and William L. Day Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences and professor of sociology, has been chosen to receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Science at Northwestern University. The degree will be awarded for “distinguished accomplishments” at the university’s commencement on June 16, 2006. Dr. Anderson earned a doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University  in 1976.

An expert on the sociology of black America, Dr. Anderson is the author of the classic sociological work, A Place on the Corner: A Study of Black Street Corner Men, as well as other books and numerous articles on the black experience. He is a winner of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching at Penn. Dr. Anderson is also director of the Philadelphia Ethnography Project, associate editor of Qualitative Sociology and other professional journals, a member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and vice president of the American Sociological Association.

Hiroshi Shimizu Award: Dr. Azuma

Dr. Eiichiro Azuma, assistant professor of history and Asian American studies, received the 2004-05 Hiroshi Shimizu Award for his recent book, Between Two Empires: Race, History, and Transnationalism in Japanese America.

The Hiroshi Shimizu Award is the most important honor for American Studies scholars in Japan. The Japanese Association for American Studies annually gives the award to the author of the “best book in the field” that is either published in Japan or written by an association member.

Dr. Azuma specializes in Asian-American history with an emphasis on Japanese-American experiences, as well as emigration/immigration, modern Japanese history and U.S.-Japan relations.

Angell Medal For Distinguished Service: Mr. Hover

Mr. John C. Hover, II, C ’65, WG ’67, board chairman of the Penn Museum and longtime benefactor to the Museum,  received the Angell Medal–so named in honor of Marian Angell Godfrey Boyer–established by the Penn Museum to honor distinguished service to the Museum by a Museum supporter. It was presented to Mr. Hover with the award at the Annual Loren Eiseley Society dinner in October.

An active member of the Museum’s Board of Overseers since 1997, Mr. Hover has overseen the development and completion of the Museum’s new Mainwaring Wing for Collections and Storage and the completion of the infrastructure to bring air conditioning to the building. He has been a strong supporter of both the Museum and Penn, where he received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Marian Angell Godfrey Boyer (1892-1989), for whom the medal was named, was a long-time supporter of the Museum, one of the founding members of the Museum’s Women’s Committee, and acting director of the Museum in 1946 and 1947.

HDA and Provost Faculty Awards: Dr. Pinto

Dr. Andres Pinto, assistant professor clinician educator of oral medicine, was recognized for his professional and academic achievements with two awards–one from the Hispanic Dental Association and another from Penn.

Dr. Pinto was one of two graduate students nationwide to receive the 2005 Hispanic Dental Association Colgate Palmolive, Inc. Public Health Award. This award recognizes Hispanic students enrolled in a Public Health graduate program who demonstrate leadership skills, community service, scholastic achievement, and a commitment to improving health in the Hispanic community. Dr. Pinto is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health at the School of Medicine and will earn his degree in 2006.

Dr. Pinto was also the recipient of the Penn’s Provost Faculty Development Award 2005-06. This award is presented by the Provost’s office to foster the recruitment and development of junior faculty from under-represented groups.

Rodin Psychology Fellowship:
Ms. Prabhakaran

The first recipient of the Judith Seitz Rodin Fellowship in Psychology is Ranjani Prabhakaran, G ’09. The Trustees’ Council of Penn Women will present this award annually to a graduate student of high academic merit in honor of Dr. Rodin’s great achievements as president of the University, 1994-2004.

Ms. Ranjani is studying the neural correlates of memory and language processing in humans and is using neuroimaging techniques to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive control and working memory.

Fellowship for Cardiovascular Research: Dr. Schmitz

Dr. Kathryn Schmitz, assistant professor of epidemiology in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, has been chosen as one of the recipients of the Trudy Bush Fellowship for Cardiovascular Research in Women’s Health by the American Heart Association.

This award is named in honor of Dr. Trudy Bush (1949-2001), to honor her outstanding leadership in the field of women’s health and contributions to cardiovascular science. Dr. Bush was a professor in the department of epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. She was one of the foremost authorities on the cardiovascular effects of hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women.

Prize for Best Paper: Ms. Wojcieszak

The 2005 Annual Prize for Excellence for the best paper submitted to the International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society was awarded to Magdalena Wojcieszak, doctoral student in the Annenberg School for Communication, for  “Does Online Selectivity Create a Threat to Deliberative Democracy?: Cyber Skepticism Reconsidered.”

It was selected from the ten top-ranked papers on the basis of its contribution to new thinking in the field.

Entries for Wistar’s Science Journalism Award

This award honors top reporting on the basic biomedical sciences; entries are invited for the 2006 Wistar Institute Science Journalism Award, which honors annually the most insightful and enterprising reporting on the basic biomedical sciences in print, broadcast, or online journalism. Entries for the 2006 award must have appeared between January 1 and December 31, 2005, and the deadline for submissions is February 28, 2006. The winner will be selected by an independent committee of accomplished science and medical journalists, and a certificate and cash prize of $5,000 will be presented to the winner at an award ceremony at The Wistar Institute. The winner must be available to receive the award in person on June 9, 2006. Travel expenses for the winner to attend the ceremony will be covered.

More detailed information about the award and a printable entry form are available at: www.wistar.org/news_info/award_Page.html. For more information, contact Franklin Hoke at (215) 898-3716 or hoke@wistar.org.