December 2005 -

Milestones

APPOINTMENTS

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III named President Mark Emmert, ’75, to the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board Sept. 20. Board members are presidents and chancellors of major U.S. universities. The panel fosters outreach and promotes understanding between higher education and the FBI.

Anthropology Professor Julie Stein became the new director of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture on Sept. 12. Stein was the curator of archaeology at the Burke from 1990 to 1999 and recently held a six-year position as divisional dean of research in the College of Arts and Sciences. In June she was one of seven faculty members to receive a 2005 Distinguished Teaching Award (see “A League of Their Own,” June 2005).

HONORS

Education Professor James Banks, who is director of the UW’s Center for Multicultural Education, received the highest honor UCLA bestows—the UCLA Medal—in June for his outstanding leadership in the field of education. The award recognizes those who have made extraordinary and distinguished contributions to their professions. Other 2005 medalists are author Umberto Eco, architect Frank Gehry, Yahoo founder Terry Semel, ijane founder Jane Semel and actor Anthony Hopkins.

Biochemistry Professor Earl Davie received the UW’s 2005 Inventor of the Year Award Sept. 20. Davie was honored for discovering the chain of biochemical events that result in fibrin clotting, which is central to blood coagulation. His work led to the invention of safer clotting factors that hemophiliacs can administer to themselves to stop uncontrollable bleeding.

Two UW professors were winners of the Washington State Book Award for works published in 2004.  History Professor Nikhil Pal Singh won for Black Is a Country: Race and the Unfinished Struggle for Democracy, which examines the lack of progress in equality for African Americans. Professor Peter Ward—who holds a joint appointment in earth and space sciences and in biology—won for Gorgon: The Monsters That Ruled the Planet Before Dinosaurs and How They Died in the Greatest Catastrophe in the Earth's History, an account of a geological event that wiped out most life on Earth 250 million years ago.