Thursday, May 14, 1998
Community Briefs
Four UCSD professors elected to academy
In recognition of their achievements in original research, four
members of the faculty at UCSD have recently been elected to the
National Academy of Sciences.
The new inductees are anthropology professor Roy D’Andrade;
adjunct professor of biology Tony Hunter; physics professor Lu Jeu
Sham; and professor of chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmacology
Roger Y. Tsien.
Studies by D’Andrade focus on cognitive anthropology and
American culture. Before joining the UCSD faculty in 1970, he
served as anthropology department chair at Rutgers University, and
as a faculty member of Harvard and Stanford Universities.
Hunter, also a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological
Sciences, was elected as a Foreign Associate for his achievements
in the molecular biology of cancer cells. Hunter now becomes the
second elected Foreign Associate who works in the United
States.
Sham, an authority on condensed matter physics who is currently
the chair of the physics department, has previously been awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship as well as a Humboldt Foundation Award in
order to pursue studies in Germany at the Max Planck Institute.
Tsien, who is working toward a better understanding of the
information processed within a living cell, is an investigator at
the university’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute. One goal of his
research is to monitor the activity of neurons as they process
information in the brain.
This recent election raises the number of UCSD faculty who are
members of the organization to 64.
$3.5 million slated for minority scholarships
The University of Texas (UT) Ex-Students’ Association has has
received commitments of almost $3.5 million from private donors for
minority scholarships, UT officials said Monday.
Created last summer to ease the effects of the Hopwood ruling,
the Texas Leader Scholarships for incoming freshmen have made 88
offers to high school seniors so far, and over 60 have
accepted.
Texas and California are prohibited from using race as a factor
in awarding scholarships and financial aid, forcing administrators
to turn to other ways of luring minorities to Texas
universities.
"The money has to come from outside private donors and go
through nonprofit organizations like the Ex-Students," said Juan
Zabala, executive director of the UT School of Law Alumni
Association.
All scholarships will be awarded on the basis of need and merit,
and according to the donor’s wishes. Scholarships are open only to
those already admitted to the university.
Each of the recipients of the scholarship, for undergraduate and
first-year law students, will receive between $2,500 and $5,000 per
year for four years as an undergraduate and three years for law
school.
Philosophy professor receives Mortar Board
In a ceremony on April 30, James Gelvin was presented with the
1998 Mortar Board Award. The award is determined by students as
they are called upon to nominate a professor who they believe
demonstrates faculty excellence. Gelvin is an assistant professor
of Modern Middle Eastern Philosophy in his third year of teaching
at UCLA.
Gelvin believes that the reason he received this award might
have something to do with the special concern that he shows foreign
students. He appreciates the significance of this award.
"The idea of a bunch of students conspiring together to write
letters for me is extremely wonderful," Gelvin said.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports.