Appointments, honors and activities
• Appointments and promotions:
- Tracey Jean Boisseau, a professor from the University of Akron, has been named the director of the Women's Studies program in the College of Liberal Arts. The appointment is effective Aug. 13. Boisseau specializes in U.S. women's history and women's studies. She is the author of several books including "White Queen: May French Sheldon and the Imperial Origins of American Feminist Identity."
• Faculty and staff honors:
- Darren Dochuk, an associate professor of history, received the 2012 Ellis W. Hawley Prize, which is awarded annually by the Organization of American Historians for the best book-length historical study of the political economy, politics or institutions of the United States from the Civil War to the present. Dochuk's book, "From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism," was published in 2011 by W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. Dochuk was recognized at the Organization of American Historians' 105th annual meeting on April 21.
• Alumni honors:
- Purdue University's Department of Agricultural Economics has presented its annual Apex Awards in recognition of individuals with a strong connection to the department and who have made outstanding contributions in their fields. This year's honorees are: Jim Hicks (B.S., 1961), president and chief executive of Jim Hicks and Company of Brea, Calif.; Nadine McGowan, Hoosier Division Manager for Vector Marketing & Cutco Cutlery of Olean, N.Y.; Felix Jens Spinelli (Ph.D., 1991), a senior agricultural economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service in the Resource Economics, Analysis and Policy Division; and Kip Tom (Purdue Midwest Food and Agribusiness Executive Program), managing member of Tom Farms and president of CereServ Inc., both of Leesburg, Ind. The Apex Award, started in 2004, has now been given to 36 people.
• Student honors:
- Laura Drake, an assistant professor of industrial design in the Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts, and 18 industrial design students participated in the April 21-26 High Point Market exhibit in High Point, N.C., as part of the Groovystuff Design Challenge. The students, working as a class, received a pallet of reclaimed materials in March to build their creation. They designed a modern and elegantly rustic lighting design for inclusion in the celebrity Dick Idol Brand.