April 25, 2008

Appointments, honors and activities

— Shreve Hall faculty fellows will sponsor their second annual pre-final exam cookout for Shreve residents at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday (April 27). The fellows, including 2008 Frederick L. Hovde award winner Michael Witt, do the shopping, setup, cleanup, etc. The fellows are unpaid volunteers who spend time throughout the year getting to know and mentor students in the residence halls.

— Tarkington Hall Dining Room will hold its final Gourmet Burger Lunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday (April 25). Diners can pick their own toppings and staff members will custom cook the burger to each customer's preference. Gourmet burger days are a hallmark of the 50-year-old dining room, Purdue's last original residence hall dining facility. Tarkington Dining Room closes for good on May 2 as it makes way for the new, centralized, standalone dining court south of Wiley Hall.

— Tarkington Hall Dining Room will serve its last meal from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 2. Students, staff, faculty and the community are invited to a final celebration of Purdue University Residences' last original dining room.

• Faculty and staff honors:

— Michel Schweinsberg, digital artist for the Center on Paralysis Research, won the annual Purdue Camera Club Photography Contest. His winning entry was a picture of the Chicago skyline taken from the Shedd Aquarium grounds last spring. Schweinsberg also won first place in the architecture category and second place in digital alteration. Schweinsberg continued a winning streak for the center. His colleague, Jianming Li, won the competition in 2007 and 2008. Li finished second overall this year, taking second place in architecture and third place in landscape. Li, a graduate student from Detroit, Mich., introduced Schweinsberg to the club. Dan Heacock was third overall with first-place finishes in art, digital alteration and landscape. He was second in art shots and third in still life. The campuswide amateur competition is open to faculty, students, staff and immediate family members.

— Tom Templin, professor of health and kinesiology, received the Curriculum and Instruction Honor Award from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education on April 11. The award was given during the national convention of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance in Fort Worth, Texas.

— Fenggang Yang, an associate professor of sociology and director of the Center for Religion and Chinese Society, received the 2007 Distinguished Article Award from the American Sociological Association for his journal article, "The Red, Black and Gray Markets of Religion in China," which was published in the Sociological Quarterly journal.

— Scott Ksander, the executive director of information technology networks and security, and chief information security officer at Purdue, was named a finalist for the 2008 Information Security Executive of the Year Central award for the central region. He was honored as one of five finalists on April 17 in Dallas. The Executive Forum and Information Security Executive of the Year Central Awards 20008 is spearheaded by Executive Alliance in partnership with some of the leading technology and media companies in the industry.  The award recognizes the individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the field of information security in the central region, which includes Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. He was nominated for the award by his colleagues in information technology networks and security for his efforts in the SecurePurdue initiative and was one of 21 nominees for the award. Nominees were information security executives from a number of different industries and U.S. government departments, and Ksander was the only representative of a higher education institution.

— John P. Lisack, who has worked in the College of Technology for more than 40 years, received the college's first Distinguished Service Award at the College of Technology Faculty and Staff Recognition Luncheon on April 21. Lisack began at Purdue in 1965 as an associate professor of technology and director of the Office of Manpower Studies. He was promoted to professor in 1970 and retired in 1988, when he was named a professor emeritus and director emeritus. Lisack has taught engineering technology and industrial technology courses and has helped market and promote the college's curricula and academic programs to students and outside civic and business organizations.

— Andrew Weiner, Scifres Distinguished Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was awarded the 2008 R.W. Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America with Jonathan Heritage, a professor at the University of California-Davis. They won the award for "pioneering contributions to the development of programmable optical pulse shaping and its applications to ultrafast optical and photonics." It will be presented at the annual Optical Society of America meeting in Rochester, N.Y., Oct. 19-23.

— JoAnn Miller, an associate professor of sociology, was elected president elect of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. This association publishes the Social Problems journal.

• Student honors:

— Zubin Jacob won a SPIE $2,500 scholarship in early April. SPIE, founded as the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers in 1955, is the largest international not-for-profit society in the field of optics, photonics and imaging with more than 17,000 members, including 3,800 student members.

— Robert Sparrow, a student supervisor in Windsor Dining Court, has been named the National Association of College and University Food Services Student Employee of the Year at Purdue. He was selected in large part for having created new training tools for student employees and their student supervisors. Sparrow serves as a learning community ambassador and has been selected for an international internship at a five-star hotel in China this fall.

— Brianna Combs, a student supervisor at Earhart Dining Court, has been named Indiana Student Employee of the Year by the Midwest Association of Student Employment Administrators. Combs was cited for her easygoing but professional demeanor and her willingness to volunteer for undesirable tasks and shifts. Combs also serves as a Boiler Gold Rush leader and a Swing Dance Club instructor.

— The Purdue Memorial Union gave Joelle Prokupek the 2007-2008 Charles E. Dunn Outstanding Student Employee Award. Prokupek is responsible for opening Pappy's Sweet Shop five days per week. The senior also is serving an internship with the local historical association and training for the 2008 Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. The Dunn award, funded from an endowment created to honor the man who directed the union's food service from 1962-93, earns Prokupek a $1,200 prize.

— Purdue Memorial Union gave Sara Schapker the 2007-2008 John C. Smalley Outstanding Student Employee Award. Schapker has served in several positions at the union since 2005, most recently as building manager. The Smalley award, funded from an endowment created to honor Purdue's first vice president for housing and food services, earns Schapker a $1,200 prize.

— Harrison Hall named David Gehrig its Outstanding Resident Assistant of the Year. The first-year resident assistant won RA of the month twice in his role with the pharmacy learning community. Gehrig also was cited for helping the Cavalier Club win several awards as National Residence Hall Honorary Program of the Month.

— Tanya Kuppamala received the Wesley A. Wood Harrison Hall Scholarship. Kuppamala, who serves as the hall's Cavalier Club president, will receive $1,800 in both the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 semesters. The scholarship was founded in memory of Wood, a former Harrison Hall resident.

— Chris Gecewicz, Holly Hamilton and Kristopher Wilson each won the Helen M. Townsend Service Award for the concern they have shown to fellow students through their service to the Harrison Hall Cavalier Club, University Residences and Purdue University.

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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