May 8, 2009

Appointments, honors and activities

— Angelica Duran, an associate professor of English, has been named the director of the College of Liberal Arts' Religious Studies program. Duran, who is an expert in 16th and 17th century British literature, will oversee the program that is composed of faculty from English, foreign languages and literatures, history, philosophy, sociology and anthropology.

— Jeremy Kunzman and Kevin Balzer have been added as officers with the Purdue police department, Chief John Cox announced. Robert McMains, the university's vice president of Physical Facilities, gave the new officers the oath of office on Thursday (May 7). Lesley Wiete also was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant. Kunzman is set to graduate this month from Purdue's College of Liberal Arts. He majored in law and society and was a member of the Purdue Student Safety Patrol. Balzer spent nine years in the U.S. Air Force's security forces. Wiete, a Purdue graduate, has been with the university's police department for 10 years and has served as patrol officer and patrol sergeant. She will be in charge of a night shift patrol.

• Faculty and staff honors

— Linda Vanderkolk, a continuing lecturer in the Patti and Rusty Rueff Department of Visual and Performing Arts, received the 2009 Suzanne Stafford Award from the Tippecanoe Arts Federation. Stafford Award recipients are lifelong contributors to the arts, and Vanderkolk was specifically honored for her many murals in the area, as well as her volunteering with the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette and other arts organizations, cataloging public art throughout the community and working with Purdue art education students.

— Arun Bhunia, a professor the Department of Food Science, is the winner of the 2009 Research and Development Award from the Institute of Food Technologists, a nonprofit international society with more than 20,000 members. The Institute of Food Technologists recognized Bhunia's work in detection of food-borne pathogens, including the development of a biosensor that tests foods on-site for bacteria. He will receive a plaque and $3,000 at the institute's Annual Meeting and Food Expo on June 6 in Anaheim, Calif.

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