Paul S. Miller, a law professor at the University of Washington, was appointed special assistant to President Barack Obama. An expert in disability and employment-discrimination law, Miller will help make political appointments in the Department of Justice, the Department of Education and regulatory agencies.
A book to which Marla E. Salmon, dean of the UW School of Nursing, and Bill Douthitt, '84, made major editorial contributions received the Book of the Year award from the American Journal of Nursing. Published by Emory University Press, NURSE: A World of Care is a tribute to the honorable work done by nurses worldwide.
Pam Schreiber was named the new UW Housing and Food Services director. She will be responsible for managing a $4.7 million budget and overseeing housing for 2,352 students.
Christy Gullion was appointed UW director of federal relations this January. Gullion will serve as the University's representative in Washington, D.C.
Larry Kessler is the new chair of the Department of Health Services in the UW School of Public Health. Before his appointment, Kessler worked at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health as the director of the Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories.
Matthew O'Donnell, dean of the UW's College of Engineering and professor in the Department of Bioengineering, and David Auth, a UW affiliate professor in bioengineering, have been named members of the National Academy of Engineering.
Assistant Professor of Physics Subhadeep Gupta and Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering James Lee received Alfred P. Slogan Research Fellowships, which "support the work of exceptional young researchers early in their academic careers and often at pivotal stages in their work."
UW Oceanography Professor James W. Murray was chosen as an American Geophysical Union fellow in both the ocean sciences and the biogeosciences sections. He is the founding director of the UW's Program on Climate Change.
After serving as interim dean since August 2008, Jerry Baldasty, '72 '78, has been selected for the permanent position of dean and vice provost of the UW Graduate School. He has served on the UW faculty since 1978, most recently as chair of the Department of Communication.
Daniel S. Friedman, dean of the College of Built Environments, has been elected 2009 vice president/president-elect of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. He will officially join the ACSA board of directors July 1 and become president in 2010.
UW Professor of Special Education Joseph Jenkins has received two capstone honors for his work in the field, the 2009 CEC Special Education Resource Award and the 2009 Jeanette Fleischer Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Learning Disabilities.
Miranda Wecker, marine program manager for the College of Forest Resources' Olympic Natural Resources Center, was appointed chair of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.
The American College of Medical Genetics honored Arno Motulsky with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for exemplifying the highest professional standards throughout his career. Motulsky is regarded as a father of both medical genetics and pharmacogenomics.