Columns Magazine THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON ALUMNI MAGAZINE


Milestones

APPOINTMENTS

Scott Centala and Steve Dailey are the new coaches of the UW softball team, following the removal of former Coach Teresa Wilson from the position on Dec. 22. The two men had been serving as assistant coaches. Athletic Director Barbara Hedges removed Wilson from the coaching position in the wake of a probe into prescription drug dispensing by a former softball team physician. Wilson's contract expires on June 30 and will not be renewed. In 11 seasons as Washington's first and only softball coach, Wilson compiled a 532-198-1 record. Her teams qualified for postseason tournaments every year since 1993. Centala joined the UW coaching staff in 1997; Dailey came to the UW last year. Both played baseball in college and in the minor leagues.

Atlanta-based Delta Airlines named Gerald Grinstein as its new CEO on Nov. 24, replacing Leo Mullin. Grinstein is currently serving as president of the UW Board of Regents and was a co-chair of the Campaign for Washington, the UW's first major fund drive. His first job in aviation was in 1983, when he rescued Western Airlines from near bankruptcy. Delta bought Western in 1986 for nearly $900 million. He also served as Burlington Northern's CEO and was an aide to the late Sen. Warren Magnuson, '2

John F. "Randy" Hodgins, '79, '83, senior staff coordinator in the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee since 1996, became director of state relations at the UW, effective Jan. 9. He will be the University's chief representative in Olympia to both the executive and legislative branches. In his spare time, Hodgins has co-authored two books on regional popular culture, Seattle on Film and Wet and Wired: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Pacific Northwest.

Thomas Leschine became the new director of the UW School of Marine Affairs in July. An expert on environmental decision-making, Leschine heads a UW unit that covers marine sciences as it relates to law, policy analysis, diplomacy, business and economics. Leschine holds three degrees in mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a research fellow and policy specialist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado prior to coming to the UW in 1983.

HONORS

The UW's Swedish Studies Program received top international honors as one of the two best in the world, according to the Swedish Institute in Stockholm. The award includes a monetary prize of 10,000 Swedish Kronor to support the work of the department. The Czech Republic's Masaryk University in Brno is the other honored program.

Radiation Oncology Professor Mark Groudine, who is also deputy director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine, a unit of the National Academy of Sciences, in October. He was recognized for his research on the control of gene expression and the structure of chromatin, the substance in the nucleus of living cells that forms chromosomes and contains genes. Groudine, who received his medical and doctorate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, was one of 65 new members and five foreign associates in the institute's class of 2003.

Three UW professors are among 348 scholars named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in November. Chemical Engineering Professor Samson Jenekhe was named for his "seminal contributions" to the field of electronic polymers, specifically for pioneering studies of self-assembly, photophysics, solution processing and properties of conjugated polymers. Robert H. Knopp, professor of medicine and a section head at Harborview Medical Center, was cited for "an outstanding record of research and teaching on the effects of diet, sex hormones and lipid-lowering medications on plasma lipoproteins and the prevention of coronary artery disease." Electrical Engineering Professor Deirdre Meldrum, '83, was made a fellow based on "innovative engineering research and leadership in genome automation."


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