$10,000 USIBELLI AWARD-WINNERS NAMED

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 1999

Fairbanks, Alaska - The winners of the 1999 Emil Usibelli Awards for Distinguished Teaching, Research and Service have been announced by University of Alaska Fairbanks Chancellor Joan Wadlow. Each of the faculty recognized for their achievements and contributions to UAF will receive a check for $10,000, to be presented at the final UAF Faculty Senate meeting of the year Monday, May 3 at
3:45 p.m. in the Wood Center Ballroom on campus.

The awards are funded from a $600,000 endowment made to UAF in 1992 by Usibelli Coal Mine, and are named in honor of Alaska pioneer Emil Usibelli, who founded the family coal mining business in Healy in 1943.

The recipient of the teaching award is Richard Benner, associate professor of chemistry; the research recipient is Glenn Shaw, professor of physics; and the award for service goes to Cecilia Martz, associate professor of Alaska Native Studies at the UAF Kuskokwim Campus.

Benner has distinguished himself as a teacher during his eight years at UAF. His students rate his courses and teaching style as "excellent."

"I consider my contribution to teaching at UAF to go well beyond the formal classroom setting," he said.

Benner took the lead in re-engineering the Atmospheric Sciences graduate curriculum, which now offers a core of five courses that effectively train students for careers as atmospheric chemists. He has developed several chemistry courses at the undergraduate level as well.

On average, Benner is a member of 10 graduate student committees and regularly includes graduate students in his research, as co-authors in his publications and at scientific conference presentations. His Ph.D. student Dennis Nicks entered the invention he worked on with Benner, a method of measuring sulfur pollutants in the atmosphere, in the National Collegiate Invention competition, where it earned a "Distinguished Contribution" award.

Benner has spoken to many classes of elementary and secondary students, and has made his laboratory and his expertise available to students preparing for the annual Alaska Science Fair.

Shaw is largely responsible for identifying the phenomenon know as "Arctic Haze," a type of air pollution that builds up in winter over the Arctic ice cap. He has spent much of his career studying the human health and climatic impacts of this phenomenon and is internationally respected for his groundbreaking work in this field.

His expertise in the area of global warming has led to his testifying before the U.S. Congress, and to his position, for the past four years, as an Institutional Trustee for the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which oversees an annual $200 million budget and directs atmospheric research around the world.

Shaw’s current work on cloud droplets has led to new discoveries, and to his invention, along with his students, of an instrument for measurement of droplets in clouds.

In addition to 150 publications, Shaw has written two books and holds two patents. His work will continue to help public policy makers and scientists around the world to make decisions about the impacts of global warming.

Martz is known throughout Alaska, nationally and internationally, for her work in cross-cultural education, Alaska Native studies and the teaching of Yup’ik language and culture. She has written textbooks and has developed courses for students and instructors.

She teaches her cross-cultural communication courses to organizations from school districts in Alaska to state agencies in Montana and Washington. Martz is an Extended Team Member for the Smithsonian Institution and advises their anthropologists on Yup’ik artifacts and exhibits. She is an active member of many organizations, including the Alaska Federation of Natives and the Alaska Native Educators Consortium, where she has been instrumental in the development of Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools.

Martz has been a keynote speaker and presenter at education conferences in Alaska and Canada and has participated in many radio and television broadcasts. Her service to UAF includes her work as a student adviser and guest lecturer, and she has guided professors using audio conferencing for classes.

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CONTACT: UAF Public Information Officer Debra Damron, (907) 474-7122.

DPD/4-27-99/99-070