Awards and honors

AWARDS

Dick Simpson, professor of political science, received a lifetime achievement award from the American Political Science Association’s political science education section in recognition of his contributions to political science that have had a
significant impact on undergraduate education. Simpson was honored in September in San Francisco during the association’s annual meeting.

Simpson is co-editor and contributor for Teaching Civic Engagement Across the Discipline, the American Political Science Association’s new ebook that explores the integration of civic engagement education and highlights best practices, techniques, principles and assessment.

HONORS

Szymon Machajewski, senior learning systems administrator, has been selected to participate in the Blackboard MVP Program. Run by education technology leader Blackboard Inc., the program consists of faculty members, administrators, educators and instructional designers who have proven themselves as leaders in the education technology community. Members of the program receive professional development training and are invited to private product briefings and roadmap sessions with Blackboard executives.

An article by Chan-ming Hsieh, associate professor of social work, was listed among the “Top 18 Impact African American Articles Noted in Top 5 Empirical Published Social Work Research Journals” in a study on how African Americans are represented currently in social work venues.

SCHOLARSHIPS

Naomi Ecanow, a senior in biochemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Honors College, has been awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the Military Order of the Purple Heart, a congressionally-chartered organization of recipients of the Purple Heart medal (combat-wounded military personnel) and their families. Ecanow’s qualifying Purple Heart recipient was her grandfather, the late Bernard Ecanow, who was a longtime faculty member of the College of Pharmacy and a recipient of both the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart for service in the Pacific during World War II.

Ecanow is in the GPPA-Medicine program and plans to attend the UIC College of Medicine after graduation. Her application for the scholarship was supported by Ralph Keen, dean of the Honors College and a hereditary member of the organization, and Robert Paul Malchow, associate professor of biological sciences.