Awards and honors

Awards

UIC Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs J. Rex Tolliver was among the recipients of the All Black Boss Awards, sponsored by The BOSS Network, during an October ceremony at the Palmer House.

Dr. Heidi Schlipphacke, associate professor in the Department of Germanic Studies, won the Goethe Society of North America prize “for the best essay published in 2018 on Goethe, his times, and/or contemporary figures.” The essay, “Kinship and Aesthetic Depth: The Tableau Vivant in Goethe’s Wahlverwandtschaften,” appeared in the “Publications of the English Goethe Society.”

Rhonda Laylo, executive assistant in the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs office, was named winner of NACAS Central Volunteer of the Year Award by ChicagoNACAS, the largest auxiliary and ancillary services support organization serving higher education.

Dr. Irum Khan, a specialist in MPNs and related diseases at the University of Illinois Cancer Center, was named the 2019 MPN Heroes winner in the Commitment to Broader Community category. Dr. Khan has dedicated herself to helping patients living with MPNs and patients without resources to independently manage their own care.

Honors

Annette Valenta, professor emerita of biomedical and health information sciences, has been named a fellow in the American College of Medical Informatics. She is among nine leaders in the field who were inducted Nov. 17 during the American Medical Informatics Association 2019 Annual Symposium in Washington, D.C.

Scholarships

Seema Sheoran, a doctoral student in biological sciences, was awarded a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service, also known as Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD). The scholarship, which is funded by the German government, allowed her to conduct one month of dissertation research earlier this semester at the University of Würzburg, where she sought to advance her technical skills in electron microscopy to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying neurotransmission.

UIC student Jose Acebedo received a scholarship from the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus Foundation and spoke at the group’s 5th annual gala in October about his experiences and plans for higher education.