Awards & More

Pitt Office of Public Affairs’ representatives attended the 26th Annual Robert L. Vann Awards and Reception, sponsored by the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation. From left, Sharon S. Blake, senior news representative; Amanda Leff, news representative; Ervin Dyer, Pitt Magazine senior editor; Anthony M. Moore, news and information specialist; and Cindy Gill, Pitt Magazine editor-in-chief. Blake, Leff, Dyer, and Gill won awards for their writing during the May 7 event held in the William Pitt Union.

The University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Affairs received six awards during the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation’s 26th Annual Robert L. Vann Awards and Reception on May 7 in the William Pitt Union.

Photographer Harry Giglio and Gary Cravener, art director for Pitt Magazine, were the sole winners in the “Magazine Illustration” category for “Flying Lessons” in the magazine’s Winter 2008 issue.

In the “Magazine Features” category, Pitt Magazine won a first-place award with Senior Editor Ervin Dyer’s “Charles Florence, the Great Debater” article in the Summer 2008 issue. Pitt Med took a third-place award with Cassandra Zinchini’s article, “Twins: A Pitt Partnership Helps Train Mozambique’s Newest Doctors” in the Spring 2008 issue.

Pitt Magazine won second place in the “Magazine Business Feature” category with Editor-in-Chief Cindy Gill’s “The M Factor, Audrey Murrell and Mentoring” in the Spring 2008 issue

The Pitt Chronicle placed second in the “Newspaper Series” category with its “Black History Month Series,” written by Sharon S. Blake, Amanda Leff, Morgan Kelly, and Jane-Ellen Robinet.

Finally, Robert Hill, vice chancellor for public affairs, won first place in the “Magazine Public Affairs” category with his May 14, 2008, “Address to African American Chamber of Commerce,” published in Blue Gold & Black 2008.

Three researchers, an associate dean, and a journalist from the University of Pittsburgh received 2009 Carnegie Science Awards, which recognize and promote individuals and corporations in Western Pennsylvania who contribute to and support outstanding science and technology achievements.

This year’s awardees included Yuan Chang and Patrick Moore, an internationally renowned husband-wife research team at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and professors in Pitt’s School of Medicine. Chang is a professor of pathology, and Moore is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics as well as a professor in the Department of Infectious Disease and Microbiology in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health. They received the Life Sciences award for their discovery of two different viruses that cause human cancers: Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, the cause of a common malignancy occurring in AIDS patients, and Merkel cell carcinoma, an aggressive and deadly form of skin cancer.

John F. Mahoney is an associate dean for medical education and a  professor of emergency medicine in Pitt’s School of Medicine. He received the University/Post-Secondary Educator award for his success in developing and disseminating innovative curricula for the next generation of physicians, including a medical school curriculum on bioterrorism and public health preparedness.

Joe Miksch, the associate editor of Pitt Med magazine, received the Journalism award for his coverage of research, clinical, and curricular advancements in the Pitt School of Medicine.

Donna J. Haworth, a Pitt doctoral student in bioengineering, received the Post-Secondary Student Award.

The awardees were honored May 8 during a celebration in Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland.

Daniel Budny was elected a fellow in the American Society for Engineering Education. He is a professor of civil engineering and  director of freshman engineering programs in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering.

Paul Daniel Patterson, a research assistant professor in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine, received a grant from the ASHRM Foundation. The grant will help fund Patterson’s research proposal, “The Effect of Communication Patterns in the Emergency Department on Quality and Performance.” The foundation was established in 2004 by the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management.

Tia-Lynn Ashman, a professor of plant evolutionary ecology in  the University of Pittsburgh School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of  Biological Sciences, received an international planning grant from the National Science Foundation. She will collaborate with two scientists from the Estación Biológica de Doñana in Seville, Spain, on a project to study the relationship between plant-pollinator interactions and biodiversity.

The University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Affairs received 12 awards—including four Gold—in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District II 2009 Accolades Awards Program. The awards were presented March 23 in Baltimore, Md.

Public Affairs received a Gold award in the category “Special Events: Individual Events” for its Feb. 1, 2008, world-premiere screening of Fly Boys: Western Pennsylvania’s Tuskegee Airmen, a WQED-produced video documentary about the Tuskegee Airmen. Funding for the documentary was provided by Pitt, the Alcoa Foundation, and the Pittsburgh Foundation.

The by-invitation premiere, which marked Pitt’s inaugural event in the K. Leroy Irvis Black History Month Program, was held in Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum and Memorial in Oakland. The Tuskegee event also won a Silver award in the “Individual Special Public Relations Projects” category. The invitations to the world-premiere screening won a Silver award in the category “Visual Design and Print: Single Page Publication.”

Finally, the world premiere also won a Bronze award in the category “Community Relations Programs, Projects, and Special Events.”

Gold Accolades awards were won by both Pitt Med magazine and Pitt Magazine in the general “Staff Writing” category. In addition, Pitt Med Associate Editor Joe Miksch’s article, “The Investigator’s Path,” in the magazine’s Summer 2008 issue won a Gold award in the “Best Article” category. That same Pitt Med issue won a Silver award for its “Showtime” cover in the “Visual Design and Print: Covers” category.

The PITT ARTS Web site (www.pittarts.pitt.edu <http://www.pittarts.pitt.edu> ) received a Silver award in the “Website: Student Recruitment” category.

Bronze honors were awarded for the 2007 Report of Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg in the “Annual or Institutional Reports” category and, in the “Best Article” category, for the “Greening of Vandergrift,” by Pitt Magazine Senior Editor Cara J. Hayden, in the Winter 2009 issue.

Finally, Pitt Magazine won an Honorable Mention in the category “Magazines: 4-Year Colleges/Universities, 4-Color.”

Also at the awards gala, the Office of Alumni Relations received a Silver award in “Website: Alumni Relations” for its Pitt Alumni Association Web Site (www.alumni.pitt.edu <http://www.alumni.pitt.edu> ), and the School of Engineering received an Honorable Mention in the “Website: Fundraising Development” category for Building a School, One Web Page at a Time, the Benedum Hall Transformation Web Site (www.engr.pitt.edu/transformation).