Awards & More

Pitt School of Social Work Dean and Donald M. Henderson Professor Larry E. Davis recently accepted the Significant Lifetime Achievement in Social Work Education Award at the Council on Social Work Education’s annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga.

            “Dean Davis’ dedication to issues of race, civil rights, and social justice are infused into his career, including scholarship, teaching, and service,” said Angela Pharris, chair of the award selection committee. “He is a leading scholar and significant contributor in the ongoing dialogue on race in America and its role in social justice, a foundation of social work education and practice.”

Distinguished Professor Emerita Marcia Landy received an honorary doctorate from Stockholm University this October. Landy is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top scholars of Italian films. Her most recent book, Cinema and Counter History, explores how films can influence historical narratives and portrayals of the past. She taught in Pitt’s Department of English in the Film Studies Program for nearly 50 years; Landy also taught courses in the French and Italian language departments.

Two Pitt professors have been named to the American Association for the Advancement of Science: David Waldeck, a professor in the Department of Chemistry known for his work with electron transfer in solvents, and Hrvoje Petek, the Richard King Mellon Professor of Physics and Astronomy, whose research involves manipulating matter with light, with applications in solar energy conversion and imaging or electronic phenomena in nanoscale materials. The awards, which honor “scientifically or socially distinguished” efforts, will be given in February at the AAAS meeting in Boston, Mass.

Assistant professor in the Graduate School of Public Health Jeremy Weber has been selected to serve on a panel of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on National Statistics. The purpose of the ad hoc panel is to review, assess, and make recommendations for the National Agricultural Statistics Service and the Economic Research Service, USDA, on effective methods for collecting data and reporting information. Weber studies the intersection of economics and energy.