First USEM fellows chosen

By Louise Dudley

Demonstrating the close ties between innovative research and teaching, two U.Va. professors known for their dedication to both have been selected to receive the University's first Storrs and Shaughnessy University-Seminars Sabbatical Fellowships, President John T. Casteen III has announced.

The two competitive fellowships, granting a semester's research leave at full pay, are open to faculty members who have taught in the University Seminars program, which features leading professors in small, intensive classes designed to promote critical-thinking skills for first-year students. The resulting research projects are aimed at publishable works that will become the subject of future USEMs.

The first two winners of the new fellowships, named for two University alumni who have strongly supported the USEM program, are:

• Farzaneh Milani, associate professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Culture and of Women's Studies, who will work on a book titled Remapping the Cultural Geography of Iran: Woman, Mobility, and Space. She will receive the Storrs Fellowship, named for Thomas I. Storrs of Charlotte, N.C.
  
  
• Sarah Farrell, assistant professor of nursing, will work on a research effort titled "Mental Health Technology Intervention Project for Rural Under-served in Primary Care." She will hold the Shaughnessy Fellowship, encouraging work on innovative uses of new technologies and named for Dennis J. Shaughnessy of Baltimore.

"The University Seminars program stresses intellectual challenges and is a wonderful introduction to the excitement of scholarship for first-year students," Casteen said. "These two outstanding teachers, who have long demonstrated innovative ideas and have been highly successful in the USEM program, exemplify what we strive for in our educational process."

Milani and Farrell were selected by a committee from a range of top applicants who have taught at least one USEM.

The new fellowship program recognizes the long-time dedication of two U.Va. alumni. It was named in honor of Storrs by the Alumni Board of Trustees at the time of his retirement from that board, in gratitude for his extended service and, in particular, his oversight of its endowment. Storrs, a 1940 graduate of the College of Arts & Sciences, is chair emeritus of Bank of America. He has also served on the boards of Arts & Sciences and the Darden School.

Shaughnessy, a 1969 graduate of the College who has been an active member of the Baltimore alumni chapter, is managing director of Grotech Capital Group, a private venture capital company. The fellowship recognizes his continuing support of innovations within the curriculum, especially those that incorporate new technologies in teaching and research.