• English professor Rita Felski has been awarded the 2000 William Riley Parker Prize for the best article in the Modern Language Association¹s PMLA journal this year for her essay, ³Nothing to Declare: Identity, Shame and the Lower Middle Class.²

• The Albemarle County Historical Society has given K. Edward Lay, architecture professor emeritus, its Nalle Prize for his book, The Architecture of Jefferson Country, published by the University Press of Virginia. Lay, who receives $5,000 as part of the award, shared the previous Nalle Prize with two co-authors when it was last awarded 11 years ago.

• Mildred Best, assistant professor of chaplaincy at the University Health System, has been appointed by the president of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education Inc. to its National Strategic Plan Monitoring Taskforce. The U.S. Secretary of Education recognizes the ACPE as an accrediting agency in the field of clinical pastoral education.

• Commonwealth Professor of English Rita Dove was one of six panelists at a Nov. 28 White House Conference on Culture and Diplomacy. Attendees included representatives of foreign governments, religious groups and international organizations, U.S. government officials and diplomats, corporate leaders, academics, artists, media representatives and individuals from cultural institutions.

Dove participated on a panel with President Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Professor Wole Soyinka, His Highness the Aga Khan, Yo-Yo Ma, Her Excellency Giovanna Melandri, and The Honorable Joan E. Spero.

• Margaret Miller, visiting professor at the Curry School, is on the panel of judges for the TIAA-CREF-sponsored Hesburgh Award, a $30,000 prize given to the institution that has the best faculty development program aimed at improving undergraduate instruction. The winning institution will receive the award at the annual American Council on Education conference.