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Arras and Fuentes win SCHEV award

Staff Report

Bioethicist John D. Arras and atmospheric scientist José D. Fuentes were honored by Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Feb. 23 during a ceremony at the Library of Virginia in Richmond for their excellence in teaching, research, knowledge integration and public service as recipients of the 2006 Outstanding Faculty Award, administered by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). They are among 15 outstanding faculty members from Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities to receive the award this year. 

“The commonwealth of Virginia benefits from the scholarly research and academic expertise of these dedicated instructors. Their accomplishments in the classroom, in the laboratory and in the field have helped place Virginia’s colleges and universities among the finest in the nation,” said Kaine in recognizing the award winners, selected from a pool of 87 candidates nominated by their peers.

“This year’s recipients come from many regions of the state and represent many different disciplines,” said Daniel J. LaVista, SCHEV executive director. “Yet all 15 have given of themselves to improve the lives of their students, their campus communities and the citizens of the commonwealth who benefit from their academic work and knowledge.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the awards program, considered the commonwealth’s highest honor for faculty members. With the addition of Arras and Fuentes, 27 U.Va. faculty have received an Outstanding Faculty Award from SCHEV since the program began.

Recipients each receive $5,000 and a commemorative engraved award. The program is funded by a grant from the Dominion Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dominion.

John Arras, the Porterfield Professor of Biomedical Ethics and professor of philosophy, joined U.Va.’s faculty in 1995 to create and direct an undergraduate bioethics program; 10 years later this program is still the only one of its kind in the United States. He has published extensively on physician-assisted suicide, research ethics and the conduct of international drug trials, as well as international human rights in the context of debates over avian flu and access to lifesaving AIDS medications.

Photo by Dan Addison

 

José Fuentes is a tenured associate professor of environmental sciences. He has been at U.Va. for 11 years. He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of atmospheric science, with particular emphasis on the physical, biological and chemical processes that control trace gas and energy exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere. As a faculty member, he engages students in hands-on learning in the laboratory and in field research projects, taking students on scientific voyages to places as distant as the North Pole and the Brazilian Rain Forest.

Photo by Dan Addison