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Spring 2004 | Vol. 12, No. 1
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 Educational
psychology professor Gregory Schraw and anthropology professor Alan
Simmons were named the 2004 Barrick Distinguished Scholars, which
recognizes the achievements of faculty members with more than 10 years
of service. Schraw was noted as the second most-published educational psychologist
of the past five years in a recent productivity study. His research focuses
on how people monitor their own thinking, how individuals experience spontaneous
interest in a phenomenon, the assumptions about the origin and acquisition
of knowledge, and the impact of highlighting relevant information when
teaching. Simmons has spent more than 25 years studying the Neolithic Revolution,
the period in which humans adopted food production strategies beyond hunting
and gathering.
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| Psychology
professor Daniel Allen and geosciences professor Zhongbo
Yu received the 2004 Barrick Scholar Awards, which recognizes
faculty with 10 or fewer years of service. Allen's work primarily focuses
on the origin of schizophrenia. He has identified at least four schizophrenia
subtypes and hopes that by better understanding the functional brain abnormalities
specific to each subtype, further advances in preventing and treating the
devastating illness can be made. Yu has developed a graduate program in
hydrology and hydrogeology and has secured more than $1 million in research
funding. Yu's research has included studies of groundwater contamination
at Yucca Mountain.
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| Michael
Bowers was named vice provost for academic affairs. He joined
the political science department in 1988, was promoted to full professor
in 1995, and was serving as department chair before the promotion. He
also served as assistant/associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts
for 11 years.
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| Civil
engineering professor Shashi Nambisan received the 2003
Outstanding Educator Award from the Institute of Transportation Engineering.
The award recognizes his accomplishments in teaching, research, and service
to the profession. Nambisan was nominated for the award by his students
and has involved more than 90 graduate and undergraduate students and 20
high school students in his research efforts. He is the director of UNLV's
Transportation Research Center, which was created in 1988 to promote and
conduct transportation-related research and policy analysis. Along with
his UNLV colleagues and students, Nambisan has studied new and emerging
technologies to improve transportation safety and efficiency.
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| Sam
Connally was named the university's new associate vice president
for human resources and affirmative action. He comes with 23 years' experience
in the human resources field. Most recently, he served as assistant to
the chancellor and human resources director of the University of North
Carolina at Wilmington. Previously, he worked at North Carolina State
University at Raleigh and served as a chaplain with the U.S. Army's 82nd
Airborne Division.
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| Hamrick Named Athletics Director | |
"Great public universities have strong ties to the communities in which they are located, and athletics provides a way for people to connect with the campus," Hamrick said. "At the same time, teams just don't win championships without loyal fans cheering them on. By inviting people in the community to be part of our university family through athletics, we hope to create an environment for our student-athletes to grow as individuals, as players, and as scholars." Hamrick previously was director of intercollegiate athletics at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. He has also served as athletics director at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and in several assistant athletic director positions. He began his career with the UNLV internship. Under Hamrick's leadership, East Carolina had no major NCAA violations, doubled its athletics budget, doubled season football ticket sales to 17,000, and increased single-game attendance significantly. Hamrick led the development of a comprehensive gender equity plan that increased scholarships for female student-athletes by 167 percent. At the same time, the school's studentathlete graduation rates well exceeded national averages (at 66 percent). Under his leadership, East Carolina spent $46 million improving and building athletic facilities, and he raised $16.8 million in private funds to construct a strength and conditioning/ multipurpose building and a baseball stadium/office complex. Hamrick earned a master's degree in sports administration from Ohio University. He also has a bachelor's degree in education from Marshall University in West Virginia, where he was on a football scholarship as a starting linebacker. |
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