Awards and Accolades
Bernard Lagat, head coach for the men's and women's cross-country teams and assistant coach for the men's and women's track and field teams, has represented Kenya and the United States in five Olympic Games.
Dr. John Galgiani, professor of medicine and director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence
Ronald Stouffer, adjunct professor and research scientist, Department of Geosciences
Andrea Romero, vice provost for faculty affairs
Bernard Lagat named to Carnegie Corporation's Great Immigrants list
Carnegie Corporation of New York has named Bernard Lagat, head coach for the men's and women's cross-country teams and assistant coach for the men's and women's track and field teams, as one of its Great Immigrants for 2023. The philanthropic foundation each year honors a group of naturalized citizens who have enriched and strengthened American society and democracy.
Lagat was born in Kenya and represented that country in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, winning bronze and silver medals in the 1,500 meters, respectively. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 2004 and competed for the U.S. in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics. He founded the Bernard Lagat Foundation in 2004 to help Kenyan high school students pay tuition and in 2010 was named Humanitarian of the Year by USA Track and Field. He joined the University of Arizona in June 2021.
Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911, is a grantmaking organization that focuses on issues including education, democracy and international peace. This is the 18th year for the Great Immigrants program.
The honorees were recognized with a full-page ad in The New York Times and tributes on social media.
John Galgiani wins lifetime achievement award
Dr. John Galgiani, professor of medicine and director of the University's Valley Fever Center for Excellence, has been honored with the AZBio Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award, presented by AZBio, a nonprofit trade association supporting the growth of Arizona's life science sector, honors an Arizonan whose work has improved the quality of life for those in the Southwest and beyond. It is the highest honor the association awards.
Galgiani has spent four decades researching Valley fever, a respiratory disease caused by inhaling airborne spores of fungus. The disease is dangerous and potentially fatal, and more than half of all U.S. cases are reported in the state of Arizona, according to the center. Galgiani's contributions to the field include helping lead the establishment of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence in 1996; founding the Valley Fever Collaborative, an initiative between Arizona's three state universities dedicated to Valley fever research; and recently developing a vaccine for Valley fever, which has proven effective in dogs and is undergoing continued research for human use.
"Dr. Galgiani is a true pioneer," said Dr. Michael Abecassis, dean of the College of Medicine – Tucson, in a story about the award on the University of Arizona Health Sciences website. "This represents a momentous step forward in the fields of medical mycology and immunobiology, and stands to benefit millions of people."
Galgiani will be presented with the award during the AZBio Awards Ceremony on Sept. 27 in Phoenix.
Adjunct professor and scientist wins climate research award
Ronald Stouffer, adjunct professor and research scientist in the Department of Geosciences, has been honored with the has been honored with the Syukuro Manabe Climate Research Award. The American Meteorological Society presents the Manabe Award to individuals who have made significant contributions to the fundamental understanding of Earth's climate system. In its announcement, the society said it chose Stouffer in celebration of his "groundbreaking development of coupled atmosphere-ocean climate models with innovative applications to characterize and quantify global climate variability and change."
Stouffer has authored more than 120 research papers on the subject of climate change. During his years researching at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, he worked closely with the award's namesake, Syukuro Manabe, a renowned climatologist and meteorologist. Stouffer began teaching at the University in 2017. He has since aided in making the University the first higher education institution officially included in the World Climate Research Programme's Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, which focuses on research aimed at understanding the climate changes of the past, present and future.
Stouffer will be presented with the award at the American Meteorological Society's 104th annual meeting, to be held Jan. 28-Feb. 1, 2024, in Baltimore.
University honored with Delphi Award
The Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success at the University of Southern California's Pullias Center for Higher Education has named the University of Arizona a recipient of its 2023 Delphi Award. The Delphi Award is presented annually to two universities for their support of non-tenure-track, contingent and/or adjunct faculty in pursuing student learning and community engagement. The award comes with a $15,000 cash prize.
In its announcement, the center recognized the University for its focus on "bringing dignity and respect to contingent faculty employment and to recognize their significant contributions to students' success."
"We are proud to share our work," said Andrea Romero, vice provost for faculty affairs. "Through intentional efforts at first led by the Faculty Senate, significant changes have been made at the University of Arizona to develop a faculty career track that includes multiyear contracts, promotion pathways and retention efforts."
The University defines its career track faculty as those in non-tenure, benefits-eligible positions. Career track faculty members do not have the terms adjunct or visiting in their titles and are expected to continue from year to year.
The University of Arizona and Loyola Marymount University – the other 2023 Delphi Award recipient – will be honored in January at the American Association of Colleges and Universities annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
We want to know about your good news. If you, your team or a colleague has won any major awards, been honored nationally or internationally, or accomplished some other major feat that deserves recognition, let us know about it.
To submit your news, please send us an email with the following information:
- Name of the person, team or unit receiving the honor with full University titles.
- Information about the award/honor and the organization that granted it. Please include a link to the official announcement of the award/honor.
- When the honor was announced and when it will be presented (or was presented).
- A photo of the honoree. If others appear in the photo, please provide their names and identifying information, such as their University title or other affiliation.
Questions? Contact Lo Que Pasa at uaatwork@arizona.edu.
Isabel Miranda Kidwell is a student employee in the Office of Communications.