Professor receives national award

Valentino J. Stella, distinguished professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, will receive the 2004 UNICO National Marconi Science Award at a ceremony March 13 in Phoenix.

UNICO, based in Fairfield, N.J., was founded in 1922 to support the charitable, educational, scientific and literary projects of individuals of Italian heritage.

Born in Australia to parents of Italian descent, Stella moved to the United States in 1968 and became a U.S. citizen in 1994.

Stella was on the faculty of the University of Illinois Medical Center from 1971 to 1973, when Takeru Higuchi, distinguished professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, convinced Stella to return to Lawrence. Since returning, Stella has had a remarkable career at KU.

Stella invented or co-invented two drugs: Cerebyx for the treatment of epilepsy and Viread for the treatment of AIDS. He also developed a new solubilizing agent, Captisol, used to dissolve intractable drugs for injectable use.

International institute taps assistant dean of grad school

John Augusto, assistant dean of the Graduate School, will leave KU at the end of April to serve as director of academic programs for the nonprofit institute Future Generations.

Based in Franklin, W.V., Future Generations offers a master’s degree in applied community change and conservation. Its four campuses are in Tibet, India, Peru and West Virginia.

Augusto has been an assistant dean of KU’s Graduate School for eight years.

KU professor of nursing named to national health advisory body

Judith Warren, associate professor of nursing, has been named one of five new members of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, an advisory body to the Department of Health and Human Services. The committee has issued numerous recommendations covering the development and implementation of HIPAA rules and is studying clinical data content and interoperability standards for voluntary adoption.

Edwards Campus names director of information technology

Joseph Lorino is joining the KU Edwards Campus as director of information technology. He will oversee campus technology-related resources and services at the Overland Park campus. Lorino formerly was a lab assistant at the Edwards Campus and was an assistant to the director of information technology for two years. Prior to his appointment, Lorino worked at Cisco Systems.

LAN support supervisor named to ‘who’s who’ list

Travis Berkley, supervisor for LAN support services, was named on a national list of “who’s who” in the Network World Lab Alliance in the Feb. 23 issue of Network World. Berkley’s focus areas were listed as messaging and collaboration.

Medieval history professor to present inaugural lecture

Steven Epstein, Ahmanson-Murphy distinguished professor of medieval history, will present “Medieval Physiognomy and Ethnic Identity” at 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 12, in the Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union. Epstein will speak about how physiognomy once served as a respectable and scientific theory of human difference that provided testable answers to questions.