Superbugs to superconductivity, Ibsen to art education–that’s
the span of excellence being honoured with this year’s top prizes
for science research and achievement in arts education and performance
at the University of British Columbia.
Microbiology and Immunology Prof. Bob Hancock has earned the Prof.
Jacob Biely Faculty Research Prize and Prof. Doug Bonn of the Physics
and Astronomy Dept. received the Charles A. McDowell Award for Excellence
in Research.
Graeme Chalmers, a professor of Curriculum Studies in the Faculty
of Education, has been selected for the Sam Black Award for Education
and Development in Arts and Errol Durbach, a professor of Theatre
and English in the Faculty of Arts, earned the Dorothy Somerset
Award for Performance and Development in Arts.
Hancock, who joined UBC in 1978, directs the Centre for Microbial
Diseases and Host Defense Research. Studying the antibiotic-resistant
mutant superbugs and developing new antibiotics is the focus of
his work.
Bonn joined the Faculty of Science in 1994. He has an international
reputation for his expertise in high temperature superconductivity
and how electrons respond to microwave and infrared radiation.
The awards they will receive are named for former UBC researchers.
Prof. Emeritus Charles McDowell headed UBC’s Chemistry Dept. for
26 years. Biely, an international poultry scientist, was a UBC faculty
member from 1935-68.
For Chalmers and Durbach the awards they will receive have personal
significance — they pay tribute to legendary figures at the university
who were mentors and friends.
Sam Black, whose 41-year association with the university began
in 1958 as a professor of Fine Arts and Art Education was on the
search committee that hired Chalmers in 1975.
Interested in the socio-cultural foundations of international
art, Chalmers served as chief examiner in Art/Design for the International
Baccalaureate Organization, vice-president of the International
Society for Education through Art, and is editor of Studies in
Art Education.
Durbach, a world authority on Ibsen, joined UBC’s English Dept.
in 1967. He quickly earned a joint appointment in Theatre and became
active in the Frederic Wood Theatre, which Dorothy Somerset helped
create out of an army canteen hut in 1951.
“I was inspired by Dorothy’s view of theatre as an important force
for good in the community and it is quite wonderful to be associated
with this great lady,” he says.
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