KINGSTON, R.I. — October 3, 2000 — The following honors and appointments involving University of Rhode Island faculty or staff were recently announced: Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Graduate student Dana Bauer received a Switzer Foundation Environmental Fellowship. Bauer’s $13,000 fellowship is designed to further the research and education of students who are working toward improving the quality of the natural environment. Applicants for Switzer Fellowships are evaluated based on their commitment to environmental problem solving and their potential for initiating environmental change. Bauer, of Newport, will spend her one-year fellowship developing a proposal for her doctoral dissertation and continuing her research into public preferences for rural land use. Howard Ginsberg, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey located at the University of Rhode Island, was named the Natural Resources Researcher of the Year by the National Park Service. Ginsberg was recognized for his extensive research on the ecology and management of ticks and mosquitoes in national parks and for his research on the natural transmission of vector-borne diseases like Lyme disease. The American Association of Teachers of German will present in November its annual Outstanding German Educator Award and the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation Scholarship to John M. Grandin, professor of German at the University of Rhode Island and director of the URI International Engineering Program. The award includes funding to attend a one-week seminar in Berlin. The Checkpoint Charlie Foundation was established by the Berlin State House of Representatives to support German-American relations. Grandin is a resident of Wakefield. Grant Huffman, a URI alumnus with a degree in Journalism, and Erica Collins, a URI senior Journalism major, have been awarded the Volunteer of the Year Award for their documentary “Gimmie Shelter — Homeless in Rhode Island.” The documentary won awards in the ’98 and ’99 URI Film Festival and was accepted into the ’99 Rhode Island International Film Festival. Huffman is a resident of Providence and Collins is a resident of Carolina. Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Research Assistant Professor Marisa Mazzotta was awarded a $75,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Mazzotta’s grant will enable her to study how economists can link with other disciplines to further the study of ecosystem management and environmental policy. Her grant is through the NSF Professional Opportunities for Women in Research and Education program, which is designed to increase the participation, prominence and influence of women in science and engineering by funding significant research at a critical career stage. The Conference on College Composition and Communications (CCCC) selected Elizabeth Miles, of Peacedale, to receive the 2000 CCCC James Berlin Outstanding Dissertation Award. Miles, an associate professor in the URI English Department’s College Writing Program, completed her dissertation on “Building Rhetorics of Production: An Institutional Critique of Composition Textbook Publishing.” The award was established nine years ago to recognize a graduate whose dissertation improves the educational process through research or scholarly inquiry or adds to the body of knowledge in composition studies. CCCC is a constituent group for college teachers of writing within the National Council of Teachers of English. William J. Ohley, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Rhode Island, was selected by the National Institutes of Health to serve as a member of the Diagnostic Radiology Study Section, Center for Scientific Review. Ohley will review grant applications submitted to the Institutes, make recommendations on these applications to the appropriate National Institutes of Health national advisory council or board, and survey the status of research in their fields of science. Ohley, of Peacedale, is serving a four-year term that began on July 1. For Information: Jan Sawyer, 401-874-2116, Jennifer Smith, 401-874-2116