Abe Bakhsheshy, Ph.D., was honored recently with a Faculty Recognition Award from the Center for Disability Services for his dedication to students with disabilities. Center Director Joe Pete Wilson said, “Dr. Baksheshy’s commitment to teaching and helping students learn and master class materials is an inspiration to all of us.” One student commented, “Dr. Abe made me feel really comfortable about my disability by addressing my questions and concerns in a thoughtful manner.”

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Pictured above: Jan Crispin and Josh Paulsen at The Orangerie in Red Butte Garden. (Julia Beynon was unable to attend the awards presentation.)

On July 18, three U of U staff members were honored at the first annual University District Awards, held during a staff ice cream social at The Orangerie in Red Butte Garden. The award recipients, honored for their dedicated service to the University and their respective departments, included Julia Beynon, nurse manager for the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at University Hospital; Jan Crispin, senior research analyst at the Bureau of Economic & Business Research; and Josh Paulsen, marketing analyst with University Marketing & Communications.

The University campus is divided into seven districts, including the University Hospital and Clinics. This year, 24 outstanding staff were nominated for the district awards, out of which six will be chosen—including the three honorees mentioned above—to receive the Presidential Staff Awards at a luncheon on Thursday, September 21st. (Information about Presidential Staff Awards will be forthcoming in the September newsletter).

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Veteran coach and former University of Iowa standout Debbie Bilbao has joined the University of Utah softball coaching staff, announced head coach Angie Jacobs. Bilbao, a Sandy, Utah, native, is working with the pitchers. Bilbao joins new assistant coach Brandon Twiss, who was named to the Ute coaching staff just a week before. “Debbie brings a wealth of experience to our program, not only as a pitching coach but in all facets of the game,” said Jacobs. “Being a Utah native, she is going to have a command of the talent in state and that will be a big benefit to our program in the future.” More...

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Diana I. Brixner PhD’87 has been elected president of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. Brixner is chairwoman of pharmacotherapy at the U's College of Pharmacy and serves as executive director of the Pharmacy Outcomes Research Center at the U. Her clinical practice and research areas include pain management outcomes and drug delivery systems. AM

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Steven R. Edgley, M.D., is the new medical director of the stroke rehabilitation center at University Hospital. Edgley got his medical knowledge two ways: medical school and his own recovery from a massive stroke at age 28. While others in his field may have similar medical and technological know-how, Edgley’s patients will have the added bonus of his considerable empathy.

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Jimmy Elgas has been named director of basketball operations at the University of Utah. Elgas has been working on the college basketball scene since 1991, most recently spending six seasons at Kansas State. Elgas graduated from Illinois State in 1993 and spent two seasons as a student assistant coach with the Redbirds (1991-93). U of U basketball coach Ray Giacoletti was an assistant coach with Illinois State at that time.

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The University of Utah football team has five players honored as preseason All-Mountain West by CollegeFootballNews.com. The Web site lists Ute quarterback Brian Johnson as the MWC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year while defensive back Eric Weddle gets the nod as MWC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Joining Johnson and Weddle on the All-MWC first team are wide receiver Brian Hernandez, offensive lineman Tavo Tupola,and linebacker Casey Evans. Offensive lineman Jason Boone and defensive lineman Kelly Talavou were both named to the Preseason All-MWC Second Team. Utah also has garnered a No. 15 preseason ranking from Lindy’s Sports Annuals, which released its 2006 national college football preview recently. The publication proclaims that Utah is “this season’s designated BCS buster.” Lindy’s says the Utes “are on the verge of becoming BCS regulars.” In addition to the national ranking, Lindy’s predicts Utah to win the Mountain West Conference.

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Mark A. Glick has been named to the expanding litigation team of Affinity Technology Group, Inc. (OTCBB:AFFI). Glick is a professor of Economics at the University of Utah and Of Counsel in the litigation department of the law firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer in Salt Lake City. His law practice includes an extensive focus on damages, financial analysis, and royalty evaluation in intellectual property cases. Glick holds a doctorate from the New School for Social Research along with a J.D. from Columbia University. His publications include “Intellectual Property Damages: Guidelines and Analysis.”

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Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., a University of Utah professor of American History with a focus on the 20th century, has been named director of the U’s Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center on the U campus. As director, Goldberg will be responsible for planning annual lectures, conferences, readings, discussion panels and educational workshops for teachers. He plans to use his three-year term to build on the center’s 18-year history, while expanding humanities programs into the larger Utah community.

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David Plumlee and Marlene Plumlee have been selected for one-year terms as Academic Accounting Fellows of the Securities and Exchange Commission beginning this month. David Plumlee is a professor of Accounting and David Eccles Scholar at the University of Utah. He has also held faculty appointments at the Universities of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kansas, and Kansas State prior to moving to the University of Utah in 1997. He has served as the associate editor of The Accounting Review and on the editorial boards of a number of other top accounting journals. Marlene Plumlee is an associate professor and David Eccles Faculty Fellow at the U, where she has taught since receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1997. Marlene currently serves on the editorial board of The Accounting Review. Both have been published in top accounting journals including that periodical and the Journal of Accounting Research.

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Sue Ranglack was named 2006 Poet of the Year by the Utah State Poetry Society (USPS), which will publish her collection Shouting from the Book of Orange at the end of September. Ranglack is working on a teaching certificate at the University of Utah. Last year, Ranglack won a national college student competition sponsored by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. In addition, she won the sweepstakes category at the USPS festival every year since 2001.

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Scott Ward BA’80 (Physical Therapy) PhD’94 (Physiology), P.T., director of the Physical Therapy program at the U, was elected president of the American Physical Therapy Association in June. Ward previously served as member of the Association's board of directors, and as chair of the Rehabilitation Committee, American Burn Association. His research interests relate to wound care and burn rehabilitation. He has published in the area of sensory recovery in healing wounds from a histological and psychophysical perspective, as well as on several topics related to the rehabiltiation of patients with burns.

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University of Utah President Michael K. Young has been appointed to the Utah Technology Council board of trustees. He joins eight other new members: Kory Christensen, a partner at Stoel Rives law firm; Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon; Kent Erickson, a vice president at Novell; Patti Harrington, State Superintendent of Public Instruction for Utah; Robert Hatch, president and chief executive of Wells Fargo Utah; Richard Koehn, president and chief executive of Sentrx Animal Care; Dinesh Patel, a partner at vSpring Capital; and Jane Stickel, director of Regulatory Affairs for BD Medical.

Find out more about University of Utah faculty, staff, and student achievements at Recognizing U, a U of U site created to showcase their outstanding efforts and congratulate the honorees and recipients for their excellence.