Shannon von Kaldenberg has been named to the new position of assistant dean, External, in the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration. With more than 20 years of fund-raising experience in the health care and social services sectors, von Kaldenberg has been the director of Development in the university's Development Office for the last three years. In that role, she managed the transfer of the office from a campaign mode to an ongoing fund-raising program. She was also instrumental in helping to develop a more decentralized fund-raising model for UBC.

In her new role, von Kaldenberg will help lead the planned development activities of the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration.

Darren Lund, an Education PhD student, has earned the first-ever Harmony Award of Distinction. The special award was created to recognize the initiatives of the Students and Teachers Opposing Prejudice (STOP) program he founded in 1987. "A high school class I was teaching in Red Deer, Alta. wanted to speak out against racism," he recalls. "STOP now sponsors a province-wide poster and poetry contest, provides speakers for schools and youth conferences and is involved in everything from gender issues to Tibet independence and human rights in Nigeria."

Founded in 1994, the Harmony Movement is a non-profit, non-partisan, charitable organization dedicated to promoting harmony and diversity in Canada.

Prof. James Hogg of the Dept. of Pathology and Prof. Peter Pare of the Division of Respiratory Medicine have been awarded almost $4 million Cdn in research grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Hogg, who is director of Research at St. Paul's Hospital, will receive $430,000 US a year over four years to study a treatment for emphysema called lung volume reduction surgery. Pare was awarded $200,000 US annually for four years to study the mechanical changes in the airways of asthmatic patients.

The investigations will be done in the UBC Pulmonary Research Laboratory at St. Paul's Hospital.

Mary Bryson, associate professor, Dept. of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education and Suzanne de Castell, Education professor at SFU are co-recipients of the 1999 Wired Woman Society's Pioneer Award. The national award is given to women who are leaders in technology and new media. Bryson and de Castell's contributions to these fields have included combined work on the GenTech Project--an applied research project to create conditions in which women have access to, and confidence in, a wide range of information technologies. They have also conducted research into gender, technology and education.

The award will be presented at the Women in the Spotlight 2000 ceremony at the Hotel Vancouver on Feb. 18, which celebrates the achievements of Canadian women in entertainment, communications and new media.

UBC Thunderbirds football captain and defensive end Tyson St. James has earned the 1999 John P. Metras Trophy as the outstanding lineman in the Canadian Inter-university Athletic Union (CIAU). The Political Science student was also a unanimous choice for the first All-Canadian team for the second straight year.

Other UBC players who were named to the team for being the best in the country at their positions are: Aaron Baker, guard; Daaron Mcfield, defensive tackle; and Akbal Singh, the university's record-setting running back who was a runner-up for outstanding player. Wide receiver Brad Coutts was awarded second team All-Canadian status.