Prof. Derek Atkins has been appointed associate vice-president, Planning. He will be involved with all aspects of academic planning within UBC, with particular reference to the new Academic Plan and Trek 2000. Atkins will report to Vice-President, Academic and Provost, Barry McBride as well as Vice-President, Research, Bernie Bressler.

Atkins has served as dean pro tem in the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration for the past two years. He was also the associate dean and division chair in the faculty, as well as chair of the Senate Budget Committee. His expertise in research, teaching and consultancy has been in the area of operations, management and planning for a variety of organizations.

Atkins will begin the job later this month.

Curriculum Studies Asst. Prof. Kit Grauer recently received the Pacific Region's Art Educator of the Year award from the National Art Education Association (NAEA) in Washington, D.C.

Grauer was recognized for her university teaching and for her extensive participation in art education locally, nationally and internationally.

Association president Michael Day said Grauer exemplifies the high quality of individuals involved in the field of art education today.

Grauer, winner of a UBC Killam Teaching Prize in 1994, is president of the International Society for Education through Art (InSEA), an organization that represents 88 countries.

Applied Science Dean Michael Isaacson and Civil Engineering Prof. Liam Finn have been named fellows of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC). They are among four engineers from Vancouver to earn the recognition for exceptional contributions to engineering in Canada.

Isaacson, a professor of Civil Engineering, joined UBC in 1976. His primary research interests are coastal and offshore hydrodynamics.

Finn, who joined the university in 1961, retired from teaching in December. His particular expertise is earthquake engineering design and offshore engineering, for which he is internationally renowned.

Prof. Douglas Pulleyblank, acting head of Linguistics, has been named a faculty adviser to the 52nd annual summer seminar of the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) in Zimbabwe.

A specialist in African languages, Pulleyblank and another adviser will accompany 20 Canadian students on a six-week study and research seminar in May.

The annual seminar counts many distinguished alumni, including former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, as well as many current UBC faculty and staff. More than 60 UBC students have participated in the seminar since its inception.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has presented Mechanical Engineering Prof. Emeritus Vinod Modi with its highest award of achievement.

Modi earned the 1999 AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award "for his extraordinarily significant contributions to the literature of aerospace vehicle dynamics, controls and robotics, and for his pervasive academic impact upon several generations of dynamics and control students."

Modi is the first Canadian to receive the Pendray award which was created in 1951.