Richard Spratley has been named acting associate vice-president, Research, effective Aug. 1.

Spratley, who will continue as the director of Research Services, was a founding member and past-president of the Canadian Association of University Research Administrators.

In his new role, Spratley is responsible for new research initiatives at UBC, including those involving the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He will serve in this capacity for the duration of David Dolphin's term as acting vice-president, Research.

Margaret Landstrom is the new director of Extra-Sessional Studies in Continuing Studies.

Landstrom has been the director of Continuing Education at the University of Windsor for the last 25 years.

In her new role at UBC, Landstrom will focus on bringing learning closer to the community.

UBC Extra-Sessional Studies administers degree-credit courses for learners who wish to pursue degrees on a part-time basis.

Linda Svendsen, associate professor and chair of the Creative Writing Program, recently received two screenwriting awards for At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story. It aired on CBC Television last fall.

Svendsen received a Top Ten Award from the Writer's Guild of Canada, as well as a Leo Award for Best Screenplay - Picture. The Leo Awards honour excellence in film and television in B.C.

Svendsen's previous work includes a screen adaptation of Margaret Laurence's The Diviners. A collection of her short stories, Marine Life, has been adapted for feature film and began production recently under the direction of renowned Alberta director Anne Wheeler.

John Willinsky, a professor of Language Education, has received the American Education Research Association's 1999 Outstanding Book Award for Learning to Divide the World: Education at Empire's End. The book examines the relationship between education and imperialism.

The association, the largest group of professional educational researchers in the world, gives the award annually in recognition of the best book-length publication in educational research and development.

Fine Arts Assoc. Prof. Ken Lum is one of only four Canadian recipients of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships for 1999.

Lum was among 179 American and Canadian scholars and artists selected from a field of nearly 2,800 for awards totaling $6.1 million (US).

Combining photographic images and textual narrative, Lum has achieved international critical acclaim for his work which has been shown in New York, London, Milan, Amsterdam and Paris. He has a Master of Fine Arts degree from UBC.

UBC alumnus Amit Chakma, dean of Engineering at the University of Regina, has won the prestigious Top 40 Under 40 Award for his innovative work in chemical engineering.

Chakma's research concentrates on finding ways to use fossil fuels as an energy resource efficiently and with limited damage to the environment.

A national program founded and managed by the Caldwell Partners, a leading Canadian executive search firm, the award honors Canadians who have distinguished themselves in their chosen field but have not yet reached the age of 40.

Professor emeritus and Nobel prizewinner Michael Smith has received the 1999 Royal Bank Award in recognition of his contribution to science and for encouraging youth to pursue careers in science.

Director of Vancouver's Genome Sequence Centre, Smith is a pioneer of gene research. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993 for his work in decoding DNA, the building blocks of genes.

Smith will receive $125,000 and a gold medal at a ceremony later this year. A companion grant of an equal amount will go to a Canadian charity designated by Smith to be announced at the presentation.

Former winners of the award include advocate for physically disabled persons Rick Hansen, architect Arthur Erickson and geneticist David Suzuki.

Angus Livingstone has been appointed managing director of the University-Industry Liaison Office (UILO).

Serving as the UILO associate director since 1995, Livingstone's technical specialties are in the fields of software, copyright and multimedia systems.

The UILO, established in 1984, is responsible for protecting the university's intellectual property assets, licensing research discoveries and developing spin-off companies formed around UBC technologies.

Earth and Ocean Sciences Assoc. Prof. Lee Groat was recently awarded the Young Scientist Medal by the Mineralogical Association of Canada.

Awarded only once previously, the medal recognizes outstanding scientists under the age of 40 for their research in the field of mineralogy.

Groat is currently helping to develop the Canadian Light Source, one of the largest single science and technology projects in the country. Once completed in 2003, it will be counted among the brightest X-ray sources in North America.

Agnes Papke, executive director of the UBC Alumni Association, has been appointed to a three-year term on the Commission on Alumni Relations for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), based in Washington, D.C.

CASE is an international organization providing education professionals in alumni relations, communications and fund raising with essential tools to advance their institution.

Alumni Judy Chapman and Peter Sol were recently nationally recognized as heroes in education for the development of integrated studies for disadvantaged kids and the innovative use of information technology to improve student learning.

The Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence are worth $5,000 and were awarded to 19 teachers from across Canada.

Chapman currently teaches at Abbotsford Senior Secondary School while Sol is head of the Education Technology Dept. at Burnaby's Alpha Secondary School.

Forest Resources Management Prof. Peter Murtha has been designated a fellow of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) for exceptional service in advancing mapping science.

A specialist in photo interpretation for forest analysis and remote sensing, Murtha has over 80 publications in refereed journals.