PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 25, No. 18, April 6, 2006

Six academic professionals honored with CAPE award

By Abby Cañeda, News Bureau Student Intern

Six employees received the 2006 Chancellor’s Academic Professional Excellence award at a ceremony and reception April 4. Now in its 18th year, the award program is designed to recognize the contributions made by academic professionals on campus.

Recipients are chosen for excellence in their work, their personal and professional contributions to their fields and the positive impact they have on colleagues, students and the public. Each recipient receives $2,000, a $1,000 increase in base salary and a $1,000 one-time budget increase for their department.

Click photo to enlarge Photo by L. Brian Stauffer James Basney

JAMES BASNEY, senior research scientist for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, has worked at the UI since 2001 and has achieved a great deal in a short amount of time, according to his nominators.

“Basney has been responsible for developing security tools and techniques for the center’s high-performance computing environment and for transferring the resulting technologies into use to benefit the international science and engineering community,” said Basney’s nominators, Himanshu Khurana and Von Welch, both senior security engineers at NCSA.

Basney has led the development of MyProxy, open-source software that provides the crucial service for easily and securely managing user and service credentials. MyProxy is a leading example of high-quality security software and is widely used at national and international institutions.

Khurana  and Welch also say that an exceptional aspect of his personality is his desire and ability to connect his research with people’s needs. The success and broad adoption of his work demonstrate his ability to go to great lengths to understand the needs of the scientists and computational grid administrators and to assist in the deployment as well as maintenance of the software.

“Dr. Basney is very well-regarded in the community as being both technically very strong and being responsive to community input,” said Marty Humphrey, professor of computer science.

Basney also has contributed to the professional community. For example, he has been invited to serve as a program committee member on the 2006 International Symposium of High Performance Distributed Computing, which is a leading conference in his field. Basney also mentors graduate students and he works with the state of Illinois Terrorism Task Force to design and test the use of smart card security for emergency first responders, such as firefighters and emergency medical personnel. 

“All occasions I have had where colleagues have mentioned Jim’s work or professional contributions to the field have always been of the highest regard,” said Douglas Olson, a scientist at Berkeley National Laboratory.

Click photo to enlarge Photo by L. Brian Stauffer William Chapman

WILLIAM CHAPMAN, a senior research programmer, has worked in the department of atmospheric sciences for 17 years. “During his tenure, he has gone far beyond the regular duties of his job title,” said Don Wuebbles, professor of atmospheric science who nominated Chapman. “He has emerged as an internationally recognized expert on the climate of the Arctic.”

Most of Chapman’s work has been in the department’s Polar Research Group and he also has recently worked for several months each year in the processing and diagnosis of global satellite data.

Chapman has published more than 36 papers in the last 17 years and unlike the usual role of a research programmer, has been the lead author on seven papers. Most of the papers have been in top-tier journals of the geophysical sciences, and several of his papers have been cited hundreds of times by other journal papers.

Chapman has implemented several dozen educational Web-based modules that accompany “Severe and Hazardous Weather,” an undergraduate textbook, and has organized a Web-based clearinghouse of reviews of popular children’s books. He also has constructed an archive and Web site of climate model predictions for the Arctic that was recently used by more than 200 scientists in Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, an international synthesis. Chapman’s Web site, Cryosphere Today at http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere, is the premier Web site for depicting current sea ice conditions in the Arctic. It is consistently on the top two to three ranking Webs sites for the cryosphere.

Chapman’s nominating colleagues describe him as a model for effective time management. He deals with demands of several faculty supervisors, frequent data and visualization requests and many inquiries from the public and outside scientific community while maintaining his research, publication and external funding activities.

“His energy, selflessness and scientific insight are hallmarks of a scientist who is also a good citizen of the world,” said Diane Portis, research programmer in atmospheric sciences.  

Click photo to enlarge Photo by L. Brian Stauffer Debra Hagstrom

DEBRA HAGSTROM has worked as an instructor in the animal sciences department and as equine extension specialist for UI Extension for five years.

She has expanded or redesigned a variety of animal sciences courses and created a section of the “On-Campus Practical Experience” course. She also revitalized the UI Horse Judging Team.

The Illinois 4-H youth horse program also grew under her leadership. Annually, she coordinates five $1,000 horse scholarships awarded at the Illinois State Fair based on 4-H knowledge. In recognition of her program, she has been awarded funding from competitive grants from the Illinois Equine Industry Research and Promotions Board to produce new statewide youth programming.

Hagstrom’s peers at Purdue University and the Indiana University have invited her to host events on their campus. Nationally, she serves on three committees of the American Youth Horse Council and was elected to the board of directors in 2004.

Hagstrom volunteers extensively in the Champaign-Urbana community. Locally, she was a founding member of the Champaign-Urbana Therapeutic Riding Program. She has served on the Parkland College Equine Advisory Board, and now serves on the awards committee to recognize the accomplishments of her peers. 

Hagstrom received a UI Extension Team Award for development of HorseNet, an integrated, information access, technology transfer system for the purpose of addressing the needs of the horse sector within Illinois. She successfully developed the equine section of Livestock E-Quiz which is an Internet-based interactive learning platform for youth designed to expand the educational experience for youth interested in horses. She developed and maintains a Web site for the department of animal sciences horse farm. The Web site provides better customer service and cost effectiveness by making stallion contracts available online, which led to a profitable South Farms Horse budget in 2005.

“Deb has quickly and quietly made a huge impact on our Extension mission, department and clientele across the state,” said Michael Hutjens, professor of animal sciences. 

Click photo to enlarge UI photo Brad Hedrick

BRAD HEDRICK is the director of the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services. With his contributions, it is widely accepted that the division is the primary reason the UI is rated the most disability friendly campus in the nation. The graduation rate of UI students with disabilities is equal to that of students without disabilities, and UI graduates with disabilities have the same employment rate as the general student population.

Hedrick has improved the services provided through Beckwith Hall, the only residential facility that houses students with severe disabilities on the campus of a major research university. He also has instituted several innovative programs to help students with disabilities succeed.

The Illinois Students Taking Effective Preparation program is a one-week residential summer camp that teaches students with disabilities skills to succeed in college. An academic coaching program helps students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, brain injury or various psychological disabilities. The division also instituted a neuropsychological testing service, an outreach strategy for accommodating the needs of students with emergent or previously undiagnosed disabilities.

Hedrick has worked to help the campus and community to better understand what they can do to improve the personal and educational experience of students with disabilities. He has written two books, three monographs, many professional articles and produced two instructional videotapes on wheel chair basketball and sport training for people with disabilities. 

As the supervisor of recreation and athletics for students with disabilities, Hedrick personally coached the wheelchair basketball teams and supervised all the other athletic teams for athletes with disabilities.

“As a former athlete with a disability and in his current position, he has shown many people both with and without disabilities that people with disabilities can achieve almost anything they set their mind on,” said nominator Bo Fernhall, associate dean and professor of kinesiology.

“He not only talks about full participation for individuals with disabilities, he lives this credo every day in every activity,” said Ruth Watkins, vice provost and professor of speech and hearing science. 

Click photo to enlarge Photo by L. Brian Stauffer Robin Orr

ROBIN ORR, an extension specialist for UI Extension and an adjunct professor in the department of food science and human nutrition, coordinates programs that reach over a million at-risk individuals and families each year, said Faye Dong, head and professor of food science and human nutrition.

The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program delivers nutrition education programs to low-income families with young children in six Illinois communities. The Family Nutrition Program provides education programs in nutrition, food safety and food budgeting to food-stamp-eligible Illinois residents in 97 counties. Orr also is a member and co-chair of the Extension Nutrition and Wellness Development Team and was instrumental in integrating the team program with the two programs she coordinates.

“She believes in a level playing field and works tirelessly to bring all players to the table to improve the lives of the less fortunate in Illinois,” said Carol Schlitt, extension educator of nutrition and wellness.

Orr has worked with members of the consumer and family economics team and provided support for their development of the award-winning curriculum “All My Money.” The Illinois Department of Human Services used this curriculum in training provided to limited-resource families. Orr also has co-chaired the Welfare Task force of the UI Extension for four years. More than 60 Illinois communities participated in poverty simulations that resulted in providing better services to at-risk families. Orr also served on the committee that planned and implemented the Illinois Food Security Summit. This work led to a state food policy council for promoting Illinois grown foods.

Orr works with the department of food science and human nutrition to participate as a preceptor in the UI Graduate Dietetics program. She provides a community experience for the students, which is a requirement for graduation.

Orr is serving as president-elect for the Society of Nutrition Education.

Click photo to enlarge Photo by L. Brian Stauffer Dave Robson

DAVID ROBSON, extension educator of horticulture, uses his expertise on plants and gardening to deliver information to 62 counties in central and southern Illinois.

Robson created a series of home-study courses titled “Stepping Stones.” The series uses self-directed learning to teach basic landscaping, tree care and lawn care. It has grown in popularity and more than 5,000 homeowners have participated. Robson also has worked with nutrition and consumer economics educators to create and develop a set of notebooks titled “Solutions” that addresses everyday questions in horticulture, nutrition and stain removal. With the help of fellow educators, Robson posted the information on the UI Web site at www.solutions.uiuc.edu. Since 1994, it has received more than 15 million hits. 

Robson also provides information through the mass media. Robson has written a weekly column for the Springfield State Journal-Register for more than 20 years. He takes phone calls on a live call-in show about gardening and horticulture on the local ABC affiliate. He also has written an average of six news releases per month in the statewide rural electric magazine.

“He truly exemplifies the Land Grant mission of the University of Illinois as an outreach source of information for the public,” said Jananne Finck, extension educator of nutrition and wellness.   

Robson contributes to the horticulture education of local youths. He has worked with 4-H members for more than 25 years, helping eight of them win the Grand National prize at the National Junior Horticulture Association. For the past six years, he has worked with troubled youths at the Macoupin County Safe-School.

Robson helps local garden centers, nurseries, lawn care companies and landscape maintenance firms serve their customers better  by providing individualized consultations. 

In the UI community, Robson has served as a member of the Council of Academic Professionals for more than five years. He also served as the academic professional representative on the Provost Search Committee.

Back to Index