UIC Alumni V Awards Dinner | University of Illinois Alumni Association

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UIC Alumni V Awards Dinner

Friday, October 12, 2012 , 6 p.m.

Alumni Five: Five ways we celebrate the countless efforts of UIC's alumni and friends!

The University of Illinois Alumni Association invites you to attend this year's Alumni V Awards Dinner at Student Center East. The 2012 honorees are:

Barry S. Ganetzky '71 LAS (Alumni Achievement Award); Steenbock Professor of Biological Sciences

For more than 40 years, Dr. Barry S. Ganetzky has doggedly pursued a better understanding of how the nervous system works. His research involving the common fruit fly has produced significant discoveries, with potentially profound implications for conditions ranging from cardiac failure to neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. He has been called a giant in the world of science and in 2006 was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors accorded to an American scientist.

A genetics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 1979, Ganetzky continues to investigate mutations and is widely known for his studies on how cells generate and propagate electrical impulses in the nervous system. His research has contributed to the understanding of human neurological disorders, drug development and screenings, and insecticide development.

Michael S. Gordon '59 LAS, MS '61 AHS, MD '61 (Alumni Achievement Award); Director and Associate Dean, Michael S. Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Few people have affected the education of medical practitioners as powerfully as Dr. Michael S. Gordon, a pioneer in the use of simulation and technology to improve the quality and accessibility of medical education.

Gordon’s efforts have included the creation of Harvey, a life-sized mannequin that simulates the heart sounds of 27 cardiac diseases and various pulsations, as well as the development of programs that have trained tens of thousands of paramedics, first-responders, firefighters and members of U.S. Army surgical trauma teams annually in emergency medical skills.

At the University of Miami, the Michael S. Gordon, M.D., Chair in Medical Education is named after him, as well as the Michael S. Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education, a 35,000-square-foot medical simulation laboratory. More than 1,600 entities around the world use the educational systems offered by the center.

B. Taylor Bennett, PHD '74 COM (Distinguished Service Award); Senior Scientific Adviser, National Association for Biomedical Research

Dr. B. Taylor Bennett has dedicated more than 30 years of his professional career to shepherding UIC’s animal care program and fostering research at the institution as a whole. Through his leadership at the Research Resources Center and the Biologic Resources Laboratory, he has helped place UIC among the top 50 entities in the nation in terms of federally funded research.

Today the animal care program at UIC, which hosts $42 million in animal-based research, supports the daily care of 24,000 animals and the endeavors of 275 investigators and 550 active research protocols.

As an animal welfare advocate and active member of a wide range of professional organizations, Bennett has excelled at promoting UIC as a premier research institution, as well as refining laboratory medicine practices and impacting legislation related to the well-being of animals and their use in research.

Alvin A. Miller '51 LAS, MD '53 (Alumni Humanitarian Award); Physician, Community Medical Group

Through the NEWSTART program of Project Concern International, Dr. Alvin Miller has worked to save the lives of newborns in Romania and the future of hundreds of thousands of children housed in its orphanages.

After the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989, the Romanian health ministry turned to the international community for advice on its neonatal practices. For two years in the early 1990s, Miller visited periodically to familiarize medical personnel in major hospitals and rural clinics with various health-care procedures. Through demonstrating available treatment, he helped change the nation’s convention of sending children born with minor and correctable physical defects to live in orphanages, a practice which had brought the population of these institutions to more than 400,000.

Miller expanded his impact by preparing a curriculum to be used by medical teams he recruited to volunteer, as he did, in Romania.

Joel Bookman, MUPP '61, '74 (UI) -- (City Partner Award); Managing Director, Institute for Comprehensive Community Development; Director of Programs, LISC Chicago (Local Initiatives Support Corp.)

For more than three decades, Joel D. Bookman has worked to develop the community of Chicago, devoting his professional career to empowering civic organizations, businesses, institutions, individuals and agencies to work together for the long-term well-being of the Windy City.

As a consultant in strategic planning, nonprofit management and community development, Bookman has helped revitalize areas of the city, rehabilitate housing, establish community relations, offer business training, and improve safety and cleanliness throughout the city. At present, he is the director of programs at LISC Chicago (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) and the managing director of its Institute for Comprehensive Community Development. Over the years, his efforts have poured millions of dollars into the city and created thousands of jobs.

Bookman is involved in numerous civic activities, serves as a consultant to major philanthropies and lectures to a wide range of institutions and audiences.

Illinois Tool Works Inc. (Corporate Partner Award); James Wooten '78 LAS; retired senior vice president, general counsel and secretary

James Wooten saw a connection between Illinois Tool Works Inc. and UIC engineering students – the company could expand the diversity of its global work force, and graduates could be employed in a burgeoning industry. Wooten, however, wanted more than a business relationship with the University; he wanted a partnership. His vision grew into a $1.2 million gift from the ITW Foundation to convert four teaching labs in the colleges of LAS and Engineering into state-of-the-art facilities. The company also regularly participates in UIC job fairs and offers internships to UIC students.

Peter Nelson, professor and dean of the College of Engineering, says, “Students see the ITW logo as they enter these named labs and understand that this Illinois-based industrial giant has a direct interest in their education and success and offers them potential careers.”