CASE NATIONAL: The UW News & Information Office picked up two awards in the national Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) 1998 Circle of Excellence awards program. Three writers in the office received a silver medal for research, medicine and science news writing, based on five news releases chosen to represent the scope and variety of the office's staff writing. The five releases covered research on how babies acquire language, discovery of a fossil suggesting that the west coast of British Columbia was once part of Baja California, the troubling plight of temperate-zone penguins, an environmentally friendly liquid nitrogen car invented by university engineers, and research identifying flaws in student evaluations of professors. The releases—written by former science writer David Brand, engineering writer Greg Orwig and social science writer Joel Schwarz—generated extensive coverage in local, regional, national and international media. News and Information colleague Nancy Wick won a bronze in the “Best Article of the Year” category for “Seeing Red,” her article about the communist scare on the UW campus 50 years ago. “Seeing Red” appeared in the December, 1997 issue of Columns Magazine.

Another CASE national award was won by the UW Alumni Association for its Arbor Day Fair, co-sponsored by the College of Forest Resources and its alumni association. The Commission on Alumni Relations selected UWAA to receive a Seal of Excellence for its alumni program in campus/constituent groups. Forest resources staff members Beverly Gonyea and Carl Harrington were, respectively, logistics coordinator and coordinator of the event. Zaheeda Ramji of the UWAA staff was club coordinator. Two volunteers from the forest resources alumni association also deserve special credit, Coleen Ponto as event coordinator and Gary Shirley as club president.

ACHIEVING WOMAN: Director of Athletics Barbara Hedges is among six “Women of Achievement” being honored by the Seattle Chapter of the Association for Women in Communications. Her commendation reads: “The Husky program has been on the fast track since Barbara Hedges arrived in 1991. Under Hedges' leadership, Washington has emerged as a leading school in terms of gender equity, with near equal athletic opportunities for men and women. She is committed to a high level of academic achievement among athletes and has instituted a number of progressive programs including leadership training, mentoring and career nights. In 1997, Hedges became the first woman to serve as president of the National Association for Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

NOBEL PREVIEW? Computer Science and Engineering Prof. Richard Karp will receive the Harvey Prize for outstanding contributions to the field of computer science. The prize is given by the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology from a donation by the late Leo M. Harvey of Los Angeles. It carries a cash award of $35,000, plus the opportunity to lecture at the Technion. Three past winners of the Harvey Prize have since been awarded the Nobel Prize.

ARBOR FAIR: More than 2,000 youngsters from public schools, home schools and scout groups attended the three-day Arbor Day Fair last month at Anderson Hall. “Thursday and Friday of this year's fair were booked full within days after fliers were mailed last January,” said Ellen McKinley, who took reservations from teachers and youth groups leaders. McKinley was one of more than 20 staff from the UW's Pack Forest near Puyallup who helped with this year's fair. Other volunteers included 40 faculty and staff from the main campus, 50 UW alums, 15 UW students and community members. Learning stations included opportunities for the children to see frogs and salamanders native to this area, stroke hides of mammals such as bobcats and skunks, make “camp” and consider how to treat the forest in a responsible manner during forest recreation, learn how garbage can be turned into soil and find out the wide variety of items made from trees. The youngsters also created crafts, heard talks and pledged to take care of the Douglas fir seedlings they took home with them.

KUDOS: John Goodlad will receive two honorary doctorates soon—from West Virginia University and the University of Victoria, B.C. . . . Social Work Dean Nancy Hooyman has won the Career Achievement Award given by the National Association for Gerontology in Social Work Education. ¶