Nine Women in Academia Honored With Notable Awards

Maria Rosario Araneta will receive the Vivian Fonseca Scholar Award from the American Diabetes Association at the group’s scientific sessions conference in San Francisco. Dr. Araneta is an associate professor in the department of family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Araneta is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, where she majored in biology. She holds a master of public health degree and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Yale University.

Meena Kumari, an associate professor of anatomy and physiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, received the 2014 Service Award from the Association of Scientists of Indian Origin in America. Dr. Kumari has served as secretary of the association.

Dr. Kumari holds a master’s degree in neuroendocrinology and a doctorate in andrology from the University of Delhi in India.

Kelly Drew, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, received the 2014 Sidney A. McNairy Jr. Mentoring Award from the National Institute of General Medicine.

Professor Drew has been at the University of Alaska since 1993. She is a graduate of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and holds a doctorate in pharmacology from Albany Medical College in Albany, New York.

Mary Rogus, associate professor in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in Athens, has been named the recipient of the 2014 Edward L. Bliss Award for Distinguished Broadcast Journalism Education from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She is the co-author of Managing Television News: A Handbook for Ethical and Effective Producing (Routledge, 2006).

Professor Rogus is a graduate of Ithaca College in New York. She earned an MBA at the University of Kentucky.

Alva Ferdinand, an assistant professor of public health at Texas A&M University, received the Outstanding Dissertation Award from AcademyHealth, the academic professional association for health services and health policy researchers. Dr. Ferdinand’s dissertation focused on distracted driving.

Dr. Ferdinand is a graduate of Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, and the law school at Michigan State University. She holds a master of public health degree and a doctorate in public health from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Sarah Holterhoff, an associate professor of law librarianship and a reference librarian at the Valparaiso University Law School in Indiana, received the 2014 Robert L. Oakley Advocacy Award from the American Association of Law Libraries.

Professor Holterhoff is a graduate of Ohio State University. She holds a master of library and information science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Paula Agudelo, associate professor of plant nematology at Clemson University in South Carolina, received the Syngenta Crop Protection Award at the International Congress of Nematology in Cape Town, South Africa.

Dr. Agudelo is a graduate of the National University of Colombia. She holds a master’s degree in plant pathology from the University of Caldas in Colombia and a Ph.D. in plant sciences from the University of Arkansas.

Elizabeth H. Maples, assistant professor of environmental health sciences and deputy director of the Deep South Center for Occupational Health and Safety at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, received the John Palassis Memorial Award from the American Industrial Hygiene Association.

Dr. Maples holds a bachelor’s degree in geology, a master of public health degree and a Ph.D. in health behavior, all from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Melody Bianchetto, associate vice president for finance at the University of Virginia, has been selected to receive the 2014 Rising Star Award from the National Association of College and University Business Officers. She will receive the award on July 20 at the association’s annual meeting in Seattle.

Bianchetto joined the staff at the University of Virginia in 1996 as a senior budget analyst. A certified public accountant, she was promoted to assistant vice president for budget and financial planning in 2006 and to associate vice president for finance in 2013.