Appointments: Nov. 30, 2006
David Bobzien. Photo by Jeff Ross.
On Nov. 7, David Bobzien, campus webmaster, was elected by a wide margin to represent Nevada Assembly District 24, which represents part of Washoe County. Bobzien won 55.07 percent of the vote, beating incumbent Brooks Holcomb, who garnered 39.7 percent of the vote, 6,799 to 4,901. Challenger Jim Young won 5.22 percent of the vote with 645 votes.
Judith Sugar, associate professor in the School of Public Health, was named president-elect of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association, a 1,000-member regional affiliate of the American Psychological Association representing nine Western states.
Blain Claypool, formerly of University Medical Center in Las Vegas, recently joined the School of Medicine as chief operations officer. He is responsible for all daily operations of the School of Medicine and affiliate physician practice groups.
Franco Biondi is an expert in deciphering tree rings. Photo by Jean Dixon.
Franco Biondi, director of the University’s DendroLab, will spend part of his sabbatical year as a Blaustein Visiting Professor at Stanford’s School of Earth Sciences. The award, which covers four months, will allow Biondi to spend most of next spring at this prestigious institution. He is planning to use this opportunity to develop research projects in collaboration with Stanford faculty.
Mark Levine has joined the School of Medicine from the University of Miami School of Medicine, where he served as director of campaign communications. Levine serves as the senior director of health science communication and manages all marketing efforts and external and internal communications within the School of Medicine.
Amy McFarland recently joined the School of Medicine Office of Medical Education to serve as the new education coordinator for the Division of Interdisciplinary Medical Education.
Heidi Hurst, assistant director for recruitment and marketing with the University Studies Abroad Consortium, assumed the duties of co-chair for the Committee on the Status of Women this summer, following the completion of electrical engineering professor Indira Chatterjee’s term. Betty Glass, university librarian, also serves as co-chair. Her term will expire in 2007.
Kent Ervin, professor and chair of chemistry, was recently appointed to the Nevada System of Higher Education Retirement Plan Advisory Committee, the systemwide group that oversees the investment offerings for the Retirement Plan Alternatives (401a) and Tax Sheltered Annuities (403b) plans.
Melanie Robbins, editor of Our Workplace, can be reached at mrobbins@unr.edu.
