Volume 42, Number 36: May 13, 2005 University of North Dakota
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University of North Dakota UND Scholarly Commons Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special University Letter Archive Collections 5-13-2005 Volume 42, Number 36: May 13, 2005 University of North Dakota Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/u-letter Recommended Citation University of North Dakota, "Volume 42, Number 36: May 13, 2005" (2005). University Letter Archive. 288. https://commons.und.edu/u-letter/288 This Newsletter is brought to you for free and open access by the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in University Letter Archive by an authorized administrator of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of North Dakota | University Letter: DATE xc Skip to main content. University Letter Home Submit Article Search Archive Subscribe Unsubscribe UND Home University Relations University Letter DATE Friday, March 27, 49636 ISSUE: Volume 42, Number 36: May 13, 2005 TOP STORIES Letter from President Kupchella Former N.D. Supreme Court justice will speak at law school commencement Osborne, Petros named Chester Fritz Distinguished Professors University Letter lists summer schedule UND awards two honorary degrees to Williston natives Thomas Buning named athletic director EVENTS TO NOTE Seminar focuses on neurosteroids Vegan lunch club meets Author Lawrence Weschler to speak at Museum CRC offers mediation seminars Summer yoga classes begin May 17 Three finalists will interview for head PR position at University Relations Presentation will discuss obesity and diabetes Space studies holds weekly star parties Dakota Deli Courtyard Cafe opens outdoors May 23 Doctoral examination set for Matthew Garlinghouse U2 lists workshops PPT seminar cancelled Mark calendar for summer musicals Dates set for Getting Started program Register now for family connections conference Research proposals due for June 8 IRB meeting UND to offer summer writing camp for teens Web conference focuses on harassment, correction ANNOUNCEMENTS ND EPSCoR acquires major research instrumentation Tenure granted to faculty members Meritorious service, UND Proud award winners named UND creates consortium to study conflict transformation Communication research featured in public radio segment Staff recognized for years of service https://apps.und.edu/uletterarchive/uletterOld/05132005.html[7/26/2019 11:49:23 AM] University of North Dakota | University Letter: DATE Space studies begins raffle for new observatory Please return campus climate survey Some may need to reinstall computer virus protection Summer hours listed for libraries, Memorial Union Ignore US Bank mailings Submit changes to Code of Student Life by June 8 Key policy change will take effect July 1 Please follow fiscal year-end procedures Bookstore will carry course supplies Children’s center has summer openings Community music program offers private guitar lessons Used books, working media donations sought Letter from President Kupchella To all UND faculty and staff: Thanks for another great year of service to students, to the people of the Upper Great Plains, and for your service to the University and beyond, generally. Many of you will be working right here through what will undoubtedly be an all-too- brief summer (days will start getting shorter again in only a month!). I know that some of you will be traveling to various corners of the globe and many will be spending the summer in a different, “summer-mode.” Adele and I hope that whatever your plans are for this summer, that they include some time for rest and relaxation, so that we can all re- converge refreshed as the campus once again ramps up to full speed in August to begin another exciting school year. Best wishes for a wonderful summer. – Charles Kupchella, president Former N.D. Supreme Court justice will speak at law school commencement Beryl Levine, the first woman to serve on the North Dakota Supreme Court, will address graduates during the School of Law commencement ceremony Saturday, May 14, at 10 a.m. in the Chester Fritz Auditorium. The school expects to graduate 66 students. Levine, who retired in 1996, is a native of Winnipeg who earned her law degree from UND in 1974. She spent 10 years at a Fargo law firm before being named to the bench in 1985. She lives in Palo Alto, Calif. Osborne, Petros named Chester Fritz Distinguished Professors President Charles Kupchella will bestow the University’s highest honor for faculty, the Chester Fritz Distinguished Professorship, on two professors during spring commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 14, at 1:30 p.m. at the Alerus Center. The newest members of UND’s most exclusive ranking for faculty: Leon Osborne, professor of atmospheric sciences Thomas Petros, professor of psychology Leon Osborne Leon Osborne is professor of atmospheric sciences and director of the Surface Transportation Weather Research Center and the Regional Weather Information Center. He was one of the founding members of atmospheric sciences, and he was the prime mover in establishing the Regional Weather Information Center. During his 25 years at UND, Osborne has been actively and successfully involved in research that applies weather information technology to solving everyday problems. His contracts focus on surface https://apps.und.edu/uletterarchive/uletterOld/05132005.html[7/26/2019 11:49:23 AM] University of North Dakota | University Letter: DATE transportation weather research — work that has placed UND as the most nationally recognized university in this research area. In fact, this leadership role extends to academic programs as UND has the only surface transportation weather academic curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Both the research and the academic programs have been recognized nationally by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America as a finalist for the Society’s annual award for excellence. He has been awarded nearly $25 million in grants and contracts since 1984, and in the past 10 years he has made 39 national and international presentations, and 22 regional presentations. Osborne has received the National Governors’ Association Distinguished Service to State Government Award and was selected as a finalist in the 1995 Innovations in American Government Awards Program sponsored by the Ford Foundation and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In 1996 Gov. Ed Schafer appointed Osborne as North Dakota’s representative to the Science and Technology Council of the States. He has been recognized for his superior academic and research efforts by his peers, receiving the UND Foundation Thomas J. Clifford Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Research at the University in 2001, and the Burlington Northern Award for Outstanding Teaching and Development at the University in 1985. Osborne is the president and CEO of Meridian Environmental Technology, Inc., one of the premier high- technology weather analysis and information providers in the nation. He and his wife Kathy, launched Meridian in 1996 to bring advanced scientific research to the marketplace through applied technologies. Osborne is a charter member of the American Meteorological Society’s standing committee on ITS and surface transportation and an active member of the ITS America Special Interest Group on Weather Information Applications. Osborne is also a member of Sigma Xi research society and a member of Sigma Pi Sigma Physics Honor Society. A native of northwest Texas, Osborne and Kathy have three children. Thomas Petros Thomas Petros earned a B.A. (1975) in secondary education, and an M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1981) in cognitive-developmental psychology, all at Kent State University. He started his career at UND in 1980 as an instructor in psychology, and rose through the ranks to professor of psychology in 1990. Well-liked by students and faculty alike, Petros has won the prestigious Edgar Dale Award for Outstanding Teaching and Research at UND, an award he has been nominated for five times. Petros’ has a strong record of research, with 43 publications in professional journals, 20 published abstracts and 149 scientific presentations at professional meetings in which he was a presenter or collaborator. He has been awarded several research grants by such agencies as the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. His current areas of research include reading processes, memory and aging, pharmacology and memory, and aviation and psychology. He is also studying the impact of exposure to pesticides and cognitive performance in children, young adults and older adults, which has significant implications for rural farming communities. He and a former graduate student, Patricia Mouton, were awarded a $100,000 grant from the National Institute of Environmental and Health Sciences for that project. A strength, wrote one colleague in nominating Petros, is that Petros “has been adept at forming collaborative research relationships long before it was ‘popular’ to do so. Over the years, Tom has fostered research relationships with the College of Nursing, the USDA Nutrition Laboratory, EERC, the UND Medical School, and the School of Aerospace Sciences, to name just a few.” Petros has been licensed to practice psychology in North Dakota since 1991. His practice at the Center for Psychological and Educational Assessment involves the assessment of learning problems in both children and adults, and the assessment of any psychological factors that may be influencing