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Thornburg receives lifetime achievement award Robert Watts Thornburg, dean of Marsh Chapel, recently received an Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association of College and University Religious Affairs (ACURA), a professional organization for university deans and directors of religious activities. Susan Henry-Crowe, dean of the chapel at Emory University, presented Thornburg with the award at ACURA’s annual gathering, held October 28 to 30 at the University of Southern California.

"These awards, ACURA’s first, afford our organization the privilege of acknowledging particular colleagues whose service and leadership distinguish them, their institutions, and our profession," wrote Janet Cooper-Nelson, chaplain of Brown University, in a letter informing Thornburg of the award. "We are profoundly grateful for all that you do and the many ways that your example and collegiality have contributed far beyond the immediate realm where you serve."

COM film program in EW’s top-tier

The College of Communication’s department of film and television was recognized in the special showbiz issue of Entertainment Weekly as one of the 12 best graduate film programs in the country. "A nonstop film-orama," Tom Edgar and Karin Kelly write of the program. "Students make a number of shorts, then break into groups of four and make a single 16mm film. Second year, thesis films are shot, and everyone completes a feature-length screenplay. . . . Thanks to all those group projects, students learn to collaborate amicably -- as well as deal with ‘creative differences.’"

‘Extremely rare’ honor for job well done

Julia Child, adjunct MET professor, will receive the Legion of Honor award from the French government on Sunday, November 19, at Le Meridien Hotel in Boston. The award was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 to reward outstanding military and civil services to the French nation. While it is extremely rare for an American to receive this award -- the highest given by the French government -- Child’s induction into the Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur serves as an acknowledgment of her success in creating an American interest in French food and culture. Event proceeds will benefit the Julia Child Scholarship Fund for students in the master of liberal arts in gastronomy program at BU’s Metropolitan College.

Marchant honored by Scottish learned society

David Marchant, CAS assistant professor of earth sciences, has received the W. S. Bruce Medal for his investigations of global warming and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Established in 1923, the award is conferred every five years by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s premier learned society. Named for an explorer and scientific investigator in the polar regions, it rewards a notable contribution to zoology, botany, geology, meteorology, oceanography, or geography.

Marchant, a quantitative geomorphologist, regularly travels with undergraduate and graduate students to the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. His long-term research objectives include determining the response of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to polar climates that are warmer than at present. A citation accompanying the Bruce Medal recognized his "outstanding contribution to the field of earth science, especially in relation to [his] work on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet . . ."

17 November 2000
Boston University
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