This column offers a sampling of honors and awards recently awarded to UC Davis faculty, staff and units:

Kevin R. Johnson, dean of the School of Law, has been appointed a member of the Association of American Law Schools Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Minority Law Teachers and Students. He will serve a two-year term. The committee advises the AALS Executive Committee regarding the role the association should play in assisting member schools in hiring and retaining minority law teachers and students.

Diane Marie Amann, professor of law and an expert in law and terrorism, observed pretrial hearings against five suspects in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Among the defendants was Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the attacks. The hearings took place in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Amann observed the proceedings as a representative of the National Institute of Military Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based nongovernmental organization founded by former military lawyers.

Bill Ong Hing, professor of law and Asian American Studies, has been appointed to serve on the Association of American Law School’s Committee on Curriculum Issues. He will advise the AALS Executive Committee on the appropriate role for the association in promoting discussion and exchange of ideas about law curriculum. Hing also received the UC Davis Achievement Award for diversity and community in the Academic Senate category. The award recognizes his contributions to increasing diversity and inclusiveness within the UC Davis School of Law.

Donna Shestowsky, professor of law, is a 2008 recipient of a $10,000 American Bar Association Litigation Research Fund grant. The ABA established the grants in 2007 to support original scholarly work that advances the understanding of civil litigation in the United States.

Raha Jorjani, staff attorney with the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic, spoke on two panels at the Applied Research Center’s “Facing Race 2008” conference in Oakland in November. Founded in 1981, the Applied Research Center investigates the hidden racial consequences of public policy initiatives and develops new frameworks to resolve racially charged debates.

Law School Innovation, a blog co-edited by law professor Anupam Chander, has been selected by the American Bar Association journal as one of the top 100 legal blogs by lawyers in the professor category. The Blawg 100, Best of the Blogosphere list appeared in the December 2008 issue of the American Bar Association journal.

Eight School of Medicine faculty members have been selected to receive two awards from the Office of Faculty Development: the Dean’s Award for Excellence and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring. All awardees will receive a cash prize of $2,000 and be honored at a faculty recognition reception to be held on the evening of March 2.

The Dean’s Award for Excellence recognizes outstanding faculty contributions in the core mission areas of research, education, clinical care and community engagement. The faculty chosen for this award are Cameron Carter, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences; Nathan Kuppermann, professor and chair of emergency medicine; John McGahan, professor of radiology; Ulfat Shaikh, assistant professor of pediatrics; and Peter Sokolove, associate professor of emergency medicine.

The Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring recognizes and rewards School of Medicine scholars who excel in mentoring and thus contribute to the success of the faculty and UC Davis Health System. The faculty chosen for this award are Charles DeCarli, professor of neurology; John Keltner, professor of ophthalmology and vision science; and Frazier Stevenson, associate professor of internal medicine.