The International Communication Association named Judee K. Burgoon, UA professor of communication, the winner of the 2006 Steven H. Chaffee Career Productivity Award.

The award acknowledges a scholar for his sustained and well-focused work in an area central to the communication field. The award entails a $1,000 cash prize and the winner presents research at the following year’s ICA conference.

Burgoon, who has been on the UA faculty since 1984, is also director of human communication research at the UA’s Center for the Management of Information.

The UA Foundation has named Lisa Fahey and Bryan Rowland as vice presidents.

Fahey was named vice president for donor services and Rowland was named vice president for Arizona Health Science development.

Fahey, who has been a member of the UA community for 20 years, recently served as executive director for Arizona Health Sciences development for six years. Rowland served as senior director of development and alumni relations at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The UA Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that is in charge of all fund development, asset and relationship management and facilitates the financing of university development on behalf of the UA.

“”We are delighted to welcome these two professionals to the foundation team,”” said Dana Wier, vice president of communications. “”They will both bring expertise that will contribute to our goal of supporting the university.””

The UA Faculty/Staff Choir has been invited to perform this Saturday at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

The choir will join choirs from four other states in a performance of works by celebrated compose John Rutter. Rutter, an English composer renowned for his choral compositions, will direct the combined choirs for the performance of his compositions, “”Distant Land”” and “”Feel the Spirit.””

The all-volunteer choir comprises UA employees who come from all levels of singing ability.

Under the direction of Terrie Ashbaugh, who received her master’s in choral conducting from the University of Arizona in 1999, the choir’s goal is to promote social interaction and the joy of singing.

The choir performs several times a semester around campus and within the community, promoting singing and representing the university.

Students from Tucson’s Amphitheater Middle School and Pueblo High School will represent the Southern Arizona Math, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program in a national engineering design competition.

The Southern Arizona MESA student teams, which are administered by the UA’s Office of Early Academic Outreach, took first place in their respective statewide competitions to go onto the MESA USA National Engineering Design Competition to be held at the University of California-Irvine and California State University-Fullerton.

The national program aims to increase the number of low-income, minority and first-generation college bound students that are prepared to enter a university degree program.

The national competition, which is held June 23-25, requires the teams to not only develop a vehicle powered by mousetrap springs, but to create a poster and research paper and to present their design to a panel of judges.

Student-participants involved in the program can gain skills that they may not receive in their general education, said Mary Grace Salamon, assistant coordinator for the Amphitheater Middle School team and 8th grade language arts teacher.

“”They get opportunities to compete with their peers and learn how to speak in public,”” said Salamon. “”These are life-long skills that they can use.””