Awards
Global Distinguished Professor Elias Khoury Wins Literature and Culture Award
NYU Global Distinguished Professor Elias Khoury has received the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Award for his contributions to Arabic literature and culture. The award, given by the Dubai-based foundation, will be formally presented at a ceremony in March. The selection committee considered Khoury “to be one of the Arab novelists who treat their work as a tool for providing both knowledge and pleasure; and as an author capable of interpreting the shifts of his era by employing traditional and modern forms of narrative.”
Khoury, born in Beirut in 1948, has published 12 novels that have been translated into several languages and four books of literary criticism. His works include Searching for a Horizon: The Arabic Novel after the Defeat of 1967, On the Relations of the Circle, Little Mountain, City Gates, The Journey of Little Ghandi, The Gate of the Sun and Yalo. He is part of the Beirut vanguard in modern Arabic literature, playing a major role in the Arabic cultural scene and in the defense of the liberty of expression and democracy.
Khoury shares the prize with author Yousef el-Sharoni in the story, novel, and play category. The award, which includes a cash prize of $120,000, is named after the poet Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais.
—James Devitt
Terry Fulmer, Dean of NYU College of Nursing, Receives New York Women’s Agenda Star Award
Terry Fulmer, dean of the NYU College of Nursing, was honored in December by the New York Women’s Agenda at the group’s annual Star Breakfast. The annual event honors women business and community leaders who represent the “spirit of New York,” and serve as role models to other women.
Fulmer was chosen for her many years as an advocate for older adults in the health care system and particularly for her work to educate health care professionals to recognize the signs of elder abuse and neglect. In accepting the Star Award, she emphasized that nursing is a women’s issue—both in terms of the health care workforce and the nation’s patient population.
“Not only are 96 percent of our 2.9 million nurses women, but, especially as our population matures, women are caring for even more women,” she said, adding that there are only 49 men for every 100 women among people over 85.
“We need smart and passionate people to join this fulfilling and diverse profession to care for all of our population but particularly our elders,” said Fulmer, who also discussed the national nursing shortage, which is expected to reach 340,000 nurses by 2020. NYU’s College of Nursing has expanded its efforts to address this shortage by growing its program and increasing its capacity. This year’s student enrollment has increased to 1,150 students, and the college has nearly doubled its full-time faculty.
Chemistry’s
Nicholas Geacintov Receives Sokol Faculty Award in the Sciences
Nicholas E. Geacintov, a professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry, was awarded the 2007 Margaret and Herman Sokol Faculty Award in the Sciences at a recent ceremony in Jurow Lecture Hall. Geacintov, with more than 350 authored and co-authored publications, is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of chemical toxicology. Much of his scholarship has centered on carcinogens in fossil fuel combustion and DNA repair. He has recently expanded his research to include the cancer-causing effects of estrogens used in hormone replacement therapy.
Geacintov, whose lecture delivered at the ceremony was titled “Unraveling the Secrets of DNA Repair,” has been a member of the NYU faculty since 1969 and chair of the Department of Chemistry since 1999.
The Sokol Faculty Award was established in 1991 by Margaret Sokol, a member of the Faculty of Arts and Science’s Board of Overseers, in honor of her late husband, Herman. She is also a member of the University’s Acton Society, an honorary group of NYU supporters. The Sokol Award, which includes an unrestricted grant of $25,000, is presented annually to a member of the science faculty who has most clearly demonstrated evidence of past excellence and future prospects for growth as a teacher, scholar, and colleague at NYU.
—James Devitt