The Chancellor's Staff Advisory Committee (CSAC) seeks participants as well as suggestions for activities that could be part of Staff Celebration Week 2001. "We want to find out what people want, and if people will volunteer time and talent," said Diana Alvarado, CSAC member from Student Health Services. Resuscitating the staff talent show from years past is an example of what could happen with enough participants, she said. If you want to help, e-mail her at alvarado-d@sa.ucsb.edu.

Leon Balents, assistant professor of physics, has recently been awarded a prestigious Packard Foundation Fellowship for Science and Engineering for his theoretical research in understanding materials as solids or liquids. The fellowship provides $650,000 over five years for work on nanoconductors, nanotubes, and novel magnetism.

Michael T. Brown, associate professor of education, has been named a Fellow of the American Psychological Association's Division of Counseling Psychology. He is on the editorial boards of three professional journals, and the award cited his "significant and distinctive contributions to the field."

Galen D. Stuckey, professor of chemistry and materials, has received a Humboldt Research Prize, which allows him to spend up to 12 months at a German research institution of his choice. His prize is one of as many as 100 awarded to internationally recognized scholars each year.

Henry Offen, emeritus professor of chemistry, has accepted appointment as interim director of the UCSB Natural Reserve System. He is a former NRS director, and succeeds biologist Scott Cooper.

Robert S. Michaelsen, an emeritus professor of religious studies and former UCSB vice chancellor, died on Nov. 6 after a long illness. The Iowa native was 81. He came to UCSB in 1965 to chair the Department of Religious Studies, which he helped raise to national prominence, and later served in top administrative positions under three chancellors. He retired in 1989. He is survived by Florence, his wife of 58 years, three sons, and five grandchildren. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Michaelsen Fund, c/o the UCSB Foundation, or to the Visiting Nurses Association.

The open enrollment story in the Nov. 6 issue said that routine physical exams have been "reduced" to once every 24 months for adults ages 19-64. This is actually an improvement for the Core and High Option medical plans to which it pertains. Other UCSB medical plans remain unchanged in allowing annual physicals for this age range.