Faculty and staff are invited to offer opinions on what options should go into the UCSB Housing Master Plan at workshops in Santa Rosa Residence Hall Lounge on Tuesday through Thursday, March 16-18. The 1.5- to 2-hour sessions run by Urban Design Associates begin on March 16 at 2 p.m. with a faculty emphasis. March 17 at 9:30 a.m. the focus switches to staff needs, with a 4 p.m. session open to general concerns. Another open session is set for 3 p.m. on March 18. For details call x8101 or x3051.

Once more the Professional Women's Association seeks to honor UCSB's "unsung heroines" at its annual conference, which is on April 28. Nominations are wanted by March 19 of that special woman "who goes beyond what is expected in contributions to her job, her coworkers, the campus, or community." Contact Kori Soltz at x8506 or soltz@id.ucsb.edu for details.

HONORS & AWARDS

Larry Coldren was recently named winner of the 2004 John Tyndall Award, co-sponsored by the Optical Society of America and the IEEE/Lasers and Electro-Optics Society, for "contributions to semiconductor laser diode technology, including widely tunable DBR lasers and vertical-cavity, surface-emitting lasers."

Mark Juergensmeyer, professor of sociology and religious studies, will receive dual honors this May when the Queen Sofia Center for the Study of Violence in Valencia, Spain, bestows upon him a silver medal and then, shortly afterwards, he will receive an honorary doctorate from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.

Catherine Nesci, professor of French and Italian, has been awarded the Order of Academic Palms, one of the oldest of French honors for educators and civil servants inside and outside of France, for her body of work as a teacher and researcher.

Lucia Snowhill, head of Davidson Library's Collection Development Department, has been honored with the Marta Lange/Congressional Quarterly Award by a section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a professional society. She will receive it and $1,000 for "distinguished contributions to bibliography and information service in law or political science."

TRANSITIONS

Melissa Dase, formerly assistant to the development director for schools and colleges, is now assistant business manager for the Development Department. She was first hired in 2002 after a stint with the entertainment industry.

Dawn Langer is UCSB's new coordinator of Environmental Health and Safety's ergonomics program. She has 10 years of experience in the field of ergonomics, the applied science of matching equipment design to human comfort and work productivity.