Applause

At its first annual recognition event, the UC Police Department at UCLA commended employees for stellar achievement throughout the year. Officer Dan Jermansen received two special honors: the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Award for his role in teaching seminars on alcohol abuse and for leading the department in DUI arrests, and the Sworn Employee of the Year Award for consistently exhibiting professional ideals through his commitment to community policing and excellent police work. The Lifesaver Award was given to Officer Brian Washburn for administering CPR and saving the life of a 78-year-old man after he collapsed and went into cardiac arrest. The Meritorious Service/Taser Award was presented to Officers Joseph Eubank, Ethan Shear, Kevin Kay and Dan Jermansen for successfully subduing a patient without harm after he threatened staff at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital with metal scissors. And the Non-Sworn Employee of the Year Award went to dispatcher Penny Summers for her exemplary performance on the job…. Robert Stevenson, professor emeritus of musicology, has been elected an honorary member of the Directorium of the International Musicological Society, the first since 1992.… Maria Gillespie, lecturer in world arts and cultures, is now a three-time recipient of the Lester Horton Dance Award, most recently for best female performance for her work in “Bandits.” She is choreographer and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Oni Dance.… At its recent Festival of New Creative Work, the School of Theater, Film and Television honored Visiting Assistant Professor Cathy Schulman, Oscar-winning producer of the film “Crash,” with the Producers Guild of America Vision Award…. Alexander W. Astin and Helen S. Astin, emeritus professors in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, have created an endowment to support two fellowships for education and graduate students in the Division of Higher Education & Organizational Change. A $200,000 endowment will fund two fellowships of $100,000 each, in each of the Astins’ names. They are UCLA’s first benefactors to respond to the recently passed federal Pension Protection Act. “We hope to perpetuate study in the fields we both love, and in a way that supports student scholarship that is both interesting to them and will advance the field,” Helen Astin said.