Eat Their Dust! - Robert Morris University

Rooney ScholarOn March 20, Robert Morris University welcomed its spring 2008 RooneyScholar, Arie Maharshak, Ph.D., and his wife, Dafna. Maharshak wason sabbatical as head of the department of industrial engineering andmanagement at ORT Braude College in Israel. He has worked as seniorresearch associate with the Aeronautics & Astronautics Advanced RoboticsLaboratory at Stanford University, co-founded the Israeli Tele-WorkingAssociation, and received the Israeli Television Award for Innovation andCreativity. He holds a B.Sc. in electrical engineering as well as M.Sc. andPh.D. degrees in regional planning from the Technion Institute ofTechnology in Haifa, Israel.> RMU Receives NationalScience Foundation GrantRMU’s School of Engineering, Mathematics and Science (SEMS) hasreceived a five-year, $562,000 grant from the National Science Foundationto fund a mathematics, science and engineeringscholars program for students enteringRMU in the fall of 2009. The grant wasawarded under the foundation’sScholarships in Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM)program. The S-STEM Scholars Program atRMU will be open to 21 undergraduate studentswho plan to major in one of the fields offeredby SEMS. The program will promote students’academic success through seminars,internships, research, and cultural andsocial events, according to RMU ScienceProfessor Maria Kalevitch, Ph.D., who willdirect the S-STEM Scholars Program.> FOR MORE ON THESE AND OTHER 2007–08 FACULTY PROMOTIONS, VISIT WWW.RMU.EDU/FOUNDATIONS.> Movin’ On UpBarbara J. Levine, Ph.D., wasnamed dean of RMU’s School ofCommunication and InformationSystems in June 2008. Levine succeedsDavid L. Jamison, J.D., who last yearwas named RMU’s provost and seniorvice president of academic affairs. After anational search, Levine, an associateprofessor of communication at RMU,was one of a small group of candidatesrecommended for the position by afaculty-led search committee. Levineholds a Ph.D. in communicationfrom the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has 18 years ofexperience in higher education.RMU has conferred theranking of universityprofessor on three of itscurrent faculty: ValeriePowell, R.T. (R), Ph.D.(Computer InformationSystems), Carl Ross,Ph.D., CRNP, CNE(Nursing) and RobertSkovira, Ph.D.(Computer InformationSystems). The university professortitle is conferred upon certain facultymembers in recognition of exemplaryservice over eight years or more,following an evaluation by facultycolleagues, the department head anddean, and a specially constitutedcommittee including experts in theirfield from other universities. These threenewly promoted professors join otheruniversity professors Denis Rudd, Ed.D.(Hospitality Management), Alan Smith,Ph.D. (Marketing), Jay Carson, D.A.(English Studies/Communications Skills),Ann Jabro, Ph.D., (Communication),Fred Kohun, Ph.D. (ComputerInformation Systems) and ConnieRuzich, Ph.D. (English Studies/Communications Skills).R O B E R T M O R R I S U N I V E R S I T Y F O U N D AT I O N S • 7