University professors John Arras and Jose' Fuentes were two of 15 recipients of the 2006 Virginia Outstanding Faculty Awards recognizing excellence in teaching, research and public service, presented on Feb. 23.
The award is Virginia's highest recognition for faculty of the Commonwealth's public and private universities, according to the State Council for Higher Education for Virginia's Web site.
The 15 recipients were selected from 87 faculty members nominated by their colleagues. Gov. Tim Kaine presented the awards at a ceremony in Richmond Friday evening.
"This award is given to someone who excels in teaching, who has done a lot of meaningful research and contributes to the greater community," Environmental Sciences Prof. Fuentes said.
The award is basically a message from the state stating that they believe the work the faculty is doing makes a unique contribution, Fuentes said.
"The award gives me encouragement to continue and improve," he added.
Both Fuentes and Arras, a bioethics professor at the University, cited their desire to teach as an integral part of their success.
"No job is more rewarding than working with a young talented group of individuals from all walks of life," Fuentes said.
Arras said he came to the University in 1995 from a medical school in New York in order to get back to a philosophy department that taught undergraduates.
"Recently, I did some work for the Center for Disease Control to prepare for the avian flue epidemic, particularly in the area of ethical vaccine rationing," Arras said.
Other works include authoring and editing two bioethics textbooks, he said.
Fuentes described his recent research projects as one of the factors that contributed to his recognition.
"I traveled with students to the Arctic Circle to research ozone depletion and the effect on the climate the lack of important greenhouse gases is having," Fuentes said. "In the future, the research is going to focus on the creation of dangerous gases like ozone and carbon monoxide in the lower atmosphere where they are having an effect on human health."
These new research projects will take the environmental scientists to the Everglades, the Arctic and to Senegal, he added.
The Virginia Outstanding Faculty award includes $5,000 that Arras said he used to take his wife on a fly fishing trip to New Zealand which had been a life-long dream of theirs.
Fuentes said he is donating most of his award money to community centers and schools in Charlottesville in order to promote mentor programs.
"In Charlottesville, we have such a highly educated community, so why shouldn't the community benefit from those resources?" Fuentes said.
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