Stanford Report, August 23, 2006

Cardinal Chronicle

BY MICHAEL PEÑA

Nominations for the Marsh O'Neill Award are now being accepted. The annual award gives faculty a rare chance to publicly thank staff who support their research. Any faculty member may nominate any staff member, including academic staff, for making "an exceptional and enduring contribution to Stanford's research enterprise." Nominations may be in the form of a memo or e-mail and should include the nominee's name, job title and department, specific examples of service that were "above and beyond the call of duty" and the nominator's name. All nominees will receive a letter that they were nominated, and $3,000 will go to the winner. Nominations must be in to the Dean of Research Office by noon Oct. 16. More information is available at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/DoR/Marsh/. The website also has an online nomination form and information for submissions by ID mail.

Nominations for the Community Treasures volunteer-recognition program also are being accepted. Sponsored by the Office of the President, the program honors staff or faculty members each quarter for volunteer service locally and beyond. LADORIS CORDELL, special counselor to the president for campus relations, interviews the honorees and gives them the opportunity to share details about their lives and volunteerism. Since the program's inception, nine individuals have been recognized. The brown-bag ceremonies are held during the academic year and include dessert and beverages. The next ceremony will be in October. Nominations should be sent to lcordell@stanford.edu and include the nominee's name, e-mail address and a brief description of his or her volunteerism. For more information about the program and past honorees, go to http://treasures.stanford.edu/.

Ninth-graders from five charter high schools arrived on campus Tuesday for a three-day leadership retreat run by Leadership Public Schools (LPS). The organization manages charter schools that serve low-income communities of color in the Bay Area and counts DEBORAH STIPEK, dean of the School of Education, and education Professor GUADALUPE VALDES as board members. The 500 students on the retreat are staying in the dorms to get a feel for what life is like at a university, and they also participate in exercises that build camaraderie and confidence. The purpose is to get them thinking about college as a goal from the beginning of high school. MARK KUSHNER is the founder and CEO of LPS, on the web at http://www.leadps.org/.