12/13/95
CONTACT: Stanford University News Service (650) 723-2558
STANFORD -- Alice Haskett, human subjects coordinator in the School of Medicine, and Alex Ross, head art librarian, have been selected as co-recipients of the 1995 Marshall D. O'Neill Award for their support of Stanford's research mission.
A faculty panel selected the recipients, who were honored at a Faculty Club reception Tuesday, Dec. 12. The award, accompanied by a $2,000 cash prize, is Stanford's only formal faculty recognition of staff. In years when there are multiple winners, each recipient receives the full prize.
Haskett was singled out for years of helping guide faculty researchers through mazes of regulations and daunting piles of paperwork. Ross was credited with turning the Art Library from a "one-horse operation" into a world-class academic facility.
Both are veteran Stanford staff members and each was nominated by numerous faculty members in their areas. In all, 28 staff members, representing a wide range of disciplines, were nominated.
Presenting the awards Dec. 12 was Charles Kruger, vice provost and dean of research. The award was established in 1990 and named for its first recipient, Marshall O'Neill, when he retired as longtime associate director of Hansen Laboratories. Seven other people have received the award since.
Coordinator cited by many medical researchers
Haskett, who has been the human subjects coordinator since 1988, said she hopes to continue doing the same work right up until retirement. She has held administrative positions that support research in the School of Medicine since 1978.
"I'm very surprised and very honored to be recognized by the faculty," Haskett said.
Haskett reviews the protocols proposed by principal investigators in every experiment involving human subjects at the School of Medicine, mostly drug studies and clinical trials. With an assistant, Linda Wester, she manages the protocol review for the university as well as for Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford University Hospital and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Although based in the Medical School, Haskett actually works for the Office of the Dean of Research. Her primary job is to make sure that the university complies with federal, state and its own regulations on research projects involving human subjects.
"I find my work very interesting," Haskett said. "I can put in many, many hours of work and, every day, the time just flies by. Even though the procedures are generally the same, there are always new questions, and always new regulations to keep up with."
In nominating Haskett, one faculty member said that "Haskett is a dedicated advocate for patient's rights. She has educated many researchers very effectively in the rules and regulations of human subjects protocol for research applications."
Another wrote that "it is inconceivable to me that anyone, staff member or otherwise, is more dedicated and/or could have contributed more than Ms. Haskett in supporting the research effort involving human subjects at Stanford."
Ross called 'founding father' of art library
Ross has been head art librarian at Stanford since 1975, and previously held positions with the Cleveland Museum of Art and in the fine arts library at Columbia University.
At Stanford, in addition to directing a 130,000-volume art research library of material on the history of Western and Far Eastern art and architecture and classical archaeology, Ross in alternate years teaches Art 236, Art History Bibliography and Library Methods. He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals.
Recognition for Ross is "long overdue," one faculty member wrote. "Both Alex Ross and [former art department chairman] Lorenz Eitner are the founding fathers of the department and its fantastic library."
Another wrote, "By his rare combination of dedication, erudition and astuteness, Alex turned the Art Library from a one-horse operation when he arrived in 1975 into one of the foremost art libraries in the country today."
Eitner himself noted how the library had grown both in size and quality under Ross' direction, and wrote that "Ross has been an indefatigable helper to countless students, a teacher of graduate seminars in bibliography, a valued colleague to faculty in need of advice and assistance in the discovery and procurement of hard-to-find material, endlessly willing to spend time and effort to support their work."
Ross said the award "is really recognition of a team effort, not only among Art Library staff, but with the Art Department and my colleagues in the other humanities departments around campus, some of whom probably deserve the O'Neill Award more than I do. It's not just me and my staff."
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