EUGENE–A vice president for a pharmaceutical company, a world-renowned ophthalmologist and a marine biologist recently received the highest alumni award given by the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at the University of Oregon.

Receiving the college’s Alumni Fellows Award on Nov. 5 at the fifth annual CAS Profiles in Achievement Awards Banquet were Ollie Chambers, vice president of finance administration and information technology for Pharmacia & UpJohn; Frederick Fraunfelder, currently a professor of ophthalmology at the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU); and Nora Terwilliger, associate professor in the UO Department of Biology and the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology.

"We are proud to honor these distinguished UO alumni who exemplify the qualities we hope to instill in our students–leadership, scholarship and creativity," says Joe Stone, dean of the UO College of Arts and Sciences. "The prestigious Alumni Fellow Award is given to UO arts and sciences alumni who have distinguished themselves in their chosen professions within medicine, science, the arts, industry, public service and academe."

The award was formerly called the Dean’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

Chambers, who received a bachelor of arts degree in economics in 1969, is totally responsible at Pharmacia & Upjohn for finance, administration and information technology. Some of his recent accomplishments include establishing a regional Asia/Pacific office, working on a strategic Chinese joint venture, and submitting a strategic alliance proposal with a Western European partner.

Fraunfelder, who received his bachelor of science degree in general science from the UO in 1956, earned his medical degree from the University of Oregon Medical School, now OHSU, in 1960. He became the youngest chairman in academic ophthalmology in U.S. history when he accepted chairmanship at the University of Arkansas School of Medicine in 1968. Ten years later, he accepted chairmanship at OHSU, serving until his resignation in 1998. The Casey Eye Institute was constructed on OHSU’s campus under his leadership and he became its director when it opened in 1991.

Terwilliger joined the UO faculty after obtaining her doctorate in biology from the UO in 1981. Her research focuses on respiratory proteins and their role in oxygen transport in marine invertebrates. Terwilliger’s work has taken her to many countries where she has given lectures and seminars about her research. In addition, she has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Experimental Zoology, Cahiers de Biologies Marine, and Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology.

The college also recognized three UO faculty members as 1999-2000 Distinguished Professors: Mark Johnson, professor of philosophy and department head; Mary Rothbart, professor of psychology; and Gary Seitz, professor of mathematics and department head. Established in 1996, the Distinguished Professor awards recognize senior faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences for their scholarly achievements. As part of the award appointment, each professor will present a lecture on campus during the 1999-2000 academic year.

James Boren, professor of English, also was honored as the first recipient of the Arts and Sciences Distinguished Educator Award. This new award recognizes senior faculty members for the excellence, distinctiveness and scope of their career-long records as educators. The chief criteria for this award are a distinguished records of classroom instruction; teaching and curricular awards; outstanding student mentoring, advising and supervision; successful integration of teaching and curricular innovations with relevant research and scholarship in the field; and contributions as a college-, campus- and profession-wide citizen.

In addition, David E. Draper, who received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the UO in 1977, received the chemistry department’s Alumni Achievement Award. Draper, a professor of chemistry at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., has been recognized as one of the world’s leaders in biochemistry and molecular biology. His research focuses on the structure of RNA, how it functions and how proteins bind to it.

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