Judith Ortiz Cofer

Judith Ortiz Cofer, Regents and Franklin Professor of English and creative writing, was awarded an honorary doctorate by Lehman College in New York.

Cofer received the award during commencement ceremonies at the college on May 31. She was awarded the degree in recognition of her “distinguished record of personal and professional accomplishments and service to society.”

She is the author of 10 books, and her critically acclaimed work has been widely anthologized.

Manuel Diaz, head men’s tennis coach, was recently named Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Coach of the Year for NCAA Division I.

The honor comes after Diaz led the team to an undefeated 32-0 season, and UGA’s fifth NCAA tennis championship. This is the third time Diaz has been named Wilson/ITA National Coach of the Year. He also received the award in 1995 and 2001.

Jeffrey H. Dorfman, professor and interim head of the department of agricultural and applied economics has been named to a four-year term (2008-2011) as editor of The American Journal of Agricultural Economics by the board of the American Agricultural Economics Association. The American Journal of Agricultural Economics is the top-ranked academic journal for agricultural economists.

William Flatt

William Flatt, D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor Emeritus, has been named a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition.

This fellowship is open to scientists who have had distinguished careers in nutrition and are at least 65 years of age.

Flatt, a professor of foods and nutrition in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and former dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, was named a Fellow for his “creative and innovative contributions to the development of the field of energy metabolism,” according to information provided by ASN.

Flatt also was recognized for “the visionary leadership he demonstrated during and after his service as research leader of the energy metabolism unit at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the more recent, penetrating studies of energy balance and obesity and leptin actions he and his colleagues have reported.”

Vasu Nair, William H. Terry Senior Professor and head of the pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences department, received the Volwiler Research Achievement Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

This award annually recognizes outstanding research by an individual holding a full-time appointment at a U.S. pharmacy school. The presentation was made at the AACP’s 2007 annual conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Nair, who is also Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and director of the UGA Center for Drug Discovery, has published more than 430 papers and abstracts in his field, given nearly 300 presentations and supervised the work of more than 130 researchers.