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A pioneer in medical imaging and a nationally recognized commentator on the confluence of race and American culture will receive the first Faculty Achievement Awards at Washington University. The announcement of the selection was made Saturday, May 1, at the Chancellor's Gala in Holmes Lounge, and the awards will be conferred at a public event in the fall.
Gerald L. Early, Ph.D., the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters and professor of English, African and Afro-American studies and American culture studies, all in Arts and Sciences, and Marcus E. Raichle, M.D., co-director of the Division of Radiological Sciences and professor of radiology, of neurology and of neurobiology at the School of Medicine, are the inaugural recipients of this award, which recognizes outstanding academic accomplishments and service.
Expressing enthusiasm for the selection, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton noted that the competition was stiff. "Washington University has many fine scholars and teachers from which to chose for such an award," he said, "but the choice of these two fine individuals sets a high-water mark for future recipients.
"Their research and scholarship, recognized prominence in their fields, service and dedication to the University community and respected accomplishments as contributors to higher education leave no doubt that we have made two very wise selections."
The award includes a $5,000 honorarium. Early and Raichle will address the University community at the awards ceremony next fall, summarizing their scholarly work.
The pool from which Early and Raichle were selected was "truly outstanding," according to John N. Drobak, J.D., professor of law and of economics in Arts and Sciences and outgoing chair of the Faculty Senate Council.
"The inaugural winners are well-respected by their colleagues, excellent scholars, wonderful citizens of the University and fine teachers," said Drobak, who co-chaired the advisory committee making the selections with Gerhild S. Williams, Ph.D., professor of Germanic languages and literatures in Arts and Sciences and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs.
The committee included three members each from Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine and one member from each of the University's other six schools. They considered the nominations and recommended recipients to Wrighton.
Criteria for the award included:
Early recently edited "The Muhammad Ali Reader" and "Body Language: Writers on Sports." Other editorships include "Lure and Loathing: Essays on Race, Identity and Ambivalence of Assimilation" and "Speech and Power: The African-American Essay and Its Cultural Content."
Early is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a regular commentator on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air." He also served as a consultant on Ken Burns' Public Broadcasting System documentary "Baseball."
Marcus Raichle pioneered the use of noninvasive imaging to understand brain function. Working with colleagues at the University, Raichle helped develop many of the basic experimental strategies used worldwide to map the human brain with positron emission tomography (PET) and more recently, with functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Using PET, Raichle initially helped map specific brain areas used in functions such as seeing, hearing, speaking and remembering. Additional work with both imaging techniques has provided an increasingly sophisticated view of how the normal human brain works. Maps of brain chemistry and metabolism complement these images. In combination, these studies tell us not only how brain activity relates to behavior, but also how health problems such as stroke, depression, anxiety and Parkinson's disease affect brain function.
Raichle, a member of the faculty since 1971, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
