Dr. Steven Leigh, Department of Anthropology

It is our pleasure to nominate Dr. Steven Leigh, of the Department of Anthropology, for a position on the Athletic Board. Since joining the faculty in 1994 Prof. Leigh has been an enthusiastic supporter of University of Illinois athletic programs and a season ticket holder in football. However, we nominate him based upon his strong interest in UI athletic programs, and in particular for his experience and the fact that his scholarly interests are uniquely relevant to the Board position. Prof. Leigh is a physical anthropologist and his research deals comparatively with the morphology of the human body and its evolution from primate ancestors to modern times.

His research interests therefore have a strong relevance to athletics and kinesiology. Dr. Leigh is a rising star in his field and has authored/co-authored 22 journal articles and book chapters, and has a co-edit book Readings on the Biological Bases of Human Behavior (1996, Simon and Schuster). He has served as a consultant to the Illinois Organized Crime Task Force and has assisted state and federal law enforcement officials in locating and recovering organized crime murder victims. On the other hand, he also coaches for the Urbana youth sports league. In the classroom Steve Leigh is a dedicated and popular teacher, and offers a wide variety of physical anthropology courses from the introductory (Anthropology 102) to graduate levels.

An important asset that Dr. Leigh can provide as a member of the Athletic Board is his experience in university athletic programs. From 1988-1991, during his doctoral studies at Northwestern University, he served as an academic tutor for the Department of Athletics and Recreation at Northwestern. He worked closely with student athletes and thereby gained an excellent understanding of their academic problems, time constraints, and the general obstacles that they face. He therefore is sympathetic to their needs and the needs of our athletic programs in general. We believe that Prof. Steven Leigh's strong qualifications make him an excellent candidate for a position on the Athletic Board and we enthusiastically recommend him to you.

Submitted by: Prof. David C. Grove, Prof. Janet Keller, Prof. Stanley Ambrose, Prof. Douglas Brewer, Prof. Edward Bruner, Prof. Susan Gillespie, Prof. Alma Gottlieb, Prof. Alejandro Lugo, Prof. C.K. Shih, Prof. Andrew Orta, Prof. Norman E. Whitten, Department of Anthropology

William D. O'Brien, Jr., Bioacoustics Research Lab, Dept of Elec & Comp Eng

(1) Strengths in service and leadership ¾ I have been elected the chief (volunteer) executive officer of IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society and American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. These experiences demonstrate my ability to work with a wide variety of professionals from quite different disciplines.

Served as Secretary-Treasurer (1972-1980), Vice President (1981) and President (1982-1983) of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society, and have been a member of their Board of Directors since 1972. I currently serve as the society's Editor-in-Chief (since 1985), the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society, and manage 30 Associate Editors.

Served as Treasurer (1982-1985), President-Elect (1986-1988) and President (1988-1991) of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, and was a member of their Board of Directors (1979-1993). In addition to the above, I have served as Treasurer (1992-1995) of the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, an international federation of ultrasound in medicine societies, and have served on the Board of Directors (1988-1994) of the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers.

(2) Major teaching and scholarly interests and accomplishments ¾ I currently teach or have taught signal processing, communications and acoustics courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. One of the courses that I teach, ECE 374, was developed by me while I was a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering, UIUC.

My research interests involve the many areas of ultrasound-tissue interaction, including spectroscopy, risk assessment, biological effects, tissue characterization, dosimetry, blood-flow measurements, acoustic microscopy and imaging for which I has published more than 190 papers. My scholarly activities are highly interdisciplinary that are demonstrated by my appointments and broad-based research funding. I currently hold the following appointments: (1) Prof. of Elec. and Comp Engr., College of Engr.; (2) Prof. of Bioengineering, Colleges of Engr. and Medicine; (3) Prof. of Nutritional Sciences, College of ACES; (4) Research Prof. in the Beckman Inst. for Advanced Science and Technology and in the CSL.

I have been very fortunate professionally by being elected to Fellowship in four separate professional societies: Acoustical Society of America (1982), American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (1985), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (1989), and American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (1992). Fellowship is the highest membership grade in a professional society and is awarded for technical achievements. In 1993, I received the AIUM Joseph H. Holmes Basic Science Pioneer Award. This is the highest technical award given by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. In 1996, I was elected Honorary Member, Society of Vascular Technology. This is an award given from time to time to individuals who have made significant technical advances in ultrasound technologies which benefit the profession of vascular technology.

I was elected the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society Distinguished Lecturer for 1997-1998. This is an international award which provided me funding to travel worldwide and give a lecture on a topic of interest to the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society. In 1998, I received the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society's Achievement Award. This is the highest technical award given by the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society.

(3) Experiences and interest in the policy and management issues that surround a Big Ten athletic program ¾ I have been a long-standing member (23 years) of the academic community at the University of Illinois, and a long-time supporter of numerous sporting events. I am also a U of I alum having earned all of my degrees from here. Currently, my wife and I have seasons tickets for Women's Volleyball, Football, and Men's Basketball. None of these, by themself, qualifies me to serve the University as a member of the Athletic Board. Rather, they simply demonstrate my supportive interest in University life.

I have a deep desire for the U of I to continue to demonstrate excellence in all facets of campus activities. My principal experience has been academic excellence that I have demonstrated through my teaching, service and research activities.

I would like the opportunity to see that this excellence continues in the athletic programs. I believe my management experiences and commitment to excellence provide the necessary background to serve the campus as a member of the Athletic Board.

Lawrence DeBrock, Professor of Economics, College of Commerce & Business Administration

I am pleased to nominate Professor Lawrence DeBrock for a position on the Athletic Board. Based on my experience as a past member of the Athletic Board. I believe that Professor DeBrock has all the qualifications to be an outstanding member of the Board.

First, Professor DeBrock has been recognized as one of the best teachers and communicators on campus by a series of campus teaching awards. These awards include the MBA Faculty Excellence Award, 1998; Exec MBA Instructor of the Year, 1996-97; MBA Professor of the Year Award, 1994-1995; Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award, Commerce Alumni Association, 1995; MBA Professor of the Year Award, 1993-1994; Harriet and Charles Luckman Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching, 1992; Alpha Lamda Delta Outstanding Teacher of Freshman, all-campus Instructional Award, 1990. He is also a member of the Campus Honors Faculty. He has taught many athletes because he has regularly taught Economics 102 to as many as 1500 students at a time.

Second, Professor DeBrock has done research on the economics of sport. He has articles on voting in the NCAA, graduate rates of basketball and football players and the economics of the NFL draft. He is currently working on an article on the wage structure in professional baseball. This research naturally gives him some strong insight into important problems that are faced by the Athletic Board.

Third, Professor DeBrock is a longtime supporter of Illinois Athletics. I know that he attended the Rose Bowl game and the Final Four when we were there. He attended our NCAA regional basketball games. He was an honorary associate coach for one of our basketball games. He has regularly helped in the recruiting of football players. These activities have given him quite a bit of specific knowledge about our program.

If Professor DeBrock is selected for the Board, he could make especially strong contributions as a member of the Academic Progress and Eligibility Committee (APEC). This is probably the most important element of faculty oversight on the Board.

Submitted by: Wally Hendricks

Donald J. Wuebbles, Director, Environmental Council, Professor, Atmospheric Sciences, Electrical & Computer Engineering

I'm writing to nominate Prof. Don Wuebbles, Director of the Environmental Council, for the Athletic Board. I have known Don since he joined our faculty over four years ago as Head of the Atmospheric Sciences Department. In fact I recruited Don for that position when I served as graduate Dean, because of his superb leadership skills and outstanding scholarly reputation.

Don is an internationally known expert on atmospheric chemistry who serves on numerous national and international panels related to global atmospheric change. He and his colleagues are widely sought by industry and government advisory groups to assess the impact of anthropogenic emissions on climate. As Director of the Environmental Council he is now leading this campus's efforts to expand our educational offerings in this important discipline.

Don is a recreational athlete, but more importantly has had a long term interest in organized sports for youth. He has served as coach and official in community programs and has served in numerous leadership roles in scouting. Don's experience in the international scientific community as well youth programs, has provided him with a broad perspective and ability to deal with complex problems that involve diverse stakeholders.

I believe he would be a superb member of the Athletic Board. Don has my full support.

Submitted by: Chester S. Gardner, Associate Dean & Director Engineering Experiment Station

This is to nominate Prof. Donald Wuebbles of Atmospheric Sciences and Director of the Environmental Council for membership on the Athletic Board. Don came to UIUC from Lawrence Livemore Laboratory about 4 years ago to be head of Atmospheric Sciences. When the Environmental Council was formed a year and a half ago, he became its first director. His administrative experience would be of considerable use to the Board. Don has long-standing interest in collegiate athletics and follows Illinois athletics closely. I am not aware that he has specific experience with athletic oversight, but he would be an energetic, effective and knowledgeable committee member.

Submitted by: R. James Kirkpatrick, Executive Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences