Six UAB faculty members were granted emeritus status at the Feb. 6 meeting of the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees. The six are Cheryl Jean Knowles, M.D.; Daniel R. Lesnick, Ph.D.; Michael N. McConnell, Ph.D.; Elias Meezan, Ph.D.; Tsunenobu Tamura, M.D.; and Edward L. Wills, Ph.D.
Knowles, who joined the faculty in 1985, now is associate professor emerita in the Department of Physical Therapy of the UAB School of Health Professions. Her courses focused on physical therapy management of cardiopulmonary dysfunction and musculoskeletal dysfunction, and she published numerous articles addressing electrical nerve stimulation on pain threshold.
Lesnick, joined the faculty in 1985, now is associate professor emeritus of History. Lesnick was Undergraduate Program director from 1984 to1988 and an original member of the UAB Honors Council from 1984 to1988. He received The Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome in 1990-1991 and became a lifetime fellow.
McConnell, who began his career at UAB in 1984, now is associate professor emeritus of History. He was the Graduate Program director from 1986 to 1988 and again from 2002 to 2006. He is a member of several professional associations, including The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and is a nationally renown expert on Native Americans in early America, colonial America and early American frontiers.
Meezan, who joined the faculty in 1979, now is professor emeritus in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, which he chaired from 1979 to 1989. He also was a senior scientist in the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Diabetes and Cystic Fibrosis centers. He has drafted more than five U.S. patents and has been awarded three U.S. patents.
Tamura, who joined at UAB in 1982, now is professor emeritus in the Department of Nutrition Sciences. He is a leading researcher on folate absorption and metabolism, and he has been a senior or contributing author on more than 150 papers, has authored more than 30 scientific and medical reviews and book chapters. Tamura has been a member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology and Experimental Biology and Medicine.
Wills, who began work at UAB in 1973, now is research associate professor emeritus in the Department of Physics. He directed undergraduate physics laboratories from 1973 to 2008 and was an undergraduate physics advisor from 1985 to 2008. He is a member of a many professional and scholarly organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Association of University Professors.
