Five faculty honored for achievements with Hilldale Awards

Five faculty members have received the 2006 Hilldale Awards, which annually recognize excellence in teaching, research and service.

The awards, given each year since 1987, honor professors in four faculty divisions: biological sciences, physical sciences, social studies, and arts and humanities.

The Hilldale Fund, which receives income from the operation of the Hilldale shopping mall, makes the awards possible. This year’s awards were presented at the Faculty Senate meeting on April 3.

This year’s recipients are:

• Christopher Kleinhenz, Carol Mason Kirk Professor of Italian. Kleinhenz, who has been on the faculty since 1971, is a prominent figure in Italian studies and is one of the founders of UW–Madison’s Medieval Studies Program.

  Kleinhenz has produced a steady stream of publications throughout his career on topics including Dante, lyric poetry, the interrelationship of literature and the visual arts in the medieval period, and the nature and problems of manuscript study and textual criticism. His monograph on the origin and development of the Italian sonnet is considered to be a groundbreaking treatment of the poetic form, and his two- volume encyclopedia, “Medieval Italy,” is a popular reference tool for scholars and students.

  Kleinhenz has taught the entire range of courses in the Italian studies department, from elementary language to graduate seminars, and he regularly receives among the highest teaching evaluation scores in the department. He is director of the College of Letters and Science Honors Program.

  Kleinhenz also has been editor of the journal Dante Studies for 15 years; the publication is one of the most important international journals in Italian studies and medieval studies.

  Kleinhenz received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in comparative literature and his Ph.D. in Italian, all from Indiana University.

• Charles Casey, Homer B. Adkins Professor of Chemistry. As a UW–Madison scientist since 1968, Casey’s specialty is applying the techniques of physical organic chemistry to the study of the mechanisms of organometallic reactions, and he is recognized as an international leader in the field of organometallic chemistry.

  Casey has completed seminal work in a variety of areas, including organocuprate reaction mechanisms and the isolation of the first unstabilized carbene complex. He also has been a leader in developing syntheses of heterobimetallic metal complexes as potential catalysts for carbon monoxide reduction. Casey’s most recent work is in developing an understanding of homogeneous catalysis.

  Casey has taught at all levels of the curriculum, from introductory general and organic chemistry to his graduate course in organometallic chemistry.

  He also has been president of the American Chemical Society and was chair of the Department of Chemistry, 1998-2001.

  Casey received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from St. Louis University and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

• Christopher Coe, W.B. Cannon Professor of Biopsychology. As a member of the faculty since 1985, Coe has been a pioneer in psychoneuroimmunology, which investigates the influence of environmental, social and emotional factors on immune-related diseases. His findings have been significant for health and social policy, particularly in the areas of prenatal care and women’s health.

  Coe has been an adviser to the National Children’s Study, an initiative to prospectively evaluate the health of 10,000 babies. He also heads the Biological Assay Core for a large health survey that evaluates the influence of life style and mental well-being on health in 7,000 middle-aged and older adults in the United States. The survey is part of one of the largest grants ever awarded to UW–Madison.

  Coe received his bachelor’s degree in anthropology from City College, City University of New York. His Ph.D. in biological psychology is from the Downstate Medical Center at the State University of New York.

• Ronald Klein and Barbara Klein, professors in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (joint recipients). The Kleins have been responsible for initiating and conducting significant ophthalmic epidemiology research in diabetic and age-related eye diseases and for identifying risk factors for eye disease in systemic disorders.

  The Kleins are widely recognized for their work in the Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy (WESDR) and in the Beaver Dam Eye Study. The WESDR has resulted in more than 200 published papers; it documented the importance of the level of glycemia in relation to the subsequent incidence and progression of diabetic retinopathy, visual loss and other complications associated with diabetes. Recommendations from the study have been adopted as guidelines for eye care by the World Health Organization, the American Diabetes Association and the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

  Both Kleins received bachelor’s degrees from Brooklyn College and medical degrees from New York University. They also earned master of public health degrees from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.