chapelhillnews.com

Sara Devota Swartzwelder, a 2005 graduate of Chapel Hill High School, received both dean's list and College Scholar honors during her freshman year at Middlebury College. She is the daughter of Elizabeth and Scott Swartzwelder of Chapel Hill.

Dan Nelson, director of UNC's Office of Human Research Ethics, has been appointed to a four-year term on the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. Nelson is an associate professor of social medicine and pediatrics in addition to directing the human research ethics office. This office and its seven institutional review boards are responsible for ethical and regulatory oversight for more than 4,000 research studies.
The 11-member committee reviews and evaluates the Office of Human Research Protections and other related agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Ryan Humphries White of Chapel Hill received a bachelor's degree from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., during ceremonies May 28. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Steven H. White. Kaelin B.C. Alexander, a graduate of Chapel Hill High School, has been named to the merit list at Kenyon College for the second semester of the 2005-06 academic year. He is the son of Janice Dale Alexander. To make the list, a student must receive a grade-point average of 3.45 on a four-point scale.

David W. Paquette, associate professor and graduate program director in the UNC School of Dentistry's department of periodontology, has been named a fellow of the Leadership Institute of the American Dental Education Association. The yearlong program selects promising faculty members at academic dental institutions and guides them through intensive development in leadership and organization theory, higher education management, team and network building and other aspects of personal and professional growth.
Paquette has been on the dentistry faculty since 1994.

Michael Rubinstein, an expert on polymer theory, has been named the John P. Barker Distinguished Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. The professorship provides support for an outstanding teacher and scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences. Rubinstein, whose research interests are in polymer theory and computer simulations, has been on the UNC chemistry faculty since 1995. He is also on the faculty of the curriculum in applied and materials sciences. He has taught courses on thermodynamics, kinetics and diffusion; introduction to statistical thermodynamics; physical chemistry of polymers; intermediate polymer chemistry and statistical mechanics.

Meghan Taylor, a student at Chapel Hill High School and the daughter of Cynthia and Kenneth R. Taylor, served as a page in the North Carolina Senate. She was sponsored by state Sen. Bob Atwater.

Three area educators recently participated in seminars presented by the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching.
Sarah J. Mansfield of Chapel Hill, a kindergarten teacher at Elizabeth Seawell Elementary School, attended the seminar, "The Write Start: Reading for Success."
Melissa Vrooman Olson of Hillsborough, grades 9-12 ceramics teacher at East Chapel Hill High School, attended the seminar, "Turners and Burners: Folk Potters of North Carolina."
Larkin Bell of Chapel Hill, grades 9-12 history, honors psychology and sociology teacher at Chapel Hill High School, attended the seminar, "Caught Up in the Current: Traveling with Lewis and Clark."
The center provides residential seminars in the arts, sciences, humanities and technology that are designed to renew teachers' vitality for teaching and to equip them with new knowledge for the classroom.

Alana Anne Rade of Chapel Hill received a bachelor's degree from UNC-Asheville this month.

Heather E. Epes of Carrboro has joined the faculty of Francis Marion University as an assistant professor of English and assistant director of the FMU Writing Center. She received a bachelor's degree from Duke University and a master's degree in English from UNC-Chapel Hill. She also has completed all degree requirements for a doctorate in composition studies from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Lisa M. Carroll of Chapel Hill has been named to the merit list at Kenyon College for the second semester of the 2005-06 academic year. She is the daughter of James and Regina Carroll. To make the list, a student must receive a grade-point average of 3.45 on a four-point scale.