FRAN KATZ, associate publisher of Tucson Lifestyle, will be honored by the American Advertising Federation Tucson at its ADDY awards dinner on Feb. 18 as the winner of the Phyllis Ehlinger Women of Excellence Award. The award recognizes women business owners or executives who have demonstrated success within their industry, along with a dedication to philanthropy and mentoring. Katz’s current volunteer roles include Ben’s Bells, advisory board; Women’s Financial Group of National Bank of Arizona, advisory council; Beat Cancer Boot Camp, executive board member; National Women’s Philanthropy for Jewish Federations of North America, board member; Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, lifetime board member; Tucson Jewish Community Center, immediate past president; Tucson Medical Center Foundation, board member; and Tucson Airport Authority, board member. Her past volunteer activities include serving as a fundraising co-chair for Brandi Fenton Memorial Park; co-chairing the JFSA 2008-2009 annual campaign with her husband, Jeff; and chairing the JFSA Jewish Community Relations Council and the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation.
AUDREY ERMAN, M.D., has joined the University of Arizona department of surgery as assistant professor, division of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, and co-director of the head and neck oncology program. She attended medical school at the University of Michigan, where she received the Furstenberg Award for exceptional achievement in otolaryngology. She pursued fellowship training at the Massachussetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, a Harvard-affiliated hospital. She brings to Arizona the latest microvascular tissue-transfer techniques for reconstruction following surgery for head and neck cancer.
RABBI ROBERT EISEN of Congregation Anshei Israel graduated this month from the Rabbinic Management Institute’s Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. Eisen is one of 14 Conservative rabbis from across North America who took part in the inaugural yearlong program, a joint venture of the Rabbinical Assembly, the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and the American Jewish University, which included on-site seminars, mentorships and distance learning.
SUSAN CLAASSEN, managing artistic director of the Invisible Theatre, has been named one of “Arizona’s 48 Most Intriguing Women” by the Arizona Centennial Legacy Project, in partnership with the Arizona Historical Society and the Arizona Community Foundation. She will be honored at a luncheon on March 26 in Scottsdale and will be included in a coffee table book, “Arizona’s 48 Most Intriguing Women,” to be published in March. Former REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS also will be honored in a special Legacy Legends category. More information is available at 48women.org.
