Our Town

Formerly the director of communications at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, HELEN GOMEZ BERNARD is now leading the external and alumni relations team at the University of Arizona College of Humanities.       Marsha Drozdoff, a clinical social worker for more than 30 years, launched her new website… Read more »

ESTHER STERNBERG, MD, has joined the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine as director of research. She also joins the faculty of the UA College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (CALA), where she will establish and direct the Institute on Place and Well-Being. Sternberg is internationally recognized for… Read more »

PATTY VALLANCE has written and published a children’s book, “Born to Wear Blue,” dedicated to the men and women of the fire service (borntowear blue.org). All proceeds benefit the Greater Tucson Fire Foundation. A launch party will be held Sunday, Sept. 30, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the… Read more »

TRISH WINTER-HUNT has been named the new director of marketing, communications and public relations for the TUCSON JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER. Raised in Tucson, she earned her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Arizona. Her experience includes building integrated marketing communications strategies for local, regional and national… Read more »

DIANE WEINTRAUB will be honored as the Tucson recipient of the Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award during the 2012 International Lion of Judah Conference in New York, Sept. 10-12. The award is named for Norma Kipnis-Wilson and the late Toby Friedland, who founded the Lions of Judah, a Jewish Federations of North… Read more »

CONGREGATION ANSHEI ISRAEL has been accepted as one of 30 congregations nationally to participate in a new leadership program, “Sulam (ladder) for Emerging Leaders.” United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism piloted the program last year in 10 congregations. The six-week program for 30- to 45-year-olds will be facilitated by Rabbi… Read more »

SHLOMO & VITO’S NEW YORK DELICATESSEN is adding a pizza kitchen. It will celebrate its grand re-opening Aug. 17 with a charitable partnership, donating 10 percent of each pizza sale Aug. 17-26 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As part of the re-opening, Shlomo & Vito’s will also offer… Read more »

JOEL FEINMAN, J.D., is among 13 new members elected to the board of directors of Planned Parenthood Arizona. Feinman is a Pima County public defender. As a teenager, he was a volunteer with Planned Parenthood’s Positive Force Players, a youth group that did presentations and skits at junior and… Read more »

  A composition by MIKE LEVY, “Sonata for Four Native Flutes,” will be performed at a Vatican ceremony in October when the pope canonizes a Native American woman who lived in the 17th century, known as the blessed Kateri. Native flutist Vince Redhouse commissioned Levy to write the piece… Read more »

ART MARTIN, chief executive officer of HANDMAKER JEWISH SERVICES FOR THE AGING, received a 2012 ACHCA Facility Leadership Award from the American College of Health Care Administrators last month. The award, based on skilled nursing facility survey data collected by eHealthDataSolutions, recognizes Handmaker for excellence in three years of performance on the health… Read more »

SARAH LANGERT is the incoming director of leadership development and public relations at the JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA. She is succeeding Rebecca Goodman, who will be moving to Indiana. Langert has an undergraduate degree in public administration with a minor in Judaic studies from the University of Arizona.… Read more »

ANNETTE KOLODNY, Ph.D., University of Arizona professor emerita of American literature and culture, has published “In Search of First Contact: The Peoples of the Dawnland, the Vikings of Vinland, and the Anglo-American Anxiety of Discovery” (Duke University Press). The book, prompted by questions posed by UA students, includes a… Read more »

CONGREGATION OR CHADASH’S SEVENTH GRADE YOUTH PHILANTHROPY PROGRAM donated $5,500 raised throughout the year to programs that strengthen the rights and enhance the well-being of individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. At the congregation’s annual meeting May 7, the students gave $3,500 to the GLS Education Network… Read more »

DAVID WARMACK, a former student at Tucson Hebrew Academy, has been selected to participate in the C-Mites (Carnegie Mellon Institute for Talented Elementary and Secondary Students) summer program. David recently moved to Texarkana, Texas, where he is a fourth grade student at St. James Day School. In 2010, David… Read more »

JUDY BERG, Ph.D., RNC, WHNP, FAAN, FAANP, a clinical professor at the University of Arizona College of Nursing, has been elected to serve as president of the Western Institute of Nursing for a two-year term. As president, she will also serve on the steering committee of the Council for… Read more »

THE HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS EDUCATION GROUP of the Coalition for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, coordinated by Bryan Davis, received a 2012 Salpointe Catholic High School Volunteer of the Year Award, along with Salpointe alumna Karen Kalil Callan. The award honors those “who have contributed to… Read more »

RONALD S. WEINSTEIN, M.D., founding director of the Arizona Telemedicine Program, has been honored with the 2012 Technology Innovation Award by the University of Arizona. Weinstein was recognized for the many companies, institutes and scientific instruments that he has created and with which he has been involved. His recent… Read more »

JULIE RAY CREATIVE, which provides graphic design, web development, marketing and social media strategy, has moved to 131 E. Broadway. Julie Ray may be contacted at 891-8098 or julie@julier aycreative.com.… Read more »

DEANNA EVENCHIK was named to the Jewish Federation of North America’s National Women’s Philanthropy Board. Evenchik recently served as the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’­s Women’s Philanthropy chair and the Woman’s Philanthropy Campaign chair. She is currently on the JFSA executive committee and serves as the 2012 Federation Community… Read more »

TUCSON MEDICAL CENTER FOR CHILDREN and UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA MEDICAL CENTER — DIAMOND CHILDREN’S MEDICAL CENTER were among the first nine hospitals in the state to be certified by the Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics in the voluntary Pediatric Prepared Emergency Care program, created through a… Read more »