People in the News

BOB SCHWARTZ, formerly of the law firm of Russo, Russo & Slania, P.C., has been named chief executive officer of Southern Arizona Land Trust, Inc. Schwartz also will serve as in-house legal counsel of SALT’s sister company, Family Housing Resources, Inc. SALT and FHR are nonprofit supporting organizations of… Read more »

THOMAS MILLER is one of seven Arizona artists to win an artist research and development grant from the Arizona Commission of the Arts. Miller’s grant, in the category of literary arts, will allow him to conduct field research for a nonfiction travel narrative, “Don Quixote’s Trail,” tracing places mentioned… Read more »

LT. COL. JONATHAN E. LOWE recently became the squadron commander of the 348th Recruiting Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, near Salt Lake City, Utah. Lowe is the son of Anne and David Lowe of Marana. BRYCE MEGDAL was named Tucson Photographer of the Year by RAW Natural Born… Read more »

Former U.S. Rep. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS and her husband, Capt. Mark Kelly, received the Shirley Agnos Legacy Award at the 101st Arizona Town Hall on Civic Leadership, Tuesday, Nov. 27 at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale.         ADAM KWASMAN, a Tucson native, was elected to the Arizona… Read more »

JOSH PROTAS, vice president and director of the Washington D.C., office of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs since 2009, is leaving JCPA to create a Washington office for Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. Protas was previously senior vice president for planning and community affairs and director of… Read more »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

DAVID A. RUBEN, M.D., MBA, a psychiatrist and pain management physician, is a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Arizona. His website is drrubenforussenate.com.… Read more »

A book by MERYL HERSHEY BECK, “Stop Eating Your Heart Out: 21 Days to Freedom from Emotional Eating” will be published next month by Red Wheel/Weiser & Conari Press. Beck is a licensed clinical counselor in Tucson.… Read more »

Rutgers University Press has published “Gentile New York: The Images of Non-Jews among Jewish Immigrants” by GIL RIBAK. Ribak is the Schusterman Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Judaic Studies, University of Arizona.  More information and a 20 percent discount are available at http://judaic.arizona.edu/sites/judaic. ­arizona.edu/files/Ribak_author_flier.pdf.… Read more »

Pima County Attorney BARBARA LAWALL will receive the Public Service Award at the American Jewish Committee’s Judge Learned Hand Awards luncheon on March 14 in Phoenix. She is being honored for her contributions to the advancement of equality and democratic principles through her work in the nonprofit and public… Read more »