AUSTIN, Texas—Professors Shelley Payne and Michael Granof of The University of Texas at Austin have been selected to receive the 2006-07 Civitatis Award, one of the highest honors bestowed upon members of the university. William Powers Jr., president of the university, will present the awards at a recognition ceremony on campus during the 2007-08 academic year.
The Civitatis Award is presented to faculty members who have demonstrated exemplary campus citizenship throughout a career of service at the university. It recognizes dedicated and meritorious service to the university above and beyond the regular expectations of teaching, research and writing.
The award’s name derives from the Latin motto that appears on the university’s seal—Disciplina Praesidium Civitatis—taken from the words of Mirabeau B. Lamar, former president of the Republic of Texas, meaning "Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy." The recipient is selected by the university’s president upon the recommendation of the Faculty Council Executive Committee.
Payne is the Lorene Morrow Kelley Fellow in Microbiology and a member of the university’s Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Her research focuses on the molecular biology of iron acquisition and other virulence factors in pathogenic bacteria, including those that cause dysentery and cholera in humans.
Payne began working at The University of Texas at Austin in 1980 after serving as a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Fund Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley. She was chair of the Department of Microbiology (now the Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology) from 1993-1997. In 2005, Payne was appointed to the National Institutes of Health National Allergy and Infectious Diseases Advisory Council. She served on the Faculty Council and the Graduate Assembly and is a former chair of the Faculty Council. Payne has been involved in a number of initiatives on the status of women at the university and has strived to be a positive influence on gender equality on campus. She also has served on a number of university committees, including the Intercollegiate Athletics Council for Men and the Intercollegiate Athletics Council for Women. She also has been chair of the Athletics Council for Women.
Granof, the Ernst and Young Distinguished Centennial Professor in Accounting and a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, has taught at The University of Texas at Austin since 1972 in the McCombs School of Business and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. He is a former chair of the Department of Accounting and the Faculty Council and chairs the board of directors of the University Cooperative Society. He also has chaired the University Committee of Counsel on Academic Freedom and Responsibility and has been a member of numerous university committees, including the Men’s Athletic Council, the Presidential Task Force on Efficiency, the Presidential Commission of 125 Working Group, the Presidential Committee to Assist K-12 Public Schools with Finances, the University of Texas System Faculty Advisory Committee and others.
Granof has received numerous business and teaching awards, including the Association of Government Accountants Cornelius E. Tierney/Ernst and Young Research Award in 2005. Recent teaching awards include the MBA Core Outstanding Professor Award in both 2005 and 2007. He is a member of the U.S. Comptroller General’s Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards and has been a member of other national accounting councils during his academic career. He was chair of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants Committee on Governmental Accounting and Auditing from 1992-1996.
For more information contact: Robert D. Meckel, Office of Public Affairs, 512-475-7847.
