Brown University

Named: Karen Davis, a human resources executive with more than 20 years of experience in higher education, has been named vice president for human resources. She will take up her new post in early July. Davis holds a master’s degree in health policy management from the Harvard School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree from Allegheny College.

Community College of Rhode Island

Choral concert: Americana, a choral showcase featuring the college’s chorus/champer singers and the West Bay Chorale directed by Joseph Amante y Zapata, will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, at St. Benedict Church, 135 Beach Ave., Warwick, and at 3 p.m. next Sunday, at St. Mary Star of the Sea, 866 Point Judith Rd., Narragansett. For more information, call (401) 825-2168 weekdays.

Johnson & Wales University

Awards: The School of Technology presented its 2008 Faculty Awards on Friday, at the Barnsider Restaurant in Providence: Unsung Hero Award — School of Technology maintenance staff, David Paiva and Valentino DiPippo; Academic Leadership Award — Prof. Lisa Nademlynsky; Outstanding Service Award — Prof. Hilary Mason; Teacher of the Year Award — Prof. Brian Alves; Adjunct Teacher of the Year — Prof. Diane Santurri.

New England Institute of Technology

Donation: Lisa Reed, chairwoman for the surgical technology program, has announced that the department has received a donation of medical-related materials from Adrian Products in Southington, Conn. The materials have a value of more than $4,500.

Awards: Four students at the college have received Feinstein Enriching America Awards for their volunteer service to the college and their community. Alan Shawn Feinstein presented the awards to: Michael McMaugh, of North Providence; Susan Joyce, of Cumberland; Erik Johnson, of Plainville, Conn.; and Patricia Tellekamp, of Niantic, Conn.

New program: The new aviation science technology program combines academic studies and flight training to prepare graduates for a wide variety of positions within the air transportation industry, including general, airline and corporate aviation.

Providence College

Honor: A literary exhibition catalogue written by Alice H.R.H. Beckwith, professor of art history, who has taught at the college for 37 years, earned national acclaim recently from the American Library Association, the country’s preeminent library organization.

Beckwith’s catalogue, Illustrating the Good Life: The Pissarros’ Eragny Press, 1894-1914: A Catalogue of an Exhibition of Books, Prints & Drawings Related to the Work of the Press, took the Division One first prize of the 2008 Katherine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Awards.

The award — one of five handed out in various categories — is funded by an endowment established by the Leabs, who are the editors of American Book Prices Current. The awards are judged by the Association of College and Research Libraries Rare Books and Manuscripts division (ACRL, RBMS) and recognize outstanding exhibition catalogues issued by American and Canadian institutions.

Award: Dr. Wendy R. Oliver, professor of dance and chair of the department of theatre, dance, and film, has been chosen as the 2008 National Dance Association Scholar/Artist.

The Scholar/Artist is selected by the organization’s research committee, and the honor is considered one of the highest in the field of dance.

To be nominated, a person must have a scholarly record of longer than 10 years, be currently producing scholarly materials or other creative works, document in-depth study of dance, and prove capable of communicating ideas and knowledge to selected arts groups.

The honor lasts for one year beginning at the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance National Convention. This year’s convention took place April 10 through 13 in Fort Worth, Texas, where Oliver was awarded a plaque commemorating the honor. She also delivered a lecture, “Body Image in the Dance Class.” In addition to receiving the recognition, Oliver was featured in the April edition of Dance Magazine.

Oliver began at the college in 1985 and has taught courses that focus on modern dance, women in the arts, and women in dance and sport, among many others. She is also director of the Dance Company, which annually performs fall and spring concerts and makes other presentations throughout the academic year.

Rhode Island College

Concerts: The Opera Workshop will present two performances: tonight at 7:30 in the Nazarian Center’s Sapinsley Hall, and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at St. Martin’s Church in Providence. The workshop’s codirectors are Susan Rodgers, adjunct professor of music, and Edward Markward, professor of music, with Rodgers serving as stage director and Markward in charge of musical preparation. Admission is free.

Rhode Island School of Design

Exhibitions: “IT IS UP TO US IF WE GO ON AS IS: Ruth Laxson’s Persistent Muse,” an exhibition of Laxson’s books and bookmaking process archives, will be on display at the Fleet Library at RISD, 15 Westminster St., Providence, through July 3. Laxson, an Atlanta-based artist, started making artists’ books in the early 1980s at the age of 63, and is known for her quirky visual poetry, playful use of text and image, and her highly relevant social and political commentaries. For more information and hours, contact Laurie Whitehill Chong at (401) 709-5927 or lwhitehi@risd.edu.

Awards: The professional contributions of two of RISD’s longtime faculty members have been recognized. Andrew Raftery, professor of printmaking, is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship Award to support the completion of a large-scale print project and preparation for a fall exhibition in New York.

Colgate Searle, professor of Landscape Architecture, has been elected by the American Society of Landscape Architects to its Council of Fellows; he will be inducted at a ceremony in October. Fellow status recognizes exceptional accomplishment over a sustained period of time.

Roger Williams University

Auditions: The Roger Williams University Barn Summer Playhouse will hold auditions in May for Proof, written by David Auburn. Auditions will be held on Tuesday, May 27 at 7 p.m. (or by appointment), at the Performing Arts Center. Two men (one age 20 to 30 and one age 50 to 60) and two women (age 20 to 30) are needed for this Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning drama.

The production will run July 11 to 19 at the Performing Arts Center. Auditions will consist of cold readings. Auditions are open to the public and will be held at the Bristol campus. For more information, contact the director, Peter Wright, at (401) 254-3629 or pwright@rwu.edu. The Barn Summer Playhouse is affiliated with the department of performing arts.

Marine science project: Four undergraduates recently earned prestigious Rhode Island EPSCoR summer research fellowships, which will allow them to complete independent marine science research projects. Only 25 applicants from across the state were awarded the highly competitive fellowships, which are designed to promote life-science research. Each of the RWU students will work in collaboration with a Roger Williams faculty member from the Center for Economic and Environmental Development and will receive a $3,500 stipend for the work. Participants are: sophomore Jessie Alden of Cataumet, Mass.; junior Ashley Goss, of Taunton, Mass.; junior Natalie Huey, of Ridgefield, Conn.; and senior Danielle Perley, of Rowley, Mass.

Rhode Island EPSCoR (the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) is a National Science Foundation-funded program committed to increasing undergraduate research and student-faculty collaborations across the state. For more information, contact Jim Lemire, EPSCoR marine center coordinator, at (401) 254-5718.

University of Rhode Island

Speaker: Gabriel “Gabe” Mancuso, of Edison, N.J., has been selected as this year’s student commencement speaker. He will speak during undergraduate commencement ceremonies. A political science and economics major, Mancuso was a founding member and the outgoing president of the Pre-Law Society. Active in the Student Senate, he chaired the bylaws committee, was vice chairman of the finance committee, an elected member of the rules and ethics committee, and served as liaison to the Faculty Senate. He was also a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and an Interfraternity Council representative.

Named: The National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation has named graduate student Shad Ahmed, commander of the URI’s student-run Emergency Medical Services, the Collegiate EMS Provider of the Year, 2007-2008, for organizational leadership. He was the only one in the nation to receive such an honor from the foundation.