The UTMB Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences awarded 33 degrees during its 46th commencement ceremony in Levin Hall. Vice President and GSBS Dean David W. Niesel presided over the convocation with Dr. David L. Callender, UTMB president, conferring the degrees.
During the ceremony, the Graduate Student Organization presented its Distinguished Teaching Award to Sheryl Bishop, a professor in the School of Nursing, director of the School of Nursing Behavioral Laboratory and senior biostatistician for the Center for Nursing Research and Evaluation.
Clifford W. Houston, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, associate vice president for Educational Outreach and Diversity and holder of The Herman Barnett Distinguished Endowed Professorship in Microbiology and Immunology, received the Distinguished Faculty Service Award.
The Distinguished Faculty Research Award was presented to Scott C. Weaver, a professor in the Departments of Pathology and Microbiology and Immunology, director of the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity and scientific director of the Galveston National Laboratory.
William H. Griffith III, a professor and chairman of the Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Pathology, College of Medicine, at the Texas A&M System Health Science Center, was honored with the GSBS Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2014. Griffith also will give the commencement address.
The commencement Mace Bearer was Dr. James C. Lee, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry.
In the 2013-2014 academic year, the graduate school has awarded a total of 58 degrees with 40 doctoral degrees, 16 master’s degrees and two M.D./Ph.D. degrees.