IN THIS COLUMN
- Jessie Ann Owens, College of Letters and Science
- Anne Schilling, College of Letters and Science
- Fleet Services, Finance, Operations and Administration
The Renaissance Society of America, devoted to the critical study of the world from 1300 to 1700 and its importance today, has named UC Davis’ Jessie Ann Owens, distinguished professor emerita of music, the recipient of its lifetime achievement award for 2022-23.
The award, named after Paul Oskar Kristeller (1905-99), a leading authority on Renaissance philosophy, and a founding member and former president of the society, honors “a lifetime of uncompromising devotion to the highest standard of scholarship accompanied by exceptional achievement in Renaissance studies.”
The award presentation is scheduled during the society’s annual meeting, to be held this year in San Juan, Puerto Rico, March 9-11.
Owens, as part of her studies of compositional process in Renaissance music, authored the award-winning Composers at Work: The Craft of Musical Composition 1450-1600 (Oxford University Press, 1997), the first systematic investigation of autograph composing manuscripts from before 1600.
She joined UC Davis as dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies in the College of Letters and Science in 2006 and served in that position until stepping down in 2014. During her time as dean, the division secured major funding from the Mellon Foundation and built the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art and the Ann E. Pitzer Center for Music.
Owens is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an honorary member of the American Musicological Society, as well as a former president of both the American Musicological Society and the Renaissance Society of America.
The Association for Women in Mathematics and the American Mathematical Society have named Anne Schilling, professor and chair, Department of Mathematics, College of Letters and Science, as their 2024 Emmy Noether Lecturer.
Established in 1980, the award honors women “who have made fundamental and sustained contributions to the mathematical sciences.” Schilling will deliver her lecture at next year’s Joint Mathematics Meetings, to be held in San Francisco, Jan. 3-6.
“As a student, I was fascinated by Emmy Noether’s ideas about the connection between symmetries and conservation laws in physics,” Schilling said. “It was also always inspiring to me that Emmy Noether followed her passion of doing mathematics despite all the obstacles that life presented to her. Given my long admiration for Emmy Noether, this makes it a very special honor.”
Schilling’s research interests include algebraic combinatorics, representation theory, mathematical physics and probability. She has co-authored nearly 100 papers, a linear algebra textbook and two research books.
“In addition to her research accomplishments, Professor Schilling is an inspiring mentor and an extremely active leader in the research community,” the Association for Women in Mathematics said in a news release. “She has organized over 27 conferences and workshops in her field, most recently as the main organizer for the Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics conference, the largest annual conference in algebraic combinatorics known for highlighting contributions of junior mathematicians.”
From 86th to 14th! That’s how far Fleet Services jumped in the National Association of Fleet Administrators, or NAFA, ranking of the 100 Best Fleets in the Americas (North, Central and South America), from 2021 to 2022. Congratulations!
In addition, Fleet Services tied for 13th best in NAFA’s Green Fleet Awards program, recognizing fleets for peak-performing sustainability efforts and honoring enhanced practices that positively impact the environment.
Fleet Services, a unit of Facilities Management, earned a top-50 ranking in Leading Fleets, compiled by Government Fleet magazine and website.
Dateline UC Davis welcomes news of faculty and staff awards, for publication in Laurels. Send information to dateline@ucdavis.edu.
Media Resources
Dateline Staff: Dave Jones, editor, 530-752-6556, dateline@ucdavis.edu; Cody Kitaura, News and Media Relations specialist, 530-752-1932, kitaura@ucdavis.edu.