KU News Release

Pharmacy, nursing professors selected for Chancellors Club awards

Val Stella

LAWRENCE — A School of Pharmacy professor and a School of Nursing researcher have been selected to receive 2008 Chancellors Club Awards for their teaching and research at the University of Kansas. Val Stella and Carol Smith will be honored Oct. 24 at the annual Chancellors Club celebration. Each will receive a $6,000 award.

Stella, a University Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and leader of KU Cancer Center’s Drug Discovery and Experimental Therapeutics Program, will receive the Chancellors Club Career Teaching Award. Smith, professor of nursing and adjunct professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine, will receive the Chancellors Club Research Award.

Stella, who is in his 36th year of teaching, is internationally known for his pharmaceutical discoveries that range from drugs to treat AIDS and epilepsy to anti-cancer agents. Smith, who has taught at the School of Nursing since 1984, is internationally known for pioneering research in which family caregivers are trained to manage complex home health care, including ventilators, intravenous infusions and cardiac and apnea monitoring.

Carol Smith

Among those recommending Stella for the award were former students, including KU alumnus Vijay Naringrekar, who earned a master’s in 1982 and a doctorate in 1985. Naringrekar described Stella as a born teacher, one who could effectively explain the most complicated subjects to his students.

School of Pharmacy Dean Ken Audus said KU pharmaceutical scientists consistently benefit from Stella’s insights on principles of drug design and development. Stella has been responsible for the development of four drugs currently on the market. Audus, a former student of Stella’s, credited him for contributing to the education and training of more than 3,000 pharmacy students who have gone on to provide service to Kansas and the nation.

“Perhaps the best compliment that can be given to Val Stella is the fact that many instructors in pharmaceutical chemistry and in other departments of the School of Pharmacy have tried to learn and emulate his approaches in the classroom, including myself,” said Audus.

Smith’s intervention clinical trials have consistently resulted in reduction of the rate of patients’ life-threatening infections, re-hospitalizations and depressive episodes. And they have been found to be cost effective.

Susan Reinhard, senior vice president of AARP’s Public Policy Institute, was among those recommending Smith for the award. She said a hallmark of Smith’s program was that it reached family caregivers of diverse ages, education and income.

“Her research has broken down stereotypes by demonstrating that relatively low-cost technologies can be used effectively to support informal caregivers,” Reinhard said.

Smith’s work has resulted in changes in health policies, including Food and Drug Administration rules and regulations. The American Academy of Science included her recommendations in the Safety of Home Technical Care Academy Report. She also was responsible for the passage of Kansas legislation that supported the use of televideo home services for the elderly in Kansas.

Smith has been an inspirational leader in nursing research and has helped the School of Nursing earn a strong national reputation for advancing the science of nursing and clinical patient care, said Karen Miller, senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at the KU Medical Center and dean of the school of nursing and allied health.

“Many of her students, here at KU, as well as abroad, and the faculty members she has guided through the years have gone on to make significant contributions to nursing academics and research,” Miller said.

The Chancellors Club was established in 1977 by KU Endowment, the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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