The 2012 Kansas University Endowment Chancellors Club awards have honored public administration professor and former Lawrence Mayor John Nalbandian for his teaching career and Richard Barohn, chairman of the KU Medical Centers neurology department, for his research.

KU Endowment announced the award winners Monday morning.

Nalbandian has been a KU faculty member since 1976, and he was a Lawrence City commissioner from 1991 to 1999, serving as mayor twice during that span. He has received numerous state and national honors for his work as a professor and as an elected official, but he said the Chancellors Club honor topped them all because it came from the place where hed worked for so long.

After 35 years, they know all the bruises, all the positives, all the negatives about this guy, Nalbandian said. They know everything, and so to get an award like this is the culmination of a wonderful set of teaching experiences.

He said that since 1976 hes taught virtually every student whos gone through the KU masters program for people aiming for careers in local government a program currently ranked No. 1 in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

Rosemary OLeary, a distinguished professor at Syracuse University whos been hired to join the KU School of Public Affairs and Administration in 2013, was once a student of Nalbandians. In a release, she said his classes changed her life.

Out of the nearly 100 professors I had while earning my degrees, John Nalbandian easily stands out as the best, OLeary said.

Often along with his wife, Carol, Nalbandian has provided consulting and training services for dozens of government organizations, including the cities of San Antonio, Phoenix and Charlotte, N.C. He is on the board of the Willow Domestic Violence Center, and hes a former chairman of the Lawrence Public Library Board of Trustees.

Barohn, the winner of the research award from the Chancellors Club, has been the chairman of the neurology department at the KU Medical Center since 2001.

According to a release, Barohns research has included the development of treatment trials for neuromuscular diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

See the article here:
KU professor, neurologist win 2012 Chancellors Club awards