Academic Affairs and Personnel

To: Administrative Officers, Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, Emeriti, Faculty, Vice Chancellors and Vice Provosts

Dear Colleagues:

The Dickson Emeritus Professorship Award is funded from a gift endowment established by the late Edward A. Dickson, Regent of the University of California, to honor outstanding research, scholarly work, teaching, and service performed by an Emeritus or Emerita Professor since retirement.

Three UCLA emeriti professors have been selected to receive the 2020 – 2021 Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professorship Award, which includes a prize of $5,000: Distinguished Research Professor Benjamin Bonavida, Professor Emeritus Warwick Peacock, and Distinguished Research Professor Donald Shoup.

Benjamin Bonavida,  Distinguished Research Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, & Molecular Genetics retired in 2011 after a long and distinguished career involving research in basic immunochemistry and cancer immunobiology, teaching focused on the immunology of cancer, mentoring undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students, and service to the UCLA campus and scientific community. He has continued all these activities with a high level of academic productivity since retirement, including 108 research publications, with 22 student-authored papers, continues to perform major editorial services as editor or co-editor for scientific journals and numerous books.  In particular, he is presently the Series Editor of three series on Cancer Sensitizing Agents for Chemotherapy, Sensitizing Agents for Cancer Resistance to Cell Mediated Immunotherapy, and Breaking Tolerance to Anti-Cancer Antibody Immunotherapy and is the Editor-in-Chief of two journals, Critical Reviews in Oncogenesis, and Onco-Therapeutics. He also continues to organize or co-organize important national and international scientific conferences.  Professor Bonavida has contributed significantly to the study and research of the pleiotropic role of nitric oxide (NO) in cancer, the tumor promoter and drug resistance related to Yin Yang 1 (YY1) in cancer, and the tumor suppressor and immune activator Raf Kinase Inhibitor Protein (RKIP). As a result of his immense contributions to the science of nitric oxide and cancer, he was initiated into the new International Society for Nitric Oxide and Cancer in 2018. Considered by many to be one of the very best teachers in his discipline, Professor Bonavida has continued co-teaching the popular quarterly course, M262: Immunology of Cancer providing innovative opportunity for critical literature review, problem solving and intellectual curiosity.

Warwick Peacock,  Professor Emeritus of Neurosurgery retired in 2005 having served for many years as Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery. In 2009, Dr. Peacock proposed a plan to teach surgical residents surgical anatomy and cadaver-based surgical techniques in a Surgical Science Laboratory (SSL). He was recalled to be the Lab’s Founding Director by the Department of Surgery and teaching commenced in 2011. In this pioneering effort, he has comprehensively revolutionized human anatomy instruction at UCLA with a state of the art program. Dr. Peacock, probably the world’s expert on neurosurgical treatment of cerebral palsy and movement disorders, is regarded with supreme distinction, is generous with his time and instruction, and has placed a high value on emphasizing anatomy in the foundation of surgical and interventional training. The SSL is host to a multitude of training activities from teaching surgical skills, to the development of new surgical procedures, research and innovation. The SSL has had an immense impact on training at UCLA with over 4,000 learners utilizing the lab for instruction during 2019-20. Dr. Peacock has continued to teach medical students in the Neuroscience block each year and teaches neuroanatomy to the Neurology residents and fellows and the Neurosurgery residents (three separate courses). In post-retirement he has contributed to new discoveries regarding intra-thoracic nerves that control the heart. Dr. Peacock has the distinction of being the only non-trauma surgeon official Instructor of the Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma course of the American College of Surgeons. He has also been recognized with the David Geffen School of Medicine: the Golden Apple Teaching Award from medical students in 2011, the Award for Distinguished Service in Education from the School in 2013, and the Kaiser Permanente Teaching Award in 2020.

Donald Shoup,  Distinguished Research Professor of Urban Planning retired from the Department of Urban Planning in 2015. He is considered the world’s leading academic expert on policies, planning, travel impacts, environmental costs, and social dimensions of parking. His analyses have led to policy changes adopted in various cities and have been emulated throughout Europe and Asia. He wrote the definitive book on parking, The High Cost of Free Parking (2005), which has been updated and republished since his retirement, been translated into Russian and Persian, with Chinese and Romanian forthcoming. Since his retirement, Professor Shoup has continued to engage in scholarship related to parking policy and has been an active advocate for policy changes. He recently edited and published a book, Parking in the City (2018) which examined case studies of parking policies recommended in 2005 and outcomes in cities across the world that adopted those policies. Professor Shoup continues to mentor students and teach his popular course on parking and land use, the first of its kind in the nation. His reputation as the world’s “parking guru” places him in high demand as a keynote speaker at urban planning and policy conferences, as a lecturer at universities, and as a leader of “master classes” at parking industry events. He was instrumental in the adoption of the BRUIN GO transit pass program, influenced important decisions about new parking facilities and the pricing of parking on campus and has been a tireless advocate for ending the abuse of handicapped parking permits. In 2015, Professor Shoup was named a National Planning Pioneer by the American Planning Association (APA); in 2017 he received the American Collegiate Schools of Planning’s Distinguished Educator Award, and in 2019 his landmark publication, The High Cost of Free Parking, was listed by the (APA) as a key timeline event since 1900 in the field of urban planning.

Please join me in wishing them all well-deserved congratulations for outstanding contributions to their respective fields since retirement and for serving as powerful examples of intellectual and professional achievement.

Sincerely,