Notables

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has named Dale Bauman, Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor and a professor of nutritional biochemistry in the Department of Animal Science, to a newly formed U.S. Department of Agriculture Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology. Bauman, joining 37 others on the committee, will advise the secretary on policy related to the creation, application, marketability, trade and use of agricultural biotechnology. The committee is chaired by Dennis Eckart, a former congressman from Ohio. There were more than 200 nominations for seats on this committee, and its members represent a wide array of groups and expertise.

The Virginia Historical Society has selected Michael Kammen's work on artist Robert Gwathmey for its 1999 Annual Slatten Award for excellence in Virginia biography. Kammen, the Newton C. Farr Professor of History and Culture, is the author of Robert Gwathmey, The Life and Art of a Passionate Observer, released this past September. In addition, Kammen served as co-curator of a traveling retrospective of Gwathmey's work. The Virginia Historical Museum in Richmond, Va., was one of the exhibition sites where Kammen delivered a lecture on the artist. The cash prize of $1,000 will be awarded at the society's April 29 annual meeting.