In the top photo, KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway presents an award to Mohamed El-Hodiri. In the lower photo, Chancellor Hemenway presents an award to Randolph Nudo.

 11/13/07

Chancellors Club honors researcher and economics professor

LAWRENCE — An internationally known neuroscientist and a longtime economics professor have been selected as the 2007 recipients of Chancellors Club awards for their research and teaching at the University of Kansas.

This year’s recipients are professors Randolph Nudo, director of the Landon Center on Aging and a professor of molecular and integrative physiology at KU Medical Center, and Mohamed El-Hodiri, an economics professor on KU’s Lawrence campus.

Nudo, who has taught at KU since 1997, received the Chancellors Club Research Award. He has pioneered research in the field of neural repair and rehabilitation after brain injury. His studies demonstrate that after an injury to the brain, such as that caused by a stroke, brain tissue plays a role in the recovery of use of the limbs. Nudo’s research has continuously been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1990, and currently he is principal investigator of a $4 million multi-institutional NIH grant.

El-Hodiri, who has a 40-year career as a KU economics professor, received the Chancellors Club Career Teaching Award. He has taught 26 undergraduate courses and honors tutorials, primarily in economics but also in western civilization, mathematics, philosophy, sociology and Russian and East European studies. On the graduate level, he’s taught 18 different courses. In addition, he’s mentored numerous graduate students.

KU students, faculty, staff and alumni nominate candidates for the Chancellors Club awards. Nudo and El-Hodiri were honored by Chancellor Robert Hemenway and by members at the organization’s 30th annual gala Nov. 2 at the Kansas Union. Nudo and El-Hodiri each received a $5,000 award.

The Chancellors Club was established in 1977 by KU Endowment, an 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.