[NHCOLL-L:5508] SPNHC 2011 Awards

[Rabeler, Richard]

At our recent meeting in San Francisco, the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections conferred two awards:

The 2011 President’s Award: For activities which have furthered the objectives of the Society thru outstanding committee work, prolonged officer roles, or and promotion of activities of the Society.

In recognition of his significant contributions to both SPNHC and to the greater collections community, the SPNHC Council has voted to present the 2011 President’s Award to Andy Bentley.

Besides his “constantly helping with all of the countless, thankless tasks that keep SPNHC moving forward”, three of his activities were the basis for his nomination.
      -	“First, however, there is his dogged pursuit of an easing of the regulations relating to the transport of dangerous goods as this pertains to natural history specimens.  Globally, there are thousands of collections staff and researchers that  have good reason to be grateful for Andy’s tireless efforts in this area.“ “What he has achieved is far beyond what any of the rest of us thought could be accomplished.” 
      -	“Andy deserves special merit for the amazing job he has done as editor of the SPNHC Newsletter.  [He] has made the SPNHC Newsletter the most important means of communicating with the SPNHC membership.”
      -	“Motivated in part by his African roots, he has been on the strongest advocates for the expansion and internationalization of our Society.”

The 2011 Carolyn L. Rose Award:  For outstanding commitment to Natural History Collections Care and Management.

In recognition of his significant contributions to collection management worldwide, with impacts that go far beyond the herpetology collections he managed for 30 years, the SPNHC Council voted unanimously to present the 2011 Carolyn L. Rose Award to John E. Simmons.

It is easy to see that John was a natural to receive this honor when one reads some of the accolades in the support letters that were amassed on his behalf. 
-	“For anyone interested in fluid-preserved collections, John’s papers have been as enlightening as his wit.  They have helped to refute the alchemy that has too often characterized preparation and care of specimens consigned to postmortem existence in liquids.”
-	“In my opinion, he is the most current knowledge that creates consciousness and awareness of what we have in Latin America referred to Collections of Natural History.”
-	“His knowledge of all things collection management [is] immeasurable.”
-	“I doubt there is another person on the planet who knows more about fluid collections and their management.”
-	“For over thirty years, John Simmons has been one of the best ambassadors for our profession that we have ever seen.”
-	"He is one of the worthiest [people] to receive the Carolyn Rose Award of all time".   

Please join me in extending congratulations to both recipients!

Sincerely,

Rich Rabeler
SPNHC Past President and Chair, Recognition and Grants Committee