Alma mater to recognize University of Minnesota researcher with top alumni award

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Marla Spivak

LAWRENCE, KS (03/15/2012)(readMedia)-- The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas will be holding an awards presentation and reception in appreciation of alumna Marla Spivak. In recognition of her contributions to her profession, she has been selected as a recipient of the College's 2011-2012 Alumni Distinguished Achievement Awards, the highest honor bestowed upon its alumni.

Spivak is a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow and Distinguished McKnight Professor and Extension Entomologist in the Department of Entomology at the University of Minnesota. She obtained her Ph.D. from the College at KU under Dr. Orley Taylor in 1989 on the ecology of Africanized honey bees in Costa Rica. From 1989-1992 she was a post-doctoral researcher at the Center for Insect Science at the University of Arizona. She was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota in 1992.

Currently, her research and extension efforts focus on honey bee health, breeding, and behavior, and on the sustainable management of alternative pollinators. She has bred the MN Hygienic line of honey bees, which demonstrates resistance to diseases and Varroa mites from which the beekeeping industry has been suffering. Her current line of study centers on propolis, a plant-derived resin collected by bees; specifically the benefits of propolis to the immune system of bees, and the antimicrobial properties of propolis against bee and human pathogens.

The awards presentation and alumni reception will take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 30 in the Fireplace Room of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, Minn. Alumni of the College are welcome to attend. Guests are asked to RSVP at www.kualumni.org/classpivak by March 23, 2012. For more information, contact Patrick Woods at (785) 864-3516 or cpwoods@ku.edu.

The College selected three other recipients of the 2011-'12 Alumni Distinguished Achievement Awards. They are internationally recognized civic leader Bob Kipp of Kansas City; Metropolitan Museum of Art curator of Modern American Art, Marla Prather of New York; and President Juan Manuel Santos of the Republic of Colombia. The College is planning future events to recognize each of the additional honorees.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the largest and broadest academic unit at the University of Kansas. About half of all KU alumni graduated with a degree from the College, which offers dozens of diverse majors in natural sciences and mathematics, social and behavioral sciences, humanities, international and interdisciplinary studies, and the arts.