Ken Little and Manuel Berriozabal
Distinguished Achievement Awards: Creativity and Service
(April 30, 2003)--Ken D. Little, professor of art, is the winner of the 2003 President’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Creative Production and Manuel P. Berriozabal, professor of applied mathematics, is the winner of the 2003 President's Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in University Service.
Ken Little is an accomplished sculptor with an international reputation. His sculpture production ranges from individual figures to tableaux and full-scale installations. His subject is nature, both human and animal, and its precariously fragile place in the progress of civilization.
Little's solo exhibitions have appeared in a variety of prestigious galleries and museums. In 2002, his work was featured in the inaugural exhibition of the Scott White Contemporary Art Gallery in Telluride, Colo. and La Jolla, Calif. His sculpture has also been featured at Ball State University, the Johnson Atelier in New Jersey, 1313 Gallery in Austin, the McNay Art Museum and Blue Star Art Space, among many other venues.
Little was selected by critic and curator Dave Hickey for inclusion in "3-D Chicago Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition" at Navy Pier in Chicago in 2002. He was included in "Visual Perspectives: 14 Years of the Virginia Groot Foundation Awards," where he was honored with the second-place National Award for Excellence in Sculpture in 2001 and 2002.
This summer Little's work will be the subject of a retrospective initiated by the Southwest School of Art and Craft and traveling to Utah, Montana, Missouri, Wisconsin and Nebraska. The exhibition, "Little Changes," will be accompanied by an extensive exhibition catalog with essays by Dave Hickey, Kathleen Whitney and Paula Owen.
"His works are fictive but like all good art recreate another kind of truth," says Kathleen Whitney, art critic and senior lecturer in the Department of Art and Art History.
Undergraduate and graduate student have long been the recipients of Little's mentoring and career guidance. Nearly all of his MFA students have gone on to successful careers as professional artists and university teachers.
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Manuel P. Berriozabal originated the Prefreshman Engineering Program, better known as PREP, and is the current director. The goal of the program is to identify achieving students from grades 6 to 11 and give them reinforcement and encouragement to pursue and succeed in higher education. PREP gives middle and high school an opportunity to prepare for college and careers in sciences, engineering, technology and other mathematics-related careers.
This remarkable program has reached deeply into the community of San Antonio and has been replicated throughout Texas, the nation and Puerto Rico. The statewide program is known as TexPREP and the national program is called Projecto Access.
Since its inception in 1979, more than 10,000 students have completed the San Antonio program and more than 20,000 have completed it statewide. Of those who began PREP, 80 percent were members of minority groups traditionally underrepresented in the fields of mathematics, science and engineering. Fifty-four percent were female and 45percent were from low-income families.
For his dedication and pioneering efforts on behalf of so many students, Berriozabal has received many awards and recognitions including induction into the Texas Science Hall of Fame and the Mathematical Association of America. San Antonio PREP has received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, and TexPREP has received the Texas Higher Education Star Award.
"Dr. Berriozabal's dedication in pioneering, establishing and tending the PREP program all these years has had enormous impact on the education and career choices of students throughout San Antonio. Because of this dedication, more minority students are now working in engineering and science careers," said Jude Valdez, vice president of extended services.
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© The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2003