The excellence of the humanities, research and health care at the University of Virginia is reflected in a range of awards and honors recognizing people and organizations all over Grounds. Here is a roundup of some of their recent accomplishments.

David Martin Appointed to Homeland Security Advisory Council

U.Va. School of Law professor David Martin, a leading scholar in immigration, constitutional and international law, has been appointed to the Homeland Security Advisory Council. Members of the council advise the Secretary of Homeland Security – currently William “Jeh” Johnson – on homeland security policies, provide policy analysis, make recommendations on security issues and evaluate the impact of existing policies.

Virginia Quarterly Review Nets International Award

The Overseas Press Club presented its Madeline Dane Ross Award to the Virginia Quarterly Review for its spring 2014 article, “The Ghosts of Rana Plaza.” Journalist Jason Motlagh and Bangladeshi photographer Atish Saha were recognized at a ceremony April 30 for “best international reporting in the print medium or online showing a concern for the human condition.”

“That requirement is impossible to quantify,” the judges said. “It must be felt. Of the nearly 40 submissions to this category, ‘The Ghosts of Rana Plaza’ evoked the deepest of feelings, of sympathy for and outrage over the horrendous death of 1,100 workers in Dhaka as a result of a factory collapse on April 24, 2013.

“The piece renders in heartbreaking detail the humanity of the victims and their would-be rescuers, linking them to all of us through the clothing that Bangladesh produces in vast quantities for the rest of the world. Our cheap jeans come at the cost of their lives. The story was painstakingly reported by Jason Motlagh, movingly photographed by Motlagh and Atish Saha and superbly edited and presented by the Virginia Quarterly Review.”

In addition, Motlagh received the South Asian Journalists Association’s Daniel Pearl Award for “The Ghosts of Rana Plaza” last fall.

‘With Good Reason’ Public Radio Program Wins Regional Murrow Award

“With Good Reason,” a weekly public radio show produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, has been honored with a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award by the Radio Television Digital News Association in the small market category.

A special episode, “Messages From a Forgotten Troopship,” won first place in the Audio News Documentary category.

The winning entry competed in the region that includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia; it will now move on to the national Murrow competition. The news association has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with Murrow Awards since 1971.

Through the lens of a single Vietnam War-era troopship, the General Nelson M. Walker, “Messages From a Forgotten Troopship” tells the intimate, emotional stories of three people bound together by the experience. The documentary aired locally and on nearly 80 radio stations across the country. It garnered the attention of the Washington Post and reached listeners as far away as Germany.

“With Good Reason” presents engaging conversations with leading scholars at Virginia’s public colleges and universities. Archived programs can be heard online.

Health System Programs Win American Heart Association Quality Awards

The American Heart Association has recognized the U.Va. Health System’s heart failure program and stroke program with two national quality awards each.

The U.Va. Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Center earned the 2015 “Get With The Guidelines” Heart Failure Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology Foundation, along with being named to the AHA’s honor roll in its program, “Target: Heart Failure.” The center was recognized for using treatment guidelines that speed recovery and reduce hospital readmissions for patients with heart failure.

The U.Va. Stroke Center also won both the 2015 “Get With The Guidelines” Stroke Gold-Plus Achievement Award and made the “Target: Stroke” Honor Roll Elite. The awards indicate that stroke patients at U.Va. receive care that meets the latest guidelines from the AHA and American Stroke Association.

Toby Heytens Recognized for Long-Form Legal Article

U.Va. law professor Toby Heytens has been recognized for exemplary writing by The Green Bag, a quarterly journal devoted to accessible legal scholarship. Heytens’ 2014 Stanford Law Review article on judicial reassignment was one of two long-form articles published in 2014 that were chosen for republication in The Green Bag’s 2015 Almanac & Reader.