Notable

Dr. Gary M. Rull

Dr. Gary M. Rull, assistant professor of medicine at the SIU School of Medicine, has been elected a fellow in the American College of Physicians (ACP).        

The ACP is the nation's largest medical specialty society with a membership of nearly 120,000.  A fellowship is an honor achieved by those recognized by their peers for personal integrity and outstanding service in the field of internal medicine. 

Rull joined the SIU faculty in 2003.  He also is director of the doctoring curriculum for the medical school.  He completed his internal medicine residency at SIU in 2001.  Rull earned his medical degree at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield in 1998 and his bachelor's degree at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 1992.  He is board certified in internal medicine.  

Theodore LeBlang

Theodore R. LeBlang, J.D., professor emeritus at SIU School of Medicine, has received the Gold Medal Award from the American College of Legal Medicine (ACLM). 

The members of the ACLM are professionals who focus on the important issues where law and medicine converge.  This award recognizes individuals for outstanding service in the field of legal medicine.

LeBlang joined the SIU staff in 1975 and served as legal counsel to the School and director of the program of law and medicine in medical humanities.  He also helped organize the School's M.D./J.D. dual degree program.  The medical school has established the Theodore R. LeBlang Distinguished Lectureship in Law and Medicine to recognize his national reputation for contributions to the study and teaching of issues of law and medicine.  He also is editor emeritus of the Journal of Legal Medicine.  

He earned his law degree at the University of Illinois in 1974 and his bachelor's degree at Pennsylvania State University in 1970.

Billy G. Dixon, associate professor emeritus of SIUC and former chair of its Department of Curriculum and Instruction, was honored for program development and administration last month during the Association of Teacher Educators' annual meeting in San Diego, Calif.

The Distinguished Teacher Educator Award, jointly conferred each year by the association and Wadsworth/ITP Publishing Co., recognizes leadership in providing rigorous, relevant programs that bring diversity to campus. Winners collaborate with academic colleagues, state education agencies, professional organizations and community residents. They also serve as advocates and public educators for education in general and the profession in particular.

A member of the association for many years, Dixon served as its national president from 1988 to 1989. In 1990, he won one of 70 national awards given by the group to outstanding leaders in the field in a pool of recipients that included Terrell Bell, former U.S. Secretary of Education.

Dixon, who retired from SIUC in 2001, is a three-degree graduate of SIUC and belonged to numerous professional and honorary education associations over the course of his 42 years with the University. Before joining the SIUC faculty in 1975, he taught math and served as the mathematics chair at both University New School and Cahokia High School.