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Shon Smith, clinical assistant professor in the UF Counselor Education program, recently received national attention for two major achievements involving separate divisions of the American Counseling Association.

Smith is being recognized for his leadership as president of the Florida Counseling Association, following the controversial 2012 shooting of black teen Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, and the subsequent acquittal in 2013 of Martin's shooter, George Zimmerman, according to a release from UF College of Education.

Smith facilitated the Florida Counseling Association's response to join the NAACP, local law enforcement and other community groups in a peaceful dialogue for healing, growth and empowerment and positive relationships with area police departments. The alliances and training sessions began in Sarasota and Manatee counties in 2013, and last year, expanded to Alachua and Marion counties.

Smith received the 2017 Mary Smith Arnold Anti-Oppression Award from ACA's Association of Counselors for Social Justice, which honors professional counselors and educators who have an exemplary record of challenging multiple forms of oppression in the counseling professions and in their local schools and communities.

Smith is president-elect of ACA's Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development, which strives to improve cultural, ethnic and racial empathy and understanding through programs that advance and sustain personal growth.

Smith, who has a doctorate in counselor education and supervision from Duquesne University in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, is the past chair of the ACA-Southern Region, representing 22,000 of the 56,000 ACA members. His research interests include multicultural and social justice competencies, leadership and advocacy within the counseling profession, and working with military families on adjustment and re-adjustment issues.

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Gainesville resident Henry J. Schott was named to the Rhodes College Honor Roll for the 2017 spring semester. To qualify for the honor roll, a student must be enrolled in at least 16 credit hours of academic work and must achieve a semester grade point average of 3.85 or better, according to a release from Rhodes College, a nationally ranked private liberal arts college Memphis, Tennessee.

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Gunwald named to fellowship

Sabine Grunwald, professor at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, department of water sciences, is one of 12 fellows selected to the Soil Science Society of America, a professional association.

According to UF/IFAS, Grunwald specializes in digital soil mapping and modeling of soil landscapes. One thing she measures is how well soil stores carbon and how it is changed by global climate and land-use shifts. Her research also includes soil sensing, ecosystem service assessment and developing new soil indices to optimize soil management.

Grunwald said her most recent research has found that climate change matters because it changes the total environment above ground and below ground - often impacting the whole system. She said soil is essential for a functioning environment and ultimately to preserve life on Earth.

We are all part of the environment, whether we live in cities or rural areas. Thus, how we treat and how we manage soil-ecosystems impacts all of us, she said.

Grunwald compares soil health to human health. We want to stay in the green zone to be healthy, Grunwald said. The same is true for soils. Staying in the green zone means to maintain healthy soil environments that benefit all of us. Imagine if there was no soil in your backyard, under the citrus grove, the blueberry field, the wetland, the forest or under your feet and you would likely recognize that the world is bleak, barren and inhospitable.

Her peers praised her work.

While her research program can be ranked as exemplary, her teaching program is where she shows her greatest level of creativity, said Nick Comerford, professor of soil and water sciences and director of the UF/IFAS North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy, Florida. Comeford said Grunwalds computer and digital media skills helped to develop the first master's distance education program for the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. At the time, Grunwald served as coordinator of the new masters program in environmental science and became director of the departments distance education programs.

Ramesh Reddy, chairman of the UF/IFAS soil and water sciences department, said Grunwald is the 12th active faculty member in the department chosen fellow.

Dr. Grunwald is an outstanding scientist who developed an internationally recognized interdisciplinary program focused on soil-landscape analysis to develop a framework for sustainable holistic land-resource management, Reddy said.

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Achievers: UF counselor noted for efforts with police - Gainesville Sun