The Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters presented awards to four university professors during its annual meeting Thursday in St. George.
The awards went to Edwin B. Firmage, a University of Utah law professor, who will receive the Charles Redd Prize; Tim B. Heaton, Brigham Young University sociology professor, the University Distinguished Service Award in Social Sciences; Michael P. Cohen, Southern Utah State College English professor, the College Distinguished Service Award in the Arts; and C. Wilfred Griggs, BYU professor of ancient scriptures, the Academy Award of Merit.All four hold doctorates.
Firmage in recent years has become a strong anti-war advocate, and with the late Francis Wormuth, U. political science professor, wrote a book, "To Chain the Dog of War." He has been a Reynolds lecturer and this fall will publish research into the legal history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Cohen is a former Danforth Teaching Fellow, a high honor paid to instructors in the humanities. He is SUSC's first Distinguished Faculty Lecturer and has written several books. His history of the Sierra Club will be published this fall.
Heaton began his academic career as a demographer and has shifted emphasis to the sociology of religion and the family. He has won national recognition for his social studies. He has published an average of 10 articles per year for the past five years in professional and scholarly journals.
Griggs, who has headed BYU excavation projects in Egypt for several years, holds a University Professorship in Ancient Scriptures. The academy also is honoring him for his role in bringing the Ramses II exhibit to the BYU campus in 1985.
During the academy's spring meeting, Ainslie T. Embree, professor and former chairman of history, Columbia University, will deliver the Tanner Lecture. He is a noted expert on Asian affairs. His address will begin at 10 a.m. May 31 in the Dixie College Fine Arts auditorium.