Items for People in the News should...

Items for People in the News should be mailed to the Los Angeles Times, South Bay office, 23133 Hawthorne Blvd., Torrance, 90505.

Mildred Sokolsky is the recipient of the Community Leadership Award, presented by the Southern Region, Jewish Federation Council. Sokolsky is the developer of the recent “Celebration: The Jewish Experience,” an art and cultural event held at various South Bay locations. The presentation took place at the Jewish Community Building in Torrance. The award was presented by Myra Diamond, outgoing regional president of the Jewish Federation Council.

Wanda M. Brown, the first woman and the first black elected to the office of Inglewood city treasurer, has received the title of Certified California Municipal Treasurer. . She is the first black woman to receive the title, conferred by the California Municipal Treasurers Assn., a professional organization composed of city treasurers and finance officers throughout the state. Honored by the Inglewood City Council for her achievements in finance and accounting, Brown was described by Inglewood Mayor Edward Vincent as “. . . a role model for young women in the field of business.”

Newly appointed Municipal Court Judges Dudley W. Gray II and Deanne Smith Myers were formally installed during enrobing ceremonies held recently in South Bay Municipal Court. The South Bay District serves more than 500,000 people in Gardena, Hermosa Beach, Lawndale, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates and Torrance. The court is located at 825 Maple Ave., Torrance.

The judges at South Bay Municipal Court have selected Redondo Beach attorney Harlan E. Swain as a court commissioner to fill a vacancy created by the recent departure of Commissioner Douglas G. Carnahan, who is entering private law practice. Swain earned his juris doctorate at Southwestern University School of Law and has practiced law for 16 years in the South Bay. He has served as harbor commissioner for the city of Redondo Beach since 1985, has been director of the Volunteer Bureau of the South Bay Bar Assn. and chairman of the bar’s lawyer referral service. He has served extensively as a judge pro tempore in South Bay and Los Angeles municipal courts. Carnahan, a Torrance resident, is in private practice in the Torrance firm of Pass, Carson & Associates.

Robin Friedheim is the new president of Westchester/Playa del Rey Democratic Club. Serving with her are Patricia Hamor, Mireya Wharton, Ed Wharton, and Eileen Hamor. A reception in their honor will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at 6143 W. 75th St., Westchester. For information, call 827-3516 or 670-7999.

The San Pedro Guild of the American Cancer Society has appointed Jeannie Philbin to serve as chairwoman of its annual fund-raising event, “Affaire to Remember,” set for Nov. 4 at Nizetich’s restaurant. A native of San Pedro, Philbin has been an active member of the guild for four years and is the wife of Bill Philbin.

Gerald T. McLaughlin has been appointed dean of Loyola Law School, according to an announcement by the Rev. James N. Loughran, president of Loyola Marymount University. McLaughlin, associate dean for development and professor of law at Brooklyn Law School in Brooklyn, N.Y., will succeed Arthur Frakt, dean since 1982. Frederick J. Lower Jr., professor of law, will be interim dean until McLaughlin assumes his new post in January, 1991.

Torrance resident Leslie Hull was awarded a Friends in Deed volunteer award for her five years of service to AIDS Project Los Angeles. As an AIDS Project volunteer Hull’s activities have included visiting family support groups and patients at Harbor UCLA Medical Center and Torrance Memorial Hospital. Also a five-year volunteer with the Southern California AIDS Hotline, she has trained other volunteers on responding to calls for assistance and information from people with AIDS, their families and friends.

A Soviet professor will teach American management at Loyola Marymount University during the 1990-91 school year. Anatoly V. Zhuplev has done extensive research on both Soviet and American management and has authored several management books covering both nations’ styles of business. His connection with the United States began seven years ago when he studied at the University of Maryland. He spent a year teaching at the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University in Boston. After his year in Los Angeles, Zhuplev will return to his position as a researcher, consultant and educator with a branch of the Moscow city government.

Thomas V. Jones, chairman of the board of Northrop Corp. was awarded the degree of doctor of science, honoris causa , at recent Northrop University commencement exercises at Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. A magna cum laude graduate of Stanford University, Jones received an honorary doctor of laws degree from George Washington University and was recently chosen as the 1989 recipient of the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy.

Donna M. Babb, summer interim pastor at Seaside Community United Church of Christ in Torrance, will be formally ordained there during ceremonies at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 19. Babb graduated in May from Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. She was accepted there in 1986, after 17 years working for city of Torrance, the last four of them as city clerk. During her third year of seminary training, she was accepted for a year’s study at United Theological College in Zimbabwe, Africa, as the recipient of a scholarship presented by the World Board of Missions, United Church of Christ. In the fall, Babb will begin her full-time ministry at Immanuel United Church of Christ in Carlyle, Ill.

Laura Robles, professor of biology at Cal State Dominguez Hills, has been awarded a $235,698 grant from the National Science Foundation to further her studies of the visual system of the octopus, which could reveal important information about the functioning of the human eye. Robles will study how Vitamin A is absorbed from the bloodstream into the retina, where it forms part of the pigment that absorbs light. Last fall, Robles was awarded $344,580 from the National Institutes of Health for the university’s Minority Biomedical Research program.

Wilkie Au, assistant professor in pastoral studies at Loyola Marymount University, received the College Theology Society Book Award for 1990 at the society’s 36th annual convention at Loyola University in New Orleans. His work, “By Way of the Heart: Toward a Holistic Christian Spirituality,” is published by Paulist Press and was chosen by the Catholic Book Club as its Lenten selection and main feature for March.

Dr. Samuel Wiley has been appointed associate vice president of academic resources at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Wiley has been dean of the School of Science, Mathematics and Technology at the university since 1979 and has held a variety of positions there since 1968, including professor of physics, chairman of the department of physics and computer science and director of the University Computer Center.