Priscilla Wohlstetter, an associate professor of educational...

Priscilla Wohlstetter, an associate professor of educational administration and policy at the USC School of Education, has received a $250,000 grant from the Carnegie Corp. of New York to examine how school-based management can help improve the performance of teachers and students.

Wohlstetter, who lives in Pasadena, is studying 10 school districts in North America and Australia where decisions about operations are made by administrators and faculty members at the schools themselves rather than by a centralized bureaucracy.

She is co-author of “Designing High Performance Schools: Strategies for School-Based Management,” scheduled to be published this year. The U.S. Department of Education recently named Wohlstetter the nation’s leading expert on school-based management.

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Herbert Keller, a professor of applied mathematics at Caltech, has been named the recipient of the 1994 Theodore von Karman Prize of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The $1,000 award is given for a notable application of mathematics to mechanics or engineering.

Keller was selected for the many advances he has made in numerical methods for solving important problems in mechanics. Also mentioned by the prize selection committee were his service to the mathematics community and his writing and teaching abilities.

Keller joined Caltech in 1967 after earning a bachelor’s degree in electronics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and master’s and doctoral degrees, both in mathematics, from New York University. He spent 16 years at NYU as a research scientist and professor before coming to Caltech. Keller is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 1979.

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Dr. Cary Presant of San Marino has been elected a state officer for the American Cancer Society along with Gary E. Pia of Pasadena.

Presant, president of California Cancer Medical Center, will serve as president of the cancer society’s board of directors.

Pia is the managing director of G. E. Pia & Co., an advisory firm specializing in portfolio management. He will chair the Gift and Estate Planning Committee for the cancer society.

As officers of the California Division, the largest U.S. division of the cancer society, Presant and Pia will help lead efforts to expand community outreach programs in the areas of prevention, early detection and service to cancer patients and their families.

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William C. Lochmoeller, of San Marino, has been reelected to the board of directors of Goodwill Industries of Southern California.

Lochmoeller, a retired executive vice president of Sears, Roebuck & Co., was first elected to Goodwill’s board in 1984. He has held the offices of chairman of the board and first vice chairman and has chaired the contract services, marketing and real estate/building committees.

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Gerald Van Hecke, a chemistry professor at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, has been named a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Scholar by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.

The foundation awarded $60,000 to the chemistry department to support research and teaching by Van Hecke and a Dreyfus Fellow to be named later. A nationwide search will be undertaken to recruit the Dreyfus fellow, whom Van Hecke will choose.

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Michael J. Manning, 46, has been elected a vice president of Los Angeles Turf Club Inc., which operates the Santa Anita Park racetrack.

Manning, of Claremont, joined Santa Anita Park in 1980 after holding the post of chief of racing at the California State Fair in Sacramento for three years. He was hired as Santa Anita’s director of operations and administration.

In 1990, he was named assistant general manager of Santa Anita and he will retain that title.

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The Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau has a new executive director, Linda M. Brown, who previously worked at the Washington, D.C., Convention and Visitors Assn.

Brown, who was director of sales and marketing in Washington, has also worked for the visitors bureaus of Baltimore and San Antonio, Tex. As executive director of the Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau, Brown will oversee marketing efforts and growth of the tourism and convention industry in Pasadena.

Brown replaces Gail Thompson, who served as executive director from August, 1982, to December.

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Intel Corp. chairman Gordon Moore has been elected chairman of Caltech’s board of trustees.

Moore, who co-founded Intel in 1968, is considered a pioneer in the semiconductor industry. He is a Caltech alumnus and has been a trustee since 1983.

He succeeds Ruben Mettler, a trustee since 1969, who will remain a member of the board.

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Dick Nichols of Arcadia recently received the Abram Friedman Award from the California Council for Adult Education, South Coast Section. The annual honor is presented to area leaders who make a significant contribution to adult education.

Nichols joined the Baldwin Park Chamber of Commerce in 1989. Since then he has facilitated numerous partnerships between local businesses and the Baldwin Park Adult and Continuing Education program. He implemented a Business Education Committee, an Adopt-A-School program, and he has also worked with the city and the school district to produce Baldwin Park Now, a monthly newspaper mailed to all Baldwin Park homes and businesses.

He is a member of the Los Angeles County Private Industry Council. His professional affiliations include Junior Chamber international Senator, Elks Club, and California Assn. of Local Economic Development.