Business Awards

Business awards earned in Southern Arizona

2021 Small Business of the Year Award: The Pima County Small Business Commission announced the winners of the 2021 Small Business of the Year Awards, recognizing small businesses and nonprofit organizations that had a positive impact during the pandemic through workforce development, maintaining a supportive workplace and fostering community engagement. The 2021 winners are: Make Way for Books, Marcus Engineering LLC, and Why Not Travel Store LLC. Each will receive $500 and a certificate.

University of Arizona: Three University of Arizona inventors have been elected as fellows of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating inventions that have a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. The new NAI fellows are: Liesl Folks, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs as well as a professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering; Mark Van Dyke, associate dean of research and professor of biomedical engineering at the College of Engineering; and Terry Matsunaga, a research professor of medical imaging at the College of Medicine in Tucson and adjunct professor of biomedical engineering.

Assistance League of Tucson: Community Extension Program Inc. selected the Assistance League of Tucson to receive a $15,000 grant in support of three of its programs, Operation School Bell, Starting Over Supplies and Assault Survivor Kits.

Dr. David Labiner: Dr. David Labiner was presented with the American Epilepsy Society’s 2021 Distinguished Service Award. Labiner is professor and chair of the Department of Neurology, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and a professor of pharmacy practice and science at the UA’s College of Pharmacy. The award recognizes outstanding service by an individual in the field of epilepsy, including noneducational and nonscientific, with an emphasis on exemplary contributions to advancing AES’s mission and service to its members. Labiner’s practice is focused on the care of individuals with epilepsy and seizure disorders.


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