According to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 65 state teachers achieved National Board Certification. In a recent news release, Texas ranked 22nd nationwide in the number of new National Board Certified Teachers and ranks 24th in the total number of teachers who achieved certification over time. www.nbpts.org.

The Dallas Lawyers Auxiliary will sponsor its first "Teacher of the Year" award, which will honor Dallas County public and private high school teachers who have made significant contributions in the area of law- related education. Nominations from teachers or principals are due April 2. www. dallaslawyersauxiliary.org.

Steve Payne, executive principal of Allen High School and the Lowery Freshman Center, has been selected the 2008-09 Texas Principal of the Year by the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals. He will now compete for the National Principal of the Year award sponsored by MetLife/National Association of Secondary School Principals.

Sachse High's jazz bands and percussion ensembles will present a holiday concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Plaza Theatre, 521 W. State St. Tickets cost $5. Call 972-414-7450.

The Richardson High School Theatre Arts Magnet will present Charlotte's Web at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the main auditorium at Richardson High School, 1250 W. Belt Line Road. Tickets cost $5; www.rhstheatre.org or 469-593-3193.

The Rockwall High choir will present Amahl and the Night Visitors , a one-act opera by Gian Carlo Menotti, at 7:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday in the cafeteria annex, 901 W. Yellow Jacket Lane. Tickets cost $7. Call 972-771-7339.

Dr. Susan Adams, assistant professor of counseling and development at Texas Woman's University, was selected as the 2008 Counselor Educator of the Year at the Texas Counselors Association's annual conference.

The University of Texas at Arlington received $275,000 in Texas Ignition Fund money from the University of Texas System to move six engineering research projects more quickly toward commercialization and the marketplace. The projects include:

Universal and cost-effective surface texture on solar cells; liquefaction of Texas lignite to low-cost heavy crude oil; prosthetic skin; prototype sensor network with ultra energy efficiency for long-term monitoring applications; development of a nanoporous membrane blood oxygenator; and a battery-less endoluminal sensing telemeter for gastro refluxed detection.

UTA received more funding than any other UT System institution. University of Texas at Austin, which received $235,000 for six projects, was second. University of Texas at Dallas received $100,000 for two projects and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center had three projects funded at a total of $110,000.

Southern Methodist University professors Thomas Ritz and Alicia Meure recently received $1.4 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health for a project focusing on asthma sufferers. The two professors and faculty member David Rosenfield will evaluate the effects of an innovative respiratory training intervention on asthma patients' symptoms and well-being.

Professors Ernie Jouriles and Renee McDonald recently received an award from the Centers for Disease Control to study the perpetration of partner violence among adolescents from violent homes. The award, more than $800,000, will assist them in examining the predictors of the perpetration of adolescent dating violence among a high-risk group of adolescents – those living in families characterized by parental intimate partner violence.