The following is a list of achievements by businesses and individuals in the Ann Arbor area:

• Plante & Moran PLLC named Craig Frankland of Ann Arbor an associate in the certified public accounting and business advisory firm’s Southfield office. Frankland works with the firm’s management consultant team, and his primary focus is working with government clients to resolve organizational and operational problems related to staffing, finances, technology and shared services agreements.

• Donald Winter, a former secretary of the Navy who has recently been chosen to chair a national Gulf oil spill investigation committee, will begin teaching at the University of Michigan College of Engineering this fall. He has held an appointment as a professor of practice since May. A retired top executive at the Northrop Grumman Corp., Winter was Navy secretary from 2006 to 2009. He received his doctorate in physics from U-M in 1972.

• From 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 14, Joust Strength + Fitness will host a grand opening for its new location at 3951 Varsity Drive in Ann Arbor. The public is invited to tour the 5,800-square-foot facility, eat barbecued food, get body fat analyzed or join in a group exercise session.

• Meadowlark Energy recently announced the launch of its Building Performance Contracting service. Meadowlark Energy is a private company that will compete in the emerging field of building performance retrofits. Services offered will include energy audits and computer modeling of buildings; HVAC, plumbing and electrical system improvements; window and door repair and replacement; insulation and air-sealing work; and financing and incentives management. Meadowlark Energy is a spinoff business of three green-building companies in the Ann Arbor area - Meadowlark Builders, Arbor Insulation and BuildScan Thermography.

• Six professors at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business who founded the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship have been named Trailblazers by the Organization and Management Theory Division of the Academy of Management. Professors Wayne Baker, Kim Cameron, Jane Dutton, Robert Quinn, Gretchen Spreitzer and Lynn Wooten received the Joanne Martin Trailblazer Award at the Academy of Management meetings in Montreal in August. The award is given every two years to "scholars who have taken a leadership role in the field of OMT by opening up new lines of thinking or inquiry." The Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship, established in 2002, is a community of scholars devoted to energizing and transforming organizations through research on the theory and practice of positive organizing and leadership.

• Contracting Resources Inc., a Brighton-based construction services company, is providing general contracting services for the University of Michigan Briarwood project, which will include demolition of several rooms, construction of a new radiographic room and new mechanical and electric systems for several rooms. The architect is A3C Collaborative of Ann Arbor.

• Mike Finney, executive director and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK, has signed on as a celebrity judge for the Baker’s Dozen Girl Scout Cookie BakeOff, set for Sept. 14 at the Morris Lawrence Building of Washtenaw Community College. Joining Finney in sampling and judging tasty treats made with Girl Scout Cookies are Faye Askew-King, SOS Community Services; Beth Fitzsimmons, the Ann Arbor Rotary Club; Ingrid Sheldon, former mayor of Ann Arbor; Ann Matteson, retired judge of the 15th District Court; and Peg Talburtt, the James A. and Faith Knight Foundation. Linda Yohn of EMU Radio will emcee the event. Americrown from the Michigan International Speedway, Benny’s Bakery, the Culinary Arts Department at Washtenaw Community College, Jefferson Market & Cakery, and Queen of Hearts have joined the rivalry among competing chefs. These five establishments will vie with Angel Food Catering, Carson’s American Bistro, La Dolce Vita, Paesano’s Restaurant, Palio’s Restaurant, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and University Catering to create the best dessert using Girl Scout Cookies. The event will raise funds for the outreach programs of Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan in the Ann Arbor region. GSHOM brings the benefits of Girl Scouting to low-income and at-risk girls in Washtenaw, Livingston and western Wayne Counties.

• University of Michigan researchers will be able to build on innovative studies they have already done about the role of "good bacteria" in the body's digestive tract, thanks to a new $7.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The grant focuses on how to understand and fight an increasingly common hospital-acquired infection, C. difficile. U-M infectious disease specialist Vincent B. Young will lead the overall consortium at U -M and will direct a project on the microbial ecology and molecular pathogenesis of C. difficile infection. Another project, which will involve collecting specimens from inpatients and outpatients at U-M hospitals and health centers, will be lead by David M. Aronoff, assistant professor of internal medicine in infectious diseases. Gary Huffnagle, U-M professor of microbiology and immunology and pulmonary and critical care, is co-principal investigator leading the final project, which will examine the interplay between host immunity and the pathogenesis of C. difficile. Other U-M researchers involved in the research include: Jun Li, Philip Hanna, Brian K. Janes, Patrick Schloss, John Kao,Andrzej Galecki, Seth Walk, Laraine L. Washer and Preeti N. Malani.

• Comerica Bank recently announced its contribution of more than $1.4 million to Michigan nonprofits during the first half of 2010, including Ann Arbor-based organizations The Neutral Zone (Ann Arbor's Teen Center), the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. So far during 2010, Comerica has contributed $1,472,848 and provided approximately 14,199 hours of employee volunteer labor hours to organizations throughout the state.

• The conference center at Weber’s Inn in Ann Arbor has recently undergone remodeling of its corporate space and changes to its catering options in order to attract business professionals and accommodate off-site events. The hotel and banquet facility now offers 11 newly remodeled ballrooms, complimentary Wi-Fi in all hotel rooms and public spaces. Weber’s is now also offering its cuisine to cater corporate and social events.

• Lawrence G. Almeda, a shareholder in the Ann Arbor office of law firm Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, was a recipient of CORP magazine’s Salute to Diversity award. The diversity winners were selected in three categories, and Almeda was named in the Diversity Leader category. All awardees were honored at the Salute to Diversity event held today at the MGM Grand Detroit and are featured in the July/August 2010 issue of CORP! magazine.

• An orphanage in Haiti, as well as several organizations in Michigan, will receive donations of solar panels and inverters from Detroit Edison. The solar equipment came from the utility's first solar facility in Scio Township, which first started producing electricity in 1997. The facility was decommissioned this summer in favor of newer solar technology that's being installed at the site. In the meantime, Detroit Edison has donated the 120 solar panels and power inverters to six organizations: Oakland Community College, Auburn Hills; Ebenezer Glenn Orphanage, Haiti; Monroe County Community College, Monroe; E-Three Labs, Detroit; Huron Area Technical Center, Bad Axe; Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association, Dimondale; and St. Elizabeth Church, Wyandotte.

• The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation announced Aug. 30 that it would award, in partnership with the American Thoracic Society and Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis, $400,000 in new pulmonary fibrosis research grants. Among the recipients was Steven Huang, lecturer in the department of medicine at the University of Michigan. Huang was awarded a partner grant to investigate the regulation and pattern of the DNA methylome in pulmonary fibrosis.

• Ann Arbor-based Borders Group Inc. has appointed Michele Delahunty-Cloutier as the company's new executive vice president and chief merchandising officer.

• Kristin Judge, Washtenaw County Commissioner for district 7, has been elected to serve as the president of Women of Michigan Association of Counties.The organization supports, educates and provides a network for women in appointed or elected positions.

• The Thomas M. Cooley Law School recently announced the promotion of 11 faculty members — including two from the Ann Arbor campus — effective Jan. 1, 2011. On the Ann Arbor campus, Assistant Dean and Associate Professor Dan Ray and Associate Professor Anthony Flores were promoted to full professors.

• The University of Michigan Press has launched a new e-book rental program for more than 250 of its scholarly titles, allowing students or faculty to rent digital copies of the books at a discount for a month or six months.

• E-mail items for People, Achievements and Paparazzi to business@annarbor.com . Sign up for the weekly Business Review email newsletter here.