Five to be honored at Ohio State spring 2005 commencement
COLUMBUS – The Ohio State University will honor a sociologist, a physicist, and three outstanding university leaders during 2005 spring commencement exercises. Ceremonies begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday (6/12) at Ohio Stadium.
Honorary doctorates will be presented to Glen H. Elder, Jr., the Howard W. Odum Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Research Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who is widely credited with founding the sociological field of lifecourse studies; William H. Hall, commencement speaker and vice president for student affairs at Ohio State, a tireless advocate for students; and Carl E. Wieman, Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2001 for his contributions to the discovery of a new form of matter, the Bose-Einstein condensate.
The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Daniel L. Heinlen, who led the Ohio State University Alumni Association for 30 years; and Ronald L. St. Pierre, who for 35 years taught at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, where he also served in many leadership roles.
Glen H. Elder, Jr.
Doctor of Social Science
Glen H. Elder, Jr., is the Howard W. Odum Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Research Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Ohio native earned his bachelor's degree in 1957 from Pennsylvania State University, his master's degree in 1958 from Kent State University, and his doctorate in 1961 from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. After five years at the University of California, Berkeley, Elder joined the University of North Carolina faculty as an associate professor, becoming full professor in 1971. From 1979 to 1984, he served as a professor at Cornell University before returning to UNC, where he also holds appointments as fellow of the Carolina Population Center, director of "Population and Aging" at the Carolina Population Center Training Program and co-director of the Carolina Consortium on Human Development.
Elder is widely credited with founding the sociological field of lifecourse studies, and his contributions span the disciplines of history, sociology, demography, and psychology. His early work, including his classic publication, "Children of the Great Depression," demonstrated that it is the particular juncture of life stage and historical event that determines the course of human lives. In recent years, he has continued to examine life-course dynamics in diverse social contexts, studying how families adapt to depressed urban or rural environments. A prolific scholar, he has published some 200 journal articles and book chapters and 15 books/edited collections. He has given numerous major lectures and seminars at universities and scientific forums throughout the world and has trained and mentored countless young scholars.
The recipient of many honors over the course of his distinguished career, Elder has received, among other recognitions, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the Burgess Award from the National Council on Family Relations, a Research Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Senior Scholar Award from The Spencer Foundation. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Gerontological Society of America.
William H. Hall
Doctor of Public Service
William H. Hall is vice president for student affairs at The Ohio State University. Prior to
joining Ohio State's staff, he served as director of housing at the University of Southern Illinois, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in education. He also had a distinguished military career with the Ohio Army National Guard. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College and retired in 1998 with the rank of brigadier general after 30 years of service.
He came to Ohio State in 1977 as director of residence and dining halls and, later, assistant vice president for student affairs. He was named vice president in 2001. As vice president for student affairs, he oversees a large operation that includes housing and residence education, dining services, student government, student activities, student health services, student advocacy, recreational sports, disability services, the Younkin Success Center, counseling and consultation services, career advising, off-campus student services, community relations, the Schottenstein Center, the Blackwell Inn, the OSU Parent Association, student judicial affairs, the Multicultural Center, Greek life, student leadership development, and student orientation.
Known for his tireless dedication and devotion to students, Hall has played a leading role in a number of major initiatives to enhance the student experience at Ohio State, including reducing residence hall density, improving the move-in process, revising the Code of Student Conduct, enhancing student leadership development, and offering diversity training for student leaders.
Under his leadership, several major construction projects to benefit students have been completed or are in progress, including a new 500-bed student housing complex – the first at Ohio State in more than 30 years; the new state-of-the-art Recreation and Physical Activity Center; and a new Ohio Union, now in the planning stages.
Hall has been active in promoting student safety, on and off campus, leading successful efforts to promote responsible student behavior surrounding major athletic and other campus events. Thousands of students have come to know him through his presence at numerous student events and through his weekly e-mail column, "Generally Speaking," in which he provides information, advice, and observations about campus life.
His dedication has been recognized by a number of awards, including he Award of Excellence from the Columbus Urban League in 1989 and the University Distinguished Affirmative Action Award in 1991. In recognition of his many contributions to understanding, valuing and promoting diversity at Ohio State, Hall recently received the 2005 William H. Watson Jr. Memorial Award.
Carl E. Wieman
Doctor of Science
Nobel Laureate Carl E. Wieman is Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of
Colorado in Boulder. He is also a Fellow of the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA), a physics research institute operated jointly by the University of Colorado and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The Oregon native received his bachelor's degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973 and his doctorate in physics from Stanford University in 1977. Wieman then joined the University of Michigan as assistant research scientist in the Department of Physics, becoming assistant professor in 1979. In 1984, he joined the physics faculty at the University of Colorado, becoming full professor in 1987.
In the 1980s, Wieman became interested in the cooling and trapping of atoms, investigating the limits to which atoms could be cooled. His research with Eric Cornell in cooling atoms to a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero resulted in the formation of a new form of matter, the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), in 1995. Today, BEC research has become a major international field of physics research, and Wieman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001. He continues to study the properties of this new form of matter.
In addition to his research activities, he has been involved in research and innovations in undergraduate physics education and the broader understanding of science and has given many presentations to high school classes and general audiences. He has developed a popular physics course for non-scientists and has led a large project developing online interactive simulations for teaching physics.
Wieman is an elected member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His work has been recognized with many awards, including the Davisson-Germer Prize in Atomic Physics of the American Physical Society, the Lorentz Medal of the Netherlands Royal Academy, the King Faisal International Prize in Science, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, and the 2004 National Professor of the Year for contributions to undergraduate education.
Daniel L. Heinlen
Distinguished Service Award
Daniel L. Heinlen became president/CEO emeritus of the 123,000-member Ohio State University Alumni Association in December 2003 after 38 years of service, including 30 as CEO. During his tenure, the association more than doubled in size and moved into its new home, Longaberger
Alumni House, in October 1999.
Heinlen graduated from The Ohio State University in 1960 with a bachelor's degree in social administration. After a brief stint working for the YMCA in Pittsburgh, he returned to Ohio State in 1965 to work for the Alumni Association, becoming president and CEO in 1973. He was publisher of The Ohio State Alumni Magazine and secretary of the association's board of directors, the Alumni Advisory Council, and the Ohio State Student Loan Foundation. He served as an ex-officio member of The Ohio State University Foundation Board, sat on the Academy for Distinguished Teaching's executive council, and chaired the 2002 Ohio presidents' Inter-University Council Alumni Advocacy Planning Taskforce.
Heinlen was the first non-faculty member to serve as president of the university's Faculty Club Board of Control and served on the university's last three presidential search committees. In 2003, he was presented with the highest Ohio State recognition awarded to volunteers, the Everett D. Reese Medal, signifying exceptional philanthropic service to the university.
In addition to his university work, Heinlen served as chair of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), an international organization for institutional advancement professionals, and received its District Five Distinguished Service Award. In 2004, at the CASE International Assembly, he received the Ashomore Award for extraordinary service to the advancement profession.
He is a founding member and past president of the Council of Alumni Association Executives and a three-time chair of the Big Ten Alumni CEOs. He was president of the Alumni Directors of Ohio's State Universities and founding chair of the SGA Forum, a gathering of the nation's self-governing alumni associations' chief executives.
As president of DLH, LLC, and a senior consulting vice president of Grenzebach/Glier and Associates, Heinlen continues as a frequent consultant to alumni associations and their business partners across North America.
Ronald L. St. Pierre
Distinguished Service Award
Ronald L. St. Pierre is associate vice president and professor emeritus as well as special assistant to the senior vice president for health services at The Ohio State University.
St. Pierre's more-than-three-decade affiliation with the university began as a student in 1961. He received his master's and Ph.D. in zoology and anatomy, respectively, from Ohio State after graduating from Ohio University. After a one-year hiatus for a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University, he returned to Ohio State in 1967 as an assistant professor of cell biology, neurobiology, and anatomy, rising to full professor and department chair in 1972. In 1981, he joined the administration of the College of Medicine and Public Health, where he served for more than 20 years, including nine years as senior associate vice president for health sciences and academic affairs, as associate dean of the College of Medicine, executive vice dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health, and interim dean for public health in the School of Public Health. He retired in September 2002.
During his tenure at the university, St. Pierre continued to carry a teaching load, serving as professor in the School of Public Health and professor in the Department of Anatomy and Medical Education. In addition, he served on numerous university committees and task forces. He was a university senator, participated in search committees for key university administrators, chaired the Committee on Honorary Degrees, was a member of the Advisory Committee on Promotion and Tenure, and chaired the Academic Program Review of the University Health Service.
St. Pierre played a leading role in securing accreditation for the university's School of Public Health, recruiting a number of eminent researchers to the faculty, and in establishing a national center for Parkinson's Disease research and care at the Medical Center. He has published more than 80 articles in the scientific press and is coauthor of the book Immunohematology.
He has a significant record of service at the community, state, national, and professional levels, and he has been recognized with the Lederle Medical Faculty Award, the Ohio Rehabilitation Association's Special Recognition Award, and the Governor's Award for Community Services, among other honors.
