Humanities College Honors Alumni

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES TO HONOR ALUMNI

     COLUMBUS -- An Akron businessman and a leading scholar in
African-American literature have been honored with The Ohio State
University College of Humanities' first annual Humanities Alumni
Award of Distinction.  The awards were presented at the
Humanities Alumni Society's reception on March 4 in Columbus.

     The recipients of the award are:

     =FE John D. Ong of AKRON, chairman of the board of the
BFGoodrich Co., who received his bachelor's and master's degrees
in history from Ohio State, both in 1954.

     =FE Trudier Harris of ATLANTA, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet
Professor of American Literature at Emory University, who earned
her master's and doctoral degrees in English at Ohio State in
1972 and 1973.

     The Alumni Awards Program coincides with the College of
Humanities' 25th anniversary as a separate college.  The
Humanities Alumni Society has established two awards to honor
living alumni who personify the college's tradition of
excellence.  Each year, two alumni who have brought distinction
to themselves and the college through their outstanding personal
and professional achievements will be awarded the College of
Humanities Award of Distinction.

     John D. Ong is chief executive officer and chairman of the
board of the BFGoodrich Co.  Under his leadership, Goodrich went
=66rom an ailing company to an internationally acclaimed
corporation.  He moved Goodrich into new fields, notably
specialty chemicals and aerospace products and established a new
style and structure of management.

     On the national level, Ong works as a senior member of the
Business Roundtable and the Business Council to try to secure
legislation to help make American business more competetive in
the global marketplace.

     Ong joined BFGoodrich in 1961 as an assistant counsel for
the corporation.  He became administrative assistant to the
president of the international division in 1966 and was named
vice president of that division in 1969.

     He became president of International BFGoodrich in 1970,
group vice president of The BFGoodrich Company in 1972, and
executive vice president and member of the board of directors in
1973. He was elected president in 1975 and to his present post in
1979.

     Ong is a director of Cooper Industries, The Kroger Co.,
Ameritech Corp., and the ASARCO Inc.  He is also a member of the
boards of trustees of Western Reserve Academy, the University of
Chicago, and the Municipal Arts Association (Cleveland
Orchestra).

     Ong is a graduate of The Ohio State University and Harvard
Law School. He received his M.A. and B.A. from Ohio State in 1954
and has lectured to history classes and other groups at the
university on several occasions.

     Trudier Harris is one of the leading scholars in the world
in African-American literature and folklore.  She has been
bestowed with numerous honors for her exceptional scholarly work,
including distinguished professorships at the University of
Arkansas, The Ohio State University, and the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She is currently the Augustus Baldwin
Longstreet Professor of American Literature at Emory University
in Atlanta.

     Much of her scholarship deals with Black women authors and
with women as subjects in African-American literature.  Harris
has written four books on themes in African American literature.
She also has edited five collections of African American
literature and co-edited six others.  The author of more than 50
articles, chapters in books, and book reviews, she has lectured
throughout the United States as well as in Poland, Germany,
France, Canada, and Jamaica and has presented more than 100
papers at professional conferences.  She has received fellowships
and awards from the National Foundation for the Humanities, the
Ford Foundation, and the Bunting Institute.

     Harris received her M.A. in English in 1972 and her Ph.D. in
American Literature and Folklore in 1973 from  Ohio State..
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Contact:  Shari Lorbach, College of Humanities, (614) 292-1882.
Written by Ken Creutz.


[Submitted by: REIDV  (reidv@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Thu, 03 Mar 1994 11:28:44 -0500 (EST)]
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