Ohio State honors three at summer 2016 commencement

Columbus, Ohio – Three individuals will be honored at The Ohio State University’s summer 2016 commencement for their contributions to society and their dedication to the university.

The honorary Doctor of Business Administration will be presented to Jeni Britton Bauer, commencement speaker and founder of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.

The university will present Distinguished Service Awards to retired university archivist Raimund E. Goerler, who dedicated more than three decades to preserving and sharing the history of Buckeye Nation, and to John H. Litchfield, adjunct professor of food science and nutrition and an invaluable resource to Ohio State and to generations of new food science students.

Jeni Britton Bauer, Doctor of Business Administration

Hailed as a culinary genius and pioneer of the artisan ice cream movement, Jeni Britton Bauer has been perfecting her craft as a wildly imaginative ice cream maker and visionary entrepreneur for 20 years. As the founder of Columbus-based Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, her name has become synonymous with innovation, creativity and delicious desserts.

Ms. Britton Bauer worked in a French pastry shop and studied fine art and art history at Ohio State before opening Scream, her first ice cream stall in Columbus’ North Market, in 1996. At Scream, she crafted unique flavors from scratch every day, laying the foundation for the opening of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, also at the North Market, in 2002.

With a vision that ice cream could be better and more interesting, Ms. Britton Bauer continues to set the standard for quality artisanal ice cream. Today, her ice creams are served up in 23 scoop shops in eight cities — from Nashville to Los Angeles — and in more than 1,100 stores across the country.

Inspired by her grandmother’s 10-acre garden, where she picked berries for jams and collected maple sap for syrup as a child, Ms. Britton Bauer uses whole ingredients and dairy from grass-grazed cows in her recipes, rather than synthetic flavorings and commodity ice cream mix. Jeni’s hands-on team flavors its ice creams with carefully sourced, often local ingredients, including wildflower honey, whole fruits, vegetables and herbs from nearby farms.

Salty Caramel, Brambleberry Crisp and other signature flavors anchor a menu that also includes limited-edition flavors inspired by the seasons, pop culture and world trends.

Ms. Britton Bauer is the author of The New York Times best-seller Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. With more than 100,000 copies in print, the cookbook dubbed an “ingenious homemade-ice-cream bible” by The Wall Street Journal earned Ms. Britton

Bauer a 2012 James Beard Award, America’s most coveted honor for food and culinary arts writing. Her follow-up, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Desserts, was published in 2014. And last year, she was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business.

An active community member, Ms. Britton Bauer co-founded Local Matters, a fresh-food-for-all Columbus-based nonprofit, and she serves on the boards of the Wexner Center for the Arts and Columbus College of Art & Design.

Raimund E. Goerler, Distinguished Service Award

As Ohio State’s university archivist, Raimund E. Goerler dedicated more than three decades to preserving and sharing the history of Buckeye Nation. Under his leadership, the University Archives — a repository of documents, photographs and artifacts — became a model for other institutions nationwide.

Dr. Goerler received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and his graduate degrees from Case Western Reserve University and Kent State University. In 1978, he joined Ohio State’s University Archives. There, he brought significant collections, such as the papers of Jesse Owens and Woody Hayes, to the university, and developed a records retention program that was adopted by public colleges throughoutthe state.

From 2000 until 2010, Dr. Goerler served as assistant director for Special Collections and Archives. In 2009, he also served as interim director of libraries, which involved overseeing the return of materials and staff to the newly renovated William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library while maintaining services for the campus community. He efficiently coordinated the rededication activities of the building, including its grand-opening gala.

During his tenure at Ohio State, Dr. Goerler established two world-renowned collections: the Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program — one of the most important sites in the world for historical polar information — and the Ohio Congressional Archives.

Additionally, Dr. Goerler developed an oral history program that continues to add reflections from faculty, staff and students to the university’s official memory. Following his retirement in 2010, Dr. Goerler and his wife ensured the continuation of this program by establishing the Raimund and Sharon Goerler Endowment for Oral History in University Archives Fund.

A talented author and professor, Dr. Goerler has designed and taught highly popular classes about the history of the university, and he has written three books on the topic. After An Illustrated History of The Ohio State University was published, he donated the royalties to the University Archives.

John H. Litchfield, Distinguished Service Award

For more than 50 years, John H. Litchfield has demonstrated a passionate commitment to the food science and technology field. Drawing on his considerable experience working in both academia and industry, he has become an invaluable resource to Ohio State and to generations of new food science students.

After completing his undergraduate degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Litchfield began his career with Searle Food Corporation in Florida as chief chemist. He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, with assignment as food advisor, Berlin Command. By 1956, he had earned his graduate and doctoral degrees in food technology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Following completion of these degrees, he joined Swift & Company in Chicago as a food technologist, which led to a faculty appointment in the Department of Food Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1960, he moved to Ohio and began a prolific, 33-year career as a chief researcher at Battelle.

His service to Ohio State began in 1970, when he served on a committee to propose the formation of a new Department of Food Science, and later chaired the department’s Industrial Advisory Committee. In 1977, he became an adjunct professor in the Department of Human Nutrition and Food Management and went on to serve as an adjunct professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology — a position he still holds.

Every weekday, Dr. Litchfield can be found on campus working with students, teaching, advising and coaching. As an instructor, he provides one-on-one laboratory assistance for food science students and has served on numerous thesis and dissertation committees. For 20 years, he has coached the Ohio State Food Science and Technology Team in the Institute of Food Technologists College Bowl and has led the team to six regional wins and three national championship victories. He also supports students through substantial donations every year to scholarships and funds at the university.

For his efforts, he has received multiple distinguished service awards, was voted Professor of the Year by the Food Science Club and has twice received the Meritorious Service to Students Award from the Agricultural and Natural Resources Council.