Ohio Board of Regents’ Chancellor Emerita is Humanities Baccalaureate speaker

COLUMBUS – Elaine Hairston (PATASKALA 43062), Chancellor Emerita of the Ohio Board of Regents, will speak on The Ohio State University campus on Thursday, June 13. An OSU alumna, Hairston is the featured speaker at the College of Humanities Baccalaureate, an annual celebration of the achievements of students, faculty, and alumni, which begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Wexner Center for the Arts. The event is free and open to the public (RSVP 292-1882).

Hairston, higher education policy and presidential search consultant with Academic Search Consultation Service in Washington, D.C., and a former Distinguished Visiting Professor at The Ohio State University in 2000, led the Ohio Board of Regents for eight years as Chancellor. Responsible for the planning, budgeting and coordination of Ohio’s 65 public college and university campuses, Dr. Hairston oversaw a system of higher education serving 400,000 students on public campuses and worked with another 70 independent colleges enrolling an additional 100,000 students. The overall public system annual operating budget exceeds $2 billion, making it one of the nation’s largest and most complex.

Hairston served the Ohio Board of Regents for nineteen years and was the primary architect of Ohio’s Selective Excellence Program, a $60 million strategy designed to improve academic quality on Ohio’s campuses and to improve services to students. She was also a prime mover in the establishment of Ohiolink, Ohio’s cutting-edge library and data system.

Prior to joining the Ohio Board of Regents staff, Hairston was the first Associate Director of Affirmative Action Programs at Ohio State, where she led the establishment of the first child care center on any Ohio college campus, worked on policy changes which allowed women in Ohio State’s Marching Band, and expanded admission opportunities for women in graduate and professional colleges at Ohio State.

Known nationally as an advocate for higher education, Hairston has testified before the committees of the U.S. Senate on student access, was vice-chair of a delegation to China to advise policy leaders there on the expansion of their higher education system, and was elected president of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Organization.

Holder of numerous honorary degrees, Hairston was one of 40 alumni honored by The Ohio State University at its 300th Commencement. In 1987, she was honored with the Distinguished Alumna Award from Ohio State’s Department of Communication. She received the Alumni Award of Distinction from the College of Humanities in 1998, and in 1999, the Alumni Association recognized her with its Professional Achievement Award. An honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa, she earned each of her degrees from Ohio State: a B.A. in English and an MA and Ph.D. in Communications.

Hairston currently is the Chair of The Ohio State University Alumni Advisory Council, Vice-President of the Board of Directors of The Ohio Historical Society, and is a former member of the Foundation Board of the Arthur James Cancer Center.
During the Baccalaureate ceremony, two Ohio State University alumni will receive the Humanities Alumni Society (HUMAS) Alumni Awards of Distinction. The recipients are College of Humanities alumni Douglas Brinkley (B.A. 1982, History) and Galen Graham (M.A. 1972 and Ph.D. 1977, Classics), who will be recognized for their outstanding achievements.

After earning a bachelor’s degree at Ohio State, Douglas Brinkley (NEW ORLEANS 70130) earned both an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University. The focus of his scholarship is military and diplomatic history. In addition to Georgetown, he has taught at the U.S. Naval Academy, Princeton University, Hofstra University, the University of Innsbruck, the European University Institute, and the University of New Orleans, where he is the Director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies. A former Visiting Research Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs, Brinkley is the author of several books, including Rosa Parks (2000) and American Heritage History of the United States (1998), which won the 1999 Benjamin Franklin Award for best political/history book, and co-editor of Witness to America: An Illustrated Documentary History of the United States from the Revolution to Today (1999) and John F. Kennedy and Europe (1999). Three of his biographies – Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years 1953-1971 (1992), Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal (1993), and The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House (1998) were chosen as Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times. Viking Press will publish his Wheels of the World: Henry Ford, His Company and A Century of Progress later this year. He has received a number of prestigious book awards, prizes, and academic honors. He is currently editing The Portable Civil Rights Reader with Julian Bond . He is the American Studies/Poetry Commentator for NPR’s Weekend Edition and has appeared, for example, on CNN, C-SPAN, The Today Show, Good Morning America, PBS, CBS Morning News, 48 Hours, and Washington’s This Week with Cokie Roberts and Sam Donaldson.

Galen H. Graham (REYNOLDSBURG 43068), President of DeVry University’s Columbus campus, has been involved in higher education as a teacher and administrator for 25 years. He received his undergraduate degree from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, a Master of Business Administration from Capital University in Columbus, and a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from The Ohio State University. He is a 1987 graduate of Leadership Columbus. He has taught at Ohio State, Denison University, and Muskingum College, and was a research student at the University of Cambridge (1974–75). He started his administrative career at Capital University in 1977 and became director of the university’s Finance Office in 1979. Since joining DeVry in 1982, he has served in several administrative capacities, which have included directing the Institute’s efforts in the areas of student financial aid, administrative services, and strategic planning. He was named president of DeVry/Columbus in 1996. Dr. Graham is a member the Higher Education Council of Columbus, president of the Catholic Schools Advisory Commission, and treasurer of the board of trustees of Leadership Columbus. In January, 2000, he was named Outstanding Educator Advancing Technology by the Industry and Technology Council of Central Ohio. In 2001, he was appointed Regional Vice President of DeVry University

HUMAS also will present an Outstanding Student Award to Courtney Howard (NORTH CANTON 44720), a junior majoring in English with a minor in Political Science. In 2001 she participated in the Bath Study Abroad Program in England. Now a junior, she has participated in various campus activities, including Student-Alumni Council, Chimes Junior Class Honorary, the Elections Governance Board for the Undergraduate Student Government, Symphonic Choir, Arts and Sciences Honors Committee, College of Humanities Student Advisory Council, and the NCAA Subcommittee on Academic Integrity. She is both an Honors and a Humanities Peer Mentor. Due to her strong academic record, she received a University Tradition Scholarship, has been inducted into Mortar Board Senior Class Honorary, and was a finalist for the Beanie Drake Scholarship this year. She recently received the College’s Katherine L. Hall Prize for her outstanding scholarship, service, and leadership. She works part-time in the Department of Human Cancer Genetics Medical Research Facility at OSU Hospitals and plans to attend law school.