Public service advocate will deliver commencement address

COLUMBUS – Deborah Jones Merritt, director of The John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy at The Ohio State University, will deliver the autumn quarter commencement address Dec. 12 at St. John Arena.

Approximately 1,900 degrees will be awarded during the ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m.

Merritt has led the Glenn Institute since 2000. Under her direction, the Institute has grown to encompass more than three dozen programs that encourage students to become active citizens, enhance the skills of public leaders and develop strong public policy. The Institute serves thousands of students, policymakers and community members each year with programs that include nonpartisan training for first-time candidates, public policy internships for high school seniors, an in-depth academic internship program for upperclassmen in Washington, D.C., public lectures and conferences, and policy research on issues ranging from electronic privacy to democracy building abroad. The Institute has also initiated programs with colleges and departments across campus, and programs that strengthen Ohio State’s ties with the community.

Merritt plans to address graduates about their role in defining citizenship and community. “College students and young voters are giving new meaning to citizenship,” Merritt says. “Just as the Depression, Pearl Harbor and the Civil Rights movement shaped citizenship for earlier generations, September 11th and the Internet are pivotal for this generation. Ohio State’s motto is ‘education for citizenship.’ I plan to address what that motto means for a new generation – and how these graduates are likely to carry that promise forward.”

Ohio State has recognized Merritt with three of its top awards: The University Distinguished Lecturer (1999), the Distinguished Scholar Award (2002) and the Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award (2004).

In addition to directing the Institute, Merritt holds the John Deaver Drinko/Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law at the Moritz College of Law. She also holds courtesy appointments in the School of Public Policy and Management and the departments of Sociology and Women’s Studies.

Merritt earned her B.A. in history from Harvard University and her J.D. from Columbia University, where she served as managing editor of the Columbia Law Review. After graduation, she clerked for Judge (now Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and then for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court of the United States. She practiced law in Atlanta and joined the faculty of the University of Illinois before accepting the Drinko Chair at Ohio State in 1995.

Merritt’s scholarly research covers a wide variety of public policy topics, including federal-state relations, equality, affirmative action, health care, technology and leadership development. She has spoken on these issues to legislators, judges, scholars and policymakers around the country. In 2003, she coauthored a “friend of the court” brief supporting the University of Michigan law school’s flexible affirmative action plan.

Her teaching has extended to courses on public service, social science methods, constitutional law, women and law, law and poverty, law and medicine and leadership. She has also co-taught courses in Europe, focusing on comparative constitutional law, with Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor

Merritt is also committed to citizenship as a member of the university community, and has chaired and served on a number of search and oversight committees.