U.S. Homeland Security official is Humanities Baccalaureate speaker

COLUMBUS - Brian Besanceney will speak on The Ohio State University campus on Saturday, June 10. An Ohio State alumnus, Besanceney is the featured speaker at the College of Humanities Baccalaureate, the 12th annual celebration of its graduating students, which begins at 3:30 p.m. in 131 Hitchcock Hall. The event is free and open to the public (RSVP 292-1882).

Besanceney, holder of a bachelor's degree in history and political science, is the assistant secretary for public affairs of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he manages internal and external communications for the Department and its 22 component agencies. For two years he was special assistant to President George W. Bush and deputy director of communications; prior to this assignment he was the director of domestic policy communications. In 2005 the Alumni Association recognized Besanceney with its William Oxley Thompson Award, which is presented to alumni younger than age 36 who have demonstrated distinctive achievement in a career, civic involvement or both.

During the Baccalaureate ceremony, Humanities alumni Tim Neustadt and Anthony Zahareas will receive the Humanities Alumni Society (HUMAS) Alumni Awards of Distinction.

Tim Neustadt earned a bachelor's degree in Latin and a master's in classics. He began his distinguished business career as a financial planner for Connecticut General Life Insurance Company which became CIGNA in 1978, where he ultimately became regional vice president. After retiring, he later returned to the company, now know as Sagemark Consulting/Lincoln Financial Advisors. In 1999, Neustadt established the David J. Neustadt Scholarship in Greek and Latin in honor of his brother, an OSU graduate, who has a debilitating illness.

Anthony Zahareas earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish and master's and Ph.D. degrees in Romance Languages at Ohio State. He is one of the pre-eminent scholars in Spanish literatures and cultures. As a native of Greece, he has been able to explore broader Mediterranean cultural issues in his works. He has taught at Smith College, the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, and the University of Minnesota. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts, Rutgers, UCLA, Stanford, and Panteios University (Athens, Greece). Zahareas recently received Spain's most distinguished award, the Order of Isabel La Catolica.

HUMAS also will present its Outstanding Student Award to Kelly Lichoff, a Japanese major. After seeing "Invisible Children," a documentary about the rampant abduction of children in Uganda, she chartered Sources of Vision, a student organization that promotes social justice and human rights in Africa. Next fall, Lichoff will move to the Mississippi Delta to teach secondary math through Teach for America.