COLUMBUS - Martha Garland, vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University, will deliver the keynote speech at the College of Humanities Baccalaureate on Thursday, June 8. The annual celebration of the achievements of students, faculty, staff and alumni begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Wexner Center for the Arts Film Video Theatre, 1871 North High St. The event is free and open to the public.

An alumna of the College of Humanities, Garland was appointed vice provost for undergraduate studies in October 1997, overseeing all academic aspects of undergraduate education. A faculty member in the Department of History, she earned a bachelor's degree in history from Tulane University and the University of London in 1964. She holds a master's degree in medieval history from Cornell University and a doctorate in modern British history from Ohio State.

Garland co-chaired the 46-member Committee on the Undergraduate Experience (CUE), which examined all aspects of the student experience at Ohio State. The committee published an extensive report in 1995 with strong recommendations for improvements, many of which have been implemented.

Garland leads the effort to improve Ohio State's approach to undergraduate teaching and to increase student retention and graduation rates. She chaired the Round Table on Advising, which formalized a set of recommendations now being implemented on the university level. She is also involved with such student leadership initiatives as the Mount Leadership Society, the Honors and Scholars Living and Learning Communities, and the development of the recently opened Younkin Success Center.

During the ceremony, two Ohio State University alumni will receive the Humanities Alumni Society (HUMAS) Alumni Awards of Distinction. Karen Schwarzwalder (B.A. 1965, English) and Shirley Yee (M.A. 1983 and Ph.D. 1987, History) will be recognized for their outstanding professional achievements and for having brought distinction to the college.

A Columbus native, Schwarzwalder is president and chief executive officer of Columbus' YWCA, which serves over 40,000 adults and children each year. She launched and successfully completed a $15 million capital campaign to renovate the YWCA's 71-year-old headquarters and has enhanced the annual Women of Achievement luncheon. To promote the YWCA's mission "to thrust our collective power toward the elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary," Schwarzwalder spearheaded an Anti-Racism and Race Relations Project. She has also provided opportunities for Ohio State's alumnae through the National Council of Ohio State Women. Schwarzwalder was recently re-elected to the Columbus Public Schools Board of Education.

In scarcely more than a decade since earning her doctorate in history, Yee has become a nationally-respected scholar and administrator at the University of Washington. Her book, Black Women Abolitionists: A Study in Activism, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in history. She has been instrumental in developing Washington's women studies program into a thriving department, which she now chairs. Yee specializes in U.S. women's history, African-American history (colonial to 1877), 19th century U.S. social history, and the issues of race, gender, and class in U.S. history (colonial to the present). She is currently completing a book on interracial social relationships among women in New York City from 1880 to 1920.

HUMAS will also present Outstanding Student Awards to BELLAIRE native Janet Badia, a Ph.D. candidate in English; and Abra Kravitz of YOUNGSTOWN, a senior majoring in comparative studies and East Asian languages and literatures. Both students have distinguished themselves academically and are active in numerous campus activities.

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