COLUMBUS -- Six individuals will be honored at The Ohio State University’s winter commencement for achievements in their chosen fields and their commitment to public service, higher education and community service. Ceremonies begin at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, March 16, in St. John Arena, 410 Woody Hayes Drive. Ohio State Distinguished University Professor of Physics Bunny C. Clark will address the graduating class.

Honorary doctorates will be presented to Henry B. Betts, M.D., chairman of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) Foundation; Betty Frank Schoenbaum, president and trustee of the Schoenbaum Family Foundation, Inc; Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons Limited, India’s largest industrial and technological conglomerate; and Hiroyuki Yoshino, president of Honda Motor Co.

The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to alumnus and mentor Daniel G. Amstutz, president of Amstutz & Company, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting practice, and alumnus and friend of the university Ben E. Espy, senator for Ohio’s 15th District.

Henry Brognard Betts, Doctor of Public Service

Henry B. Betts, M.D., is chairman of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) Foundation and Paul B. Magnuson Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University Medical School.

A pioneer in the medical field now known as physiatry (physical medicine and rehabilitation), Dr. Betts served as president and CEO of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago until 1997. The New York native received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in 1950 and his M.D. from the University of Virginia in 1954. Following further medical training in rehabilitation medicine at the University of Cincinnati and New York University, he began his medical career at RIC, where he served in virtually every position of leadership from 1963 to 1999.

Dr. Betts’ efforts on behalf of people with disabilities have helped remove both attitudinal and physical barriers to their success. He served as a strong advocate for seat belt and drunken driving laws and for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. He also established a full-time Injury Prevention Program at RIC, aimed at lessening the incidence of preventable injuries.

Betty Frank Schoenbaum, Doctor of Business

Betty Frank Schoenbaum, president and trustee of the Schoenbaum Family Foundation, Inc., has long been a strong supporter of community and educational causes throughout the world

The Schoenbaum Family Foundation was established in 1988 by Mrs. Schoenbaum and her late husband, Alex, founder and past chair of Shoney’s family restaurant chain, and annually grants funds to numerous charitable and civic organizations, primarily in West Virginia.

Since her husband’s death in December 1996, Mrs. Schoenbaum has continued the family’s philanthropy. She has established a human services center in Charleston, W. Va., as well as six charitable trusts that will benefit 22 different charities, including Ohio State’s Critical Difference for Women Program.

An alumna of Ohio State’s College of Commerce (now the Fisher College of Business), Mrs. Schoenbaum has helped fund Schoenbaum Hall, the new undergraduate building on the Fisher College campus.

Ratan N. Tata, Doctor of Business Administration

Ratan N. Tata is chairman of Tata Sons Limited, the lead holding company of the 130-year old Tata Group, India’s largest industrial and technological conglomerate. He also serves as chairman of a number of the Tata Group’s companies, including Tata Industries, Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company, Tata Chemicals, Information Technology Park, Tata Tea, and Tata Power Company, as well as Tata companies in Singapore, London, New York and Switzerland.

Born in Mumbai, India, Mr. Tata received a bachelor of science degree in architecture and structural engineering from Cornell University in 1962. He also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business Administration in 1974-75. He joined the Tata Group in 1962 and was named chairman of Tata Industries in 1981, where he was responsible for transforming the company into a group strategy think-tank and promoting new ventures in high-technology businesses.

Mr. Tata has played a leading role in India’s entry into the field of informational technology and communications. Tata Consultancy Services is India’s largest information technology company, India’s top software and services exporter and the sixth fastest growing consulting company in the world. Mr. Tata also oversaw the creation of the Indica, India’s first indigenously designed and developed passenger car, launched in 1998 by Tata Engineering.

Hiroyuki Yoshino, Doctor of Engineering

Hiroyuki Yoshino became the fifth president of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., in 1998. During a more than 37-year career with Honda, Mr. Yoshino has served as president of Honda R&D Co., Ltd., Honda’s independent research and development subsidiary; president of Honda of America Mfg. Inc., in Marysville, Ohio; and chief operating officer of Automobile Operations, including sales, in Japan.

Educated as an aeronautical engineer at Tokyo University, Mr. Yoshino joined Honda in 1963 in research and development. In 1969, he was assigned to a team of engineers working to develop an engine capable of meeting the standards of the U.S. Clean Air Act. These efforts resulted in the breakthrough CVCC (Compound Vortex Combustion Controlled) engine that helped the Civic become the first automobile to meet the Clean Air Act standards without a catalytic converter.

In June 1988, he was named president of Honda of America Mfg. in Ohio. During his four-year tenure in Ohio, Mr. Yoshino guided Honda’s continued growth of Ohio manufacturing operations with the $450 million expansion of the Anna Engine Plant and the start-up of the $380 million East Liberty Auto Plant. He oversaw the growth of exports from Ohio, and, in 1990, the Marysville Auto Plant became the first auto plant in the United States to build both right- and left-hand drive cars on the same production line.

Daniel G. Amstutz, Distinguished Service Award

Daniel G. Amstutz is president of Amstutz & Company, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting practice, which he started following his retirement from the North American Export Grain Association, where he served as president and CEO from 1995 to 2000. He is also chairman of a start-up e-commerce company, Pradium, Inc., that is developing an on-line global cash grain and oilseed market.

Mr. Amstutz received his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1954 from Ohio State. During his student years, he served as both president and secretary of the Student Senate and was on the Council of Student Affairs and Fraternity Presidents.

In 1983, Mr. Amstutz accepted an appointment by President Reagan as Under Secretary of Agriculture for International Affairs and Commodity Programs and then, in 1987, as Ambassador and Special Envoy for Agricultural Trade and Development with the Agency for International Development, where he became the leading negotiator for the agricultural aspects of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks.

Mr. Amstutz is a lifetime member of the Presidents Club and the Alumni Association, where he served on the board of directors from 1985 to 1990 and as co-chair of the $8.7 million campaign for the Alumni House.

Ben Espy, Distinguished Service Award

Ben E. Espy, senator for Ohio’s 15th District, was Senate minority leader from 1996 to 2000. He is currently the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a member of the Energy, Natural Resources and Environment Committee.

Senator Espy earned his bachelor of arts degree in political science in 1965 and a juris doctorate at Howard University School of Law in 1968. While at Ohio State, he was a member of the football and track teams and was involved with the Air Force ROTC, the Civil Rights Commission and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Following service in the U. S. Air Force as an assistant staff judge advocate, Senator Espy joined the state of Ohio’s Office of the Attorney General in 1972 first as deputy chief in the Civil Rights Division, then as chief of the Division of Criminal Activities. He started his own law practice in 1977 and, from 1982 to 1992, served on the Columbus City Council. During that time he founded the Columbus Youth Corps, a summer employment and job readiness program for inner-city youth that was named a “point of light” by President George Bush.

Graduates: visit the commencement site for complete information

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