96-05-28 Commencement Honors FIVE RECEIVE SPECIAL COMMENCEMENT HONORS AT OHIO STATE COLUMBUS -- The achievements of an author, a scientist, an engineer, a businessman and a former athletic trainer will be recognized with special honors during The Ohio State University's spring quarter commencement ceremonies June 7 in Ohio Stadium. Honorary doctorates will be presented to author John Jakes, scientist Neal Lane and engineer Chang-Lin Tien. The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to businessman John Schiff and posthumously to athletic trainer Billy Hill. John Jakes, Doctor of Humanities A 1954 Master of Arts graduate of Ohio State in American literature, John Jakes has been called the "godfather of historical novelists" by the Los Angeles Times and has published 200 short stories and some 60 books. Born in Chicago in 1932, Jakes began writing professionally during his freshman year at Northwestern University. He enrolled in the creative writing program at DePauw University, where he graduated in 1953. From 1954 to 1960, Jakes worked for Abbott Laboratories as a copywriter and as a product promotion manager. In 1960-61, he worked as a copywriter for Rumrill Company, an advertising agency in Rochester, N.Y. He worked as a freelance writer of advertising copy until 1965, when he was employed as a senior copywriter for the Kircher, Helton & Collett advertising agency in Dayton. Jakes left advertising in 1971 and began writing full-time. His first major success was the Kent Family Chronicles, an eight- volume series published during the nation's bicentennial which was used to tell the story of America. Jakes made publishing history in 1975 by being the first author to have three books (Volumes II, III, and IV of the Chronicles) on the New York Times bestseller list within a single year. Between 1982 and 1987, Jakes published a trilogy about the Civil War, North and South (1982), Love and War (1984), and Heaven and Hell (1987), which was made into an ABC mini-series, one of the 10 highest rated miniseries of all time. Homeland (1993), the first of a new cycle of novels about a fictional family in the twentieth century, became Jake's thirteenth consecutive New York Times bestseller and was named by the Times as one of its notable books of 1993. Jakes resides in Hilton Head Island, S.C., and is a research fellow in the Department of History at the University of South Carolina. Neal Lane, Doctor of Science Widely recognized as a scientist and educator, Neal Lane is the director of the National Science Foundation, the independent government agency that provides federal support for research and education in science, mathematics and engineering. A native of Oklahoma, Lane earned his undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Oklahoma. In 1966, Lane joined the faculty of Rice University in Houston as an assistant professor of physics. He later became a professor of physics, space physics, and astronomy, and served as provost. >From 1984-86, he served as chancellor of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Lane has authored or co-authored some 90 scientific papers and publications, including a textbook on quantum physics. His research has focused on theoretical atomic and molecular physics with an emphasis on collision phenomena. Lane is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a member of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Chang-Lin Tien, Doctor of Engineering As chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley, Chang-Lin Tien is the first Asian-American to head a major research university in the United States. Born in Wuhan, China, Tien was educated in Shanghai and Taiwan. He earned his undergraduate degree from the National Taiwan University and came to the U.S. in 1956. He earned his master's degree at the University of Louisville and a second master's and his doctoral degrees from Princeton University. He joined the Berkeley faculty in 1959 as an acting professor of mechanical engineering, later becoming professor and chairman of the department. He left Berkeley in 1988 to serve as executive vice chancellor at the University of California at Irvine. Internationally known for his work in heat transfer technology, Tien has authored some 300 scholarly articles and books, and served as editor of three international journals. Tien is a fellow of the National Academy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and recipient of numerous awards, including the Max Jacob Award, the highest and most prestigious award given in the field of heat transfer. Billy Hill, Distinguished Service Award Billy Hill was a member of Ohio State's Department of Athletics staff from 1971 to 1995, serving as head athletic trainer for football from 1974 until his untimely death in February 1995. Hill had extensive experience in track, serving as head trainer for the United States' track teams at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, the 1975 Pan American Games in Mexico City, and the 1983 World Track and Field Championships in Helsinki. In May 1993, he was appointed to the U.S. Olympic Committee's Sports Medicine Council and was to have played an integral role in establishing the sports medicine policies for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. A native of Memphis, Tenn., Hill served three years in the U.S. Army, including a tour of duty as a medical specialist in Vietnam, before enrolling at Ohio State. He graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science degree in education. Hill served as president of the Ohio Athletic Trainers Association. The organization named Hill University and Collegiate Trainer of the Year in 1988 and posthumously inducted into him into their Hall of Fame in 1995, at which time he was also inducted into the Ohio State Athletic Hall of Fame. The Ohio State football team played their 1995-96 season in his honor. John Schiff, Distinguished Service Award John Schiff is the founder of the Cincinnati Financial Corporation and serves as chairman of its executive committee. He is also chair of the executive committee of the Cincinnati Insurance Company, which he co-founded in 1950. A native of Cincinnati, Schiff earned his Bachelor of Science degree in commerce from Ohio State in 1938. He served as assistant logistics commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Germany, during World War II. He was discharged a lieutenant commander and retains close ties to the Navy, serving on the national board of directors of the Navy League of the United States. A loyal alumnus, Schiff has been actively involved with Ohio State since his graduation. He is a life member of The Ohio State University Alumni Association and a past president of the Cincinnati Ohio State Alumni Club. He has served two terms on the executive committee of The President's Club and became a member of the Dean's Advisory Council of the Fisher College of Business in 1989. He serves on the Ohio State Foundation Board and on the National Major Gift Committee in Cincinnati. # Contact: Tracy Turner, University Communications, (614)688-3682. [Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu) Wed, 29 May 1996 16:35:32 -0400] All documents are the responsibility of their originator.