97-02-25 Kathryn Sullivan is Commencement Speaker

KATHRYN SULLIVAN TO ADDRESS WINTER GRADUATES AT OHIO STATE

     COLUMBUS -- Kathryn Sullivan, president and chief executive 
officer of the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), will give 
the commencement address for winter quarter graduates of The Ohio 
State University March 21 in St. John Arena.  Some 1,500 degrees 
will be awarded in the ceremonies, which begin at 9 a.m.

     A former astronaut and veteran of three space shuttle 
missions, Sullivan is the first woman to perform a spacewalk, 
which she did aboard the Challenger in 1984.  She flew on the 
Discovery in 1990 for the Hubble Space Telescope deployment 
mission and on the Atlantis in 1992 for the ATLAS-1 Spacelab 
mission.

     Prior to coming to COSI in 1996, Sullivan was the chief 
scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
(NOAA), where she oversaw the planning, budget and execution of 
the agency's $500 million research and technology programs.  She 
was responsible for programs in fisheries biology and stock 
assessments; climate and global change; satellite remote sensing 
instrumentation; coastal oceanography; and marine biodiversity.

     In 1988, Sullivan was granted a direct commission in the 
Naval Reserves as a naval astronaut specialist.  Currently, she 
is an oceanography systems project officer with the Space and 
Naval Warfare Command, supporting the design and procurement of 
environmental sensors, command and control information systems 
and tactical decision aids.

     Long an advocate for higher education, Sullivan undertook 
the formulation of an educational program in 1987 for the newly 
formed Challenger Center for Space Education, now in use at some 
26 Challenger Learning Centers nationwide and in Canada.  As 
chair of the Educational Program Committee on the Challenger 
Center Board of Directors, she played a central role in strategic 
planning, program evaluation and curriculum development.

     After the shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986, Sullivan was 
appointed to the Presidential National Commission on Space to 
define technological opportunities for future civilian space 
programs.

     A native of New Jersey, Sullivan earned her undergraduate 
degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her 
doctoral degree from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

                             #

Contact: Tracy Turner, University Communications, (614) 688-3682.


[Submitted by: Von Vargas  (vargas.12@osu.edu)
               
Tue, 25 Feb 1997 09:22:25 -0500 (EST)]
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