Tuesday, May 06, 2003
Lieutenant Governor will be Commencement speaker
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Lieutenant Governor Joseph E. Kernan will be the featured speaker at the University of Southern Indiana’s 33rd Commencement ceremony at 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 11 at Roberts Stadium. Kernan, who will be awarded an honorary doctorate of law, was elected lieutenant governor of Indiana in 1996 when Frank O’Bannon was elected governor. The O’Bannon-Kernan team was re-elected for a second term in 2000. In his role as lieutenant governor, Kernan has helped Indiana step up its international presence, finding markets for $14 billion worth of Hoosier goods shipped abroad and adding six new countries where Indiana operates a foreign trade office or partnership. As lieutenant governor, Kernan serves as the president of the Indiana Senate, the director of the Indiana Department of Commerce, and as the commissioner of Agriculture. As part of the ceremony, University of Southern Indiana will bestow an honorary degree on Evansville businessman Robert E. Griffin and an honorary degree posthumously on Olive Carruthers Clifft, a distinguished educator who died last month. Griffin is chairman of the board of Escalade Inc. and a prominent business leader. He has given leadership to numerous initiatives of USI through the USI Foundation which he served as board chair, and the School of Business Board of Visitors. He is also a member of the Community Advisory Council for the Evansville Center of the Indiana University School of Medicine, which is located on the USI campus. Carruthers Clifft began teaching social studies and government in Indianapolis in 1932. She taught for 41 ½ years, and when she retired in 1973, she had achieved the longest single teaching career since Ben Davis High School was founded. She moved to Evansville in 1973 as the new bride of Evansville native, Homer L. Clifft. They lived closed to USI and took an active interest in its development. Carruthers Clifft established endowed scholarships at Indiana University and at the University of Southern Indiana. She said she did so out of love for education and to help other students as she had been helped by her receipt of a full scholarship. As part of the ceremony a USI professor is named Integra Bank Distinguished Professor and the President’s Medal is awarded a USI student for academic excellence and service to the University. John McNaughton, professor of art, is this year’s recipient of the Integra Bank Distinguished Professor Award, given in recognition of significant achievement in teaching, scholarship, and service. A member of the USI faculty for 33 years, McNaughton is an internationally regarded sculptor. McNaughton served as chair of the Art Department in various intervals from 1972 to 1994. He has written original art curriculum, hired faculty, and actively participated in the expansion of the art program. He has a national reputation for creative work. He is one of 100 international craft artists chosen to participate in the Emma Lake International Conference in Canada last year. His work was featured on the December/January 1998 American Craft magazine cover. He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowships in a category considered one of the most competitive grant categories among the NEA grants. In 1993 he was one of 10 American craft artists selected by the NEA to travel and lecture in Mexico. His original art has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States, including being part of the Smithsonian’s permanent collection. His art, highly collectible, resides in over 300 museum, corporate, and private collections. Walter J. Jermakowicz III, a senior from Evansville, is the 2003 recipient of the President’s Medal. He will graduate magna cum laude with three degrees—two Bachelor of Science degrees, one with a major in biology and one with a major in chemistry, and a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in German. He has been selected for a Fulbright Award and will study in Germany next year at the University of Munich and will do independent research at the Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology, the world’s first and oldest brain research center, also located in Munich. His long term goal is to enter a joint MD/PhD program to study neurodegenerative diseases and become a professor in a medical school, where he can see patients, do full-time research, interact with students, and have a positive global impact in scientific research and medical therapeutics. Jermakowicz has served two years as the student representative to the USI Board of Trustees, appointed by the governor of Indiana. He also has received the national Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the USI Trustees Distinguished Merit Award, and the USI Spirit of the Eagle Award. Over 1,400 students are eligible to receive degrees in Sunday’s ceremony. |
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