Food Science & Technology Chair Ken Lee is autumn commencement speaker

1,700 to earn degrees in Dec. 7 ceremony

Ken Lee, chair of the Department of Food Science and Technology, will be the featured speaker at autumn quarter's commencement ceremony, which will take place at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 7 in St. John Arena. Approximately 1,700 students will earn degrees this quarter.

Lee said that during his commencement speech, he plans to give the students a chance to reflect on their college careers.

"I would like to talk about what they think they know and what they really have learned at Ohio State," he said.

Lee has been a professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology in Ohio State's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences since 1990. As chair of the department, which is housed in the new $17 million Parker Food Science and Technology Building, Lee leads the teaching and research efforts of an award-winning faculty.

Lee joined Ohio State's faculty after serving for 10 years in the Department of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he instructed the university's first live cable television course. He earned his B.S. degree in food science from Rutgers University in 1975 and his Ph.D. in food science and nutrition from the University of Massachusetts in 1980.

He is a nationally recognized expert on the nutritional effects of food processing and has written more than 50 articles for scientific journals in his field. His research includes mineral availability from cured meats, analysis of nutrient inhibitors, mineral binding by dietary fiber, oxidized cholesterol compounds in foods, nitrate metabolism and analysis in foods, anti-nutrients in tea and hydrocolloids in dairy foods.

Lee served on the National Academy of Sciences Planning Committee for review of doctoral programs in agriculture and nutrition and on the steering committee for Project Reinvent, a Kellogg Foundation-sponsored initiative to design the land-grant university of 2020.

When Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray approached him about being the commencement speaker, Lee was excited about the opportunity to give Ohio State's graduates a final farewell worthy of their accomplishments. "I am going to try to live up to that task," he said.

During the graduation ceremony, five individuals will be honored. Three will receive honorary doctorates, and two will receive the University's Distinguished Service Award. Honorees are:

One of the most influential astrophysicists in the world, John Bahcall is the Richard Black Professor of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. He has held a position as visiting lecturer with the rank of professor at Princeton University for 30 years.

Bahcall played a major role in the development and success of the Hubble Space Telescope, receiving the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in 1992 for his scientific work and leadership. He held several leadership roles with the National Academy of Sciences during the 1990s, serving as chair of its Survey Committee for Astronomy and Astrophysics from 1989 to 1991. During his tenure, the committee successfully set priorities for astrophysical research projects. He also served as president of the American Astronomical Society from 1990 to 1992.

Paul E. Bierley is a historian, musician, scholar, lecturer and, before a major career change, an aeronautical engineer.

A 1953 graduate of Ohio State with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering, Bierley worked as an engineer for North American Aviation. Following his retirement from the engineering field, he devoted his time to pursuing his love of music, especially the life and works of John Philip Sousa. A lifelong musician, he played the tuba with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1980 and with the Detroit Concert Band from 1973 to 1993.

Bierley has written the definitive works on Sousa, considered to be the most important figure in the development of the great band tradition in the United States. Through the publication of three works -- John Philip Sousa, American Phenomenon (1973), John Philip Sousa: A Descriptive Catalog of His Works (1973) and The Works of John Philip Sousa (1984) -- he has provided complete documentation of Sousa's career.

Bierley formed his own publishing house, Integrity Press, in Westerville to make available books about band music and musicians that might not find publishers elsewhere.

Internationally recognized as one of the world's preeminent research chemists, F.A. Cotton is the W.T. Doherty-Welch Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and director of the Laboratory for Molecular Structure and Bonding at Texas A&M University.

Cotton's research has been in the fields of inorganic chemistry, protein chemistry, structural chemistry and chemical bonding. He is the originator of and leading authority in the field of compounds containing single and multiple bonds between metal atoms. His other principal contributions have dealt with protein structure, spectroscopic studies of metal carbonyls and the dynamic behavior of fluxional organometallic and metal carbonyl compounds.

William E. Arthur is the former chairman of the law firm of Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur and its business law department. He is now counsel to the firm.

Born and raised in Columbus, Arthur earned a B.S. in business administration in 1950 and a J.D. in 1953 from Ohio State. Immediately after law school, he served with the U.S. Air Force in the Judge Advocate General's office. Upon returning to Columbus, he joined the Ohio State College of Law faculty for one year. He joined Porter, Stanley, Treffinger & Platt (now Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur) in December 1955 and has been active as a business lawyer since that time. He acts as general counsel, officer and director of a number of local corporations.

Arthur has remained a close friend to his alma mater since his student days. He served on the Alumni Association's Board of Directors, and played a leading role in the financial planning for the Longaberger Alumni House.

A longtime member of the Fisher College of Business Dean's Advisory Council, Arthur was instrumental in establishing a College of Business Alumni Society. In 1995, he and his wife Mary Ann established an endowment fund to benefit the Fisher College, enabling several faculty members to pursue research interests regarding the service sector of the economy.

Floradelle Pfahl has long been an enthusiastic supporter of Ohio State and of the civic, cultural and community life of Columbus.

A graduate of the University of Akron with a B.S. in education, Pfahl worked briefly at Ohio State after graduating from college, first as assistant to the state home demonstration leader and later as assistant to the dean of women. Since then, her service to Ohio State has been unstinting.

As co-chair of the Fisher College of Business Campaign Committee, she played a leading role in raising $95.2 million in support of management education. The result of the committee's efforts and her commitment is the new Fisher College complex that includes John K. Pfahl Hall, the executive education center named for her late husband, a Columbus business consultant and Ohio State professor of business, who earned his MBA and Ph.D. degrees from the University.

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