During this year’s spring commencement, the University of Houston (UH) will celebrate the achievements of its graduating students and honor eight distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions in such diverse disciplines as medicine, technology, higher education and film.
UH’s commencement weekend, May 10-11, will feature presentations of honorary doctorate degrees and the University’s prestigious President’s Medallion. Honorees include alumnus and former chair of the UH System Board of Regents Welcome W. Wilson Sr., award-winning actor and humanitarian Dennis Quaid and Dr. Edith Irby Jones, the first African-American to enroll and graduate from an all-white medical school in the South.
HONORARY DOCTORATE DEGREE RECIPIENTS
Welcome
W. Wilson Sr., a
UH alumnus, served for three years as chair
of the UH System Board of Regents. Wilson worked in support of Tier One state
funding in his role as co-chair of the statewide Texans for Proposition Four.
Wilson serves as chair of the UH Drive to Tier One Campaign. He is chairman
of the board of GSL Welcome Group LLC and is a principal in Kingham Dalton
Wilson Ltd. Wilson was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame in 2011. Other
honors he has received include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Houston
Business Journal and the Crusader Award from Neighborhood Centers Inc.
Dr. Edith Irby Jones was admitted to the University of Arkansas College of
Medicine in 1948, becoming the first African-American to enroll in an all-white
medical school in the South. She graduated from the University of Arkansas in
1952. In 1959, she became the first African-American female resident in the
Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals. In 1985, she was elected the
first female president of the National Medical Association. She is a charter
member of Physicians for Human Rights, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1997. She
holds three honorary degrees.
Belle
Griggs Johnson, a UH alumna, and her
husband, the late Richard J. V. Johnson, created the Belle Griggs Johnson
Endowed Book Fund in 1993 to support the UH Libraries. Johnson also is a member
of the UH Art Committee. In 2001, she and her husband, then chairman and
publisher of the Houston Chronicle, co-chaired the UH Libraries’ capital
campaign to raise more than $39 million to expand the M.D. Anderson Library and
provide a new home for the Honors College. She is the recipient numerous
honors, including the Community Leader Award from the Consular Ladies of Houston.
PRESIDENT’S MEDALLION RECIPIENTS
Harold L. Kohn, Kenan Distinguished Professor at the University of North
Carolina (Chapel Hill), is being honored for his stellar achievements in the
research of clinical agents, including the discovery of lacosamide (Vimpat®) when
he was a chemistry professor at UH. He was on the UH faculty from 1973 to 1999.
This first-in-class anti-epileptic drug for the treatment of partial-onset
seizures in adults is now marketed in the United States and 35 other countries.
Kohn has received numerous awards, including the Alfred P. Sloan Research
Fellowship.
Marvin
E. Odum III, president of Shell Oil
Company and director of Shell’s Upstream Americas business, is being honored
for his ongoing achievements in the energy and business arenas. He is a member
of the UH Energy Advisory Board and is a UH alumnus. Odum holds leadership
positions on the boards of the Business Roundtable and the American Petroleum Institute.
He sits on the executive committee of the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development, the board of directors of the Greater Houston
Partnership and on the steering committee of the Energy, Security, Innovation
and Sustainability Initiative of The Council on Competitiveness.
Dennis
Quaid, award-winning actor and
humanitarian, is being honored for his creative contributions and his work for
children’s charities in Austin, New Orleans and Central America. While
Quaid was a student at UH in the 1970s, he studied drama under the tutelage of
UH legendary drama coach Cecil Pickett. Quaid is a recipient of a 2012 UH Distinguished
Alumnus Award. Quaid’s acting honors include the Independent Spirit Award. He
has appeared in more than 70 feature films. Quaid stars in the television
series “Vegas” and hosts the annual Dennis Quaid Charity Weekend golf
tournament, which benefits children’s charities.
Ron
and Carolyn Yokubaitis, co-founders of
Data Foundry Inc., are being honored for entrepreneurial innovation. Data Foundry is one of the
largest Usenet services in the world. Ron, a UH alumnus,
and his wife developed one of the first 50 Internet service providers in the
nation in 1994, when there was a lack of Internet options for users who were
not students or government employees. The company serves global subscribers in
more than 195 countries. The Yokubaitises founded Giganews in 1998 to address
the growing consumer demand for Usenet Newsgroups.
Commencement activities also will include speeches from two outstanding leaders in the medical field as well as UH alumna Brené Brown, research professor at the UH Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW) and New York Times best-selling author.
Brown will speak at the GCSW commencement, which takes place at 1 p.m., Friday, May 10 at the Cullen Performance Hall. Earlier that day, Dr. Robert Robbins, president and chief executive officer of the Texas Medical Center, will deliver remarks to pharmacy students. The College of Pharmacy commencement starts at 9 a.m. at Cullen Performance Hall. On Saturday, May 11, Dr. Ronald L. Hopping, president of the American Optometric Association, will serve as guest speaker for the College of Optometry commencement, which begins at 1 p.m. at Cullen Performance Hall.