Receiving honorary Doctor of Laws degrees will be Hall of Fame baseball broadcaster and author Ernie Harwell and businessman/philanthropist Yousif B. Ghafari of Bloomfield Hills. Receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award will be Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

Four graduating students also will be honored. Receiving the David D. Henry Award will be Katherine Cockrel of Detroit and Mark Mathes of New Boston. Receiving the Howard A. Donnelly Award will be Amarinder Singh of Rochester and Tarak Trivedi of Troy. The prestigious Henry and Donnelly awards are presented for high scholastic achievement, leadership and service.

Ernie Harwell, Yousif Ghafari to receive honorary doctoral degrees
Legendary broadcaster Ernie Harwell, the voice of the Detroit Tigers for 42 of his 55 years behind the microphone, became the first active broadcaster inducted into major league baseball's Hall of Fame in 1981. His name has since been enshrined in nine other sports and broadcasting halls of fame, including the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

A World War II veteran of the Marines, Harwell started his broadcasting career in 1946 with a minor league team in Atlanta. He also has been a broadcaster for the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants and Baltimore Orioles. His broadcast style, knowledge of baseball history and winning personality have made him beloved by fans and players alike. Over the years, he has been a frequent spokesman for charities and nonprofit organizations.

Yousif Ghafari is founder and chairman of Ghafari Inc., an architectural, engineering, design consultation, and professional staffing company headquartered in Dearborn. A graduate and major benefactor of Wayne State University, Ghafari has been nominated by President George W. Bush as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia, pending U.S. Senate confirmation. A member of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, he was one of three U.S. public delegates to the 59th United Nations General Assembly in 2004.

Ghafari holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's degree in applied mathematics and computer applications, and a master's degree in chemical engineering, all from Wayne State. He earned a master's degree in business administration from Michigan State University. He is a past recipient of WSU's Corporate Leadership Award and Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award. He also is a member of the College of Engineering's Hall of Fame. He serves as a volunteer on the boards of many civic and charitable organizations. In recognition of his outstanding support for the university, Wayne State renamed one of its newest residence halls for Ghafari in 2005.

As executive director of UNFPA, Wayne State alumna Thoraya Ahmed Obaid heads a UN agency that helps governments around the globe to formulate policies and strategies to reduce poverty and support sustainable development. The first Saudi Arabian to head a United Nations agency, she also chairs the UN's principal interagency body for coordinating administrative and management matters. In her current position, the executive director has placed special focus on culture and religion in the agency's development work, linking universal values of human rights to conviction of human worth promoted by all religions and found in all cultures.

Before joining UNFPA, Obaid was deputy executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia for five years. She chaired the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Gender in Amman, Jordan, in 1996 and was a member of the UN Inter-Agency Gender Mission to Afghanistan in 1997. She holds master's and doctoral degrees from Wayne State University.

Graduating senior Katherine Cockrel, is receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree with dual majors in political science and public relations. She served as president of the Wayne State chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and was instrumental in helping the chapter bring the PRSSA National Conference to Detroit in 2008. She interned at one of New York City's premier public relations firms focusing on fashion, lifestyle and entertainment. She also was an intern with Franco Public Relations Group in Detroit. As a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Detroit, Cockrel worked with a mentor in visiting an elementary school, where she developed an ongoing friendship with a "little sister." She also has performed volunteer work with the Salvation Army and with Starfish Family Services.

Mark Mathes is graduating from the College of Engineering with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering and a specialty in transportation engineering. He served as president of the WSU chapter of Chi Epsilon, the national honor society for civil engineering students, and as vice president of the WSU chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Among other service activities, he helped plan and carry out the annual, two-day "Drive Safely to Wayne State" campaign, which promotes the importance of safe driving practices. Mathes is active in the American Society of Civil Engineers, which organizes workplace visits for undergraduates, helping them familiarize themselves with the application of knowledge and skills in real-life settings.

Amarinder Singh, a participant in the WSU Honors Program, earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and is a member of MedStart, an honors program for pre-med students. She has served as president and as secretary of the Honors Student Association and is a student coordinator and peer advisor for MedStart and for HealthPro Start, an honors program for pre-pharmacy students. As a coordinator, she helped coordinate seminars and other learning experiences for students who plan to pursue careers in medicine or pharmacy. She has put her journalism training to work in writing a newsletter for the Center to Advance Palliative Care and has performed volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity, the Coalition on Temporary Shelter and Project Challenge Mentor, a program that links mentors with Detroit youth who are affected by HIV. She will enter the WSU School of Medicine this fall.

Tarak Trivedi, who is graduating with a bachelor's degree in biological sciences, participated in the MedStart program offered through the Honors Program. He will pursue a degree from the WSU School of Medicine beginning this fall. He was consistently on the dean's list and has been a Princeton Review instructor and a private tutor for both the ACT and the Medical College Admission Test. In 2007, he received the Detroit MCAT Teacher of the Year Award from the Princeton Review. He has been an active volunteer with the university's Honors Program, including participation as a student ambassador for the annual Scholars Day and promoting the MedStart program at area high schools. He served as an officer with the Wayne State Chapter of Amnesty International and has volunteered at Detroit Receiving Hospital, Hannan House Senior Center, St. Patrick' Senior Center and the Detroit Fellows Tutoring Project. Last summer, Trivedi traveled to China as a participant in a program offered by Tsinghua University to help stimulate interest in higher education through teaching of the English language.

Should severe weather force cancellation of the May 3 ceremonies, commencement will be held instead on Sunday, May 4, at 11 a.m.

The Wayne State University Board of Governors will hold its next regular meeting Wednesday, April 30, in Room BC at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center, 495 West Ferry Mall, in Detroit.

The Board of Governors committees convene at 9 a.m. and are open to the public. The board's standing committee meetings begin with the Budget and Finance Committee at 9 a.m., and the Academic Affairs Committee at 10 a.m. Following a break, the board returns for a public session at 2 p.m.

The agenda for the meeting and documents to be discussed may be accessed at the board's Web site, www.bog.wayne.edu.
For additional information, contact the Office of the Secretary at (313) 577-2034.

Wayne State University's Board of Governors is one of three university governing bodies in Michigan (including the University of Michigan and Michigan State University) that has constitutional independence. Its members, who serve eight-year terms, are elected by voters throughout Michigan.

To be filled by Irvin D. Reid when he steps down as president later this year

Wayne State University alumnus and major benefactor Eugene Applebaum, for whom the university’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is named, has pledged $2.1 million through his philanthropic foundation in support of a new urban issues initiative at the university. The initiative will be headed by WSU President Irvin D. Reid after he steps down from the presidency later this year. Establishment of the Eugene Applebaum Chair of Community Engagement was announced at the Jan. 30 meeting of the university’s Board of Governors.

The chair will allow Reid to lead a variety of scholarly and public service activities targeting critical urban concerns from regional, national and global perspectives. These areas of concentration include sustainability and other environmental topics; health disparities in the urban environment; children’s issues; and urban economic development. Among these activities will be the continuation of the Forum on Contemporary Issues in Society, or FOCIS program, a high-level lecture series which Reid launched last fall. The chair also is expected to include mechanisms for promoting student research projects and sponsoring a faculty fellowship program.

“Throughout our history Wayne State has sought to be a good neighbor and an active partner with Detroit and its surrounding communities,” Reid said. “As president I have tried to strengthen these relationships by diversifying and enriching the university’s contributions to this area’s social, cultural and economic life. I think we have much to learn from the city, and much to give back in return. This chair is the logical next step for me, as a way to continue serving the people of Detroit and Southeast Michigan through the university’s unique resources while helping accelerate Wayne State’s emergence as a leading urban center for scholarship and community service.

“I am especially grateful to Eugene Applebaum for his friendship and his continuing generosity to both the university and the city. This chair, which is named in his honor, symbolizes his continuing confidence in the city’s future and in the university’s ability to be a positive force in that future.”

In a letter to Susan Burns, WSU vice president for development and alumni affairs, Applebaum noted that he and Reid share optimism about Detroit’s future and that he has been impressed by the president’s accomplishments at Wayne State.

“President Reid has established a solid foundation for his presidency through careful planning, creative thinking and strategic decision-making that has been a catalyst for change,” Applebaum said. “Time and again, he has shown the way through his leadership and vision.

“My confidence in President Reid and my firm belief that there is still more he can do to foster Wayne State University’s engagement with the city of Detroit, prompted my support for this new chair. I know he is up to the challenge, and I am excited about the possibilities that lie ahead.”

Added Eugene Driker, chair of Wayne State’s Board of Governors, “I am delighted that Irv is remaining with the university where he can continue to make his vision a reality.”

As holder of the Applebaum Chair, Reid will help the university develop programs that encourage both scholarship on urban issues and service to the city by faculty and students. He also will expand strategic partnerships with local business and community organizations to support economic development in Detroit and help train new leadership for the city’s future.