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Cheryl L. Kight - Vice President, Marketing

Columbus, March 22, 2007

The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges to Honor Three Outstanding Alumni at 2007 Evening of Excellence

The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC) will honor three distinguished alumni from Ohio’s independent colleges and universities by induction into its Hall of Excellence on March 28, 2007 at The Columbus, A Renaissance Hotel, in Columbus, Ohio.

In 1987, OFIC established the Hall of Excellence Award whereby outstanding alumni are inducted on an annual basis.  This, OFIC’s twenty-first Evening of Excellence, will celebrate these alumni, whose achievements in their fields and service to society exemplify the values of a liberal arts education. The Inductees for 2007 who will join the 97 members of the Hall of Excellence are:

Robert R. Dyson, a 1968 graduate of Marietta College, is Chairman and CEO of The Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corporation, a privately-owned, international holding company headquartered in New York, and President, Dyson Foundation, which focuses on education and health care and supports a variety of nonprofit organizations and educational institutions.  A shining example of philanthropic service to education, Mr. Dyson is Chairman of the Board of Marist College and life member of the Board of Trustees of Cornell University, endowed the John S. Dyson Professorship in Marketing at Cornell and created a scholarship in support of dyslexic students at the Kildonan School in Armenia, New York.  Marietta College named Mr. Dyson a Life Associate Alumni Trustee, presented him with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1998 and awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2004 to honor his exceptional contributions to his alma mater. 

James M. Lawson, retired pastor of Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles and leader in the Civil Rights Movement, graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1951. Rev. Lawson attended the Oberlin College Graduate School of Theology, where he met Martin Luther King, Jr., who recruited him to conduct workshops on nonviolence.  His subsequent efforts made him a key strategist, organizer, and one of the founding architects of the civil rights movement.  Dr. King referred to him as “the teacher of the movement” and proclaimed him “the leading nonviolence theorist in the world.”   As director of nonviolent education for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he was involved in planning nearly every major civil rights event in the 1960’s.  He has lectured on nonviolence nationwide and hosted a national cable program looking at current affairs through the lens of compassion and justice. 

Dean A Scarborough, a 1977 graduate of Hiram College, joined the Avery Dennison Corporation in 1984 and assumed the position of President and Chief Executive Officer in 2005.  Drawing upon his outstanding management abilities, Mr. Scarborough improved the company’s production and fostered expansion in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and other emerging markets.  He has been instrumental in making Avery Dennison, a FORTUNE 500 company with annual sales of more than $5 billion, a global leader in the field of pressure-sensitive technology.  In recognition of his extraordinary commitment and service to Hiram College, Mr. Scarborough was awarded membership in Hiram’s Garfield Society, the highest honor the college can bestow.  He extols the value of a liberal arts education in developing leaders who can succeed in a multicultural, global environment.

These honorees were selected from nominations submitted by OFIC’s member institutions.  A committee of OFIC board members selects Hall of Excellence inductees whose lifetime achievements exemplify the traditions, ideals, strengths and values of private higher education.  The 97 past Hall of Excellence inductees include Senator John Glenn, Jr. and his wife, Annie Glenn, Coretta Scott King, Ohio Congressman Ralph Regula, Hugh Downs, and Norman Vincent Peale.

The Evening of Excellence also honors donors, corporate and collegiate volunteers, and students.

Note:  Pictures of the three inductees are available on the OFIC website www.ofic.org., or you can e-mail us directly at briggs@ofic.org, and we will provide them to you.

OFIC is the primary corporate and foundation solicitation organization for 35 independent Ohio colleges and universities. OFIC member colleges collectively enroll more than 97,000 students and award one-third of all bachelor’s degrees in the state. For 56 years OFIC has worked to highlight the leadership, value and excellence of independent higher education and has provided unrestricted operating funds and scholarship commitments through funds raised in annual solicitations of businesses and foundations, thereby assuring continuation of excellence in private higher education. OFIC is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of Ohio’s corporate leaders, as well as presidents of the 35 member colleges.

The member colleges are: Antioch College, Ashland University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Bluffton University, Capital University, Cedarville University, University of Dayton, Defiance College, Denison University, The University of Findlay, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Franklin University, Heidelberg College, Hiram College, John Carroll University, Kenyon College, Lake Erie College, Lourdes College, Malone College, Marietta College, Mount Union College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Muskingum College, Notre Dame College, Oberlin College, Ohio Dominican University, Ohio Northern University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein College, Urbana University, Ursuline College, Walsh University, Wilmington College, Wittenberg University and The College of Wooster.