YSU to honor Ryan, Schultz

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Connie Schultz will receive honorary degrees at Youngstown State University’s spring commencement Saturday.

Ryan will receive the degree and speak at the commencement ceremony for undergraduate students at 10 a.m. in Beeghly Center. Schultz, a columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and Creators Syndicate, will receive the degree and speak at the commencement for graduate students at 2:30 p.m., also in Beeghly Center.

Student speakers for commencement are Jennifer Edwards (undergraduate) and Way Jeng (graduate).

Edwards will receive a bachelor’s degree in social work. She is a member of the Social Work Honor Society, Zeta Phi Alpha, Phi Kappa Phi and Who’s Who of American Colleges and Universities. She received the YSU Woman of Achievement Diversity Award, YSU Student of Achievement Diversity Award, YSU Martin Luther King Academic Excellence Award, YSU Leader of Tomorrow Diversity Award and the BSW Intern Recognition Award for “Exemplary Service in Community Planning.”

She is the recipient of numerous scholarships and is the co–founder and president of the newly formed YSU student group, NAMI ON CAMPUS, an organization which seeks to offer support to those who suffer with mental illness and their families. She has a 4.0 grade-point average.

Jeng will receive a master’s degree in English. He has done many research projects, one of which served as the basis of his master’s thesis as well as a presentation at the national Conference on College Composition and Communication.

He has published several short stories as a free-lance writer in national science fiction and fantasy magazines and was awarded an honorable mention in the 2009 Year’s Best Science Fiction anthology. His first academic publication, “A Tale of Two Workshops,” appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of Writing on the Edge.

Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Bowling Green State University and a law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H. After serving as a member of the Ohio State Senate, Ryan was elected to Congress in 2003 and is now in his fourth term.

Schultz received the Pulitzer in 2005 in the commentary category. She also was a finalist for the Pulitzer in 2003 in feature writing.

In 2004, Schultz won the Batten Medal, which honors “a body of journalistic work that reflects compassion, courage, humanity and a deep concern for the underdog.” She has authored two books, including a memoir about her husband Sherrod Brown’s successful race for the U.S. Senate in 2006, and she is a frequent guest on national television news programs.