Governor Announces 2009 Inductees Into Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame
Columbus, OH – Ohio Governor Ted Strickland today inducted 13 Ohio women into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame at an event at the Ohio Statehouse.
The Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame was established in 1978 to publicly recognize the many outstanding contributions that Ohio women have made to their state and nation. Members of the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame have each demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to excellence, achievement and service to others.
“Frances and I offer our sincere congratulations to these impressive Ohio women for their broad range of achievements,” Strickland said. “The inductees represent various walks of life and will inspire generations of Ohioans to come. We honor their contributions to society.”
To date, nearly 400 women have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Many have forged new pathways for women and overcome significant boundaries to success.
The 2009 Inductees:
Bernett Williams – Williams, of Toledo, currently serves as a board member of SUMMA CARE Insurance and the vice president of the National Urban League Association of Executive (central region). She serves on several other boards and committees including the First Merit Bank advisory board and the executive committee member of the Summit County Social Services advisory committee. Williams has won several prestigious awards such as Crain’s Cleveland Business Magazine 40 under 40 Club, Kaleidoscope Magazine 40/40 Award, YWCA Women of Achievement Award, 2001 Kent State University Community Service Award recipient, the Ohio Black Women’s Leadership Caucus Incredible Women Making a Difference Award, and the 2002 Harold K. Stubs Humanitarian Award Recipient.
Celia Williamson – Williamson, of Toledo, developed the Lucas County Prostitution Roundtable in 2006 and the 2009 Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition. She has been an active force in securing an FBI task force in Lucas County to address the issue of rescuing children from the sex trade in Toledo. She organized and co-chaired five national and international conferences on prostitution, sex work and human trafficking. She has also given testimony to the U.S. Review on Commercially Exploited Children in America in preparation for the Third World Congress.
Glenna Watson – Watson, of Cleveland, serves as the chief of personnel for the Ohio Department of Development. She previously served 22 years at the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA). Additionally, Watson has served on the Medical Mutual Insurance of Ohio Board of Directors, diversity advisory council for Baker and Hostetler L.L.P., and the women’s service board of Grant Medical Center. Watson was named “Outstanding Black Professional Woman” by the Oho House of Representatives.
Sharon Howard – Howard, of Dayton, is the executive director of community and public relations for WDTN-TV in Dayton. In 2006, Howard founded the Crown Jewels of Dayton calendar initiative to benefit the Kettering Medical Center Foundation’s Women’s Wellness Fund. She has been recognized for her journalistic work with the Regional Communicator of the Year Award by the International Communications Training Institute, as well as multiple National Communicator and Telly Awards. She has received several recognitions from her work in the community, including the central region volunteer of the year from the National Urban League, the James E. Stamps Communication Award from the Dayton Inter-Alumni Council of the United Negro College Fund and Dayton YWCA Women of Influence Award and Distinguished Ambassador Award.
Gail Collins – Collins, of Cincinnati, joined The New York Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board and later become an op-ed columnist. In 2001, she became the first woman ever appointed editor of the Times’ editorial page. She has also published “When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present.” Before her work at The New York Times, Collins served as a columnist at New York Newsday and the New York Daily News and a reporter for United Press International.
Carol Kuhre – Kuhre, who currently resides in Athens, has served as the president of the Athens Foundation, vice president of the Sugar Bush Foundation, and vice president of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation. In 1990, Kuhre became the executive director of Rural Action, an organization working to bring about sustainable development in the Appalachian counties of Ohio. She later went on to become co-director of the United Campus Ministry, an ecumenical ministry at Ohio University. Additionally, she helped create a number of social justice organizations that include the Appalachian Peace and Justice Network.
Beverly Gray – Gray, of Chillicothe, is the co-founder and coordinator of the David Nickens Heritage Center and was named a Jennings Scholar by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation of Ohio University. Gray has also served as the south regional coordinator of the Friends of Freedom Society/Ohio Underground Railroad Association and the Ohio consultant for the oral history research project for the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. Additionally, she is a past president of the Ross County Genealogical Association and a past board member and featured speaker with the Speakers’ Bureau of the Ross County Historical Society.
Virginia Manning – Manning, of Sandusky, was an activist who tirelessly worked for the equality of women in the workplace. She is specifically known for her successful efforts challenging the protectionist laws of Ohio with regard to working women. Manning’s suit changed Ohio law and set a precedent for the 49 states by forcing state laws to comply with the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. She was the oldest of 15 children and grew up during the Depression. She helped raise her siblings, and made many daily sacrifices to help meet their needs so that her parents could both work outside the home to make ends meet.
Mother Mary Adelaide – Mother Mary Adelaide, of Cincinnati, founded the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania in 1916 at age 42. This group grew into the largest congregation of religious women in the Diocese of Toledo based at this 89-acre Sylvania campus known for its exquisite natural beauty, its artwork from around the world, and art by the sisters. Mother Mary served as its Mother General for 48 years, and then she carried the title of Mother Foundress for the last 10 years of her life.
Kim de Groh – de Groh, who currently resides in Hinckley, is a senior materials research engineer in the space environment and experiments branch at NASA Glenn Research Center. She is an internationally renowned technical leader in areas relating to the durability of spacecraft materials. de Groh has participated in shuttle flight experiments, two Russian Space Station Mir experiments, and she is the principal investigator for 12 International Space Station experiments. Her research has directly impacted the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station. Additionally, her work is influencing spacecraft material design choices made by NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense and the nation’s space industry.
Judith Rycus – Rycus, who currently resides in Columbus, co-founded the Institute for Human Services in Columbus and has served as program director since its inception. She is also the co-founder and a senior policy analyst with the North American Resource Center for Child Welfare and has served as associate editor of the APSAC Advisor, the quarterly news journal of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. She has directed the development and statewide implementation of the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program (OCWTP) since the program’s inception in 1985 and has consulted internationally to establish and sustain training systems and organizational infrastructures that promote best practice in the field.
Dr. Pamela Davis – Davis, who currently resides in Cleveland Heights, is the dean and vice president for medical affairs at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, where she is the Arline H. and Curtis F. Garvin Research Professor and professor of pediatrics, physiology and biophysics, and molecular biology and microbiology. Davis has directed the Center for Clinical Investigation as well as the Willard A. Bernbaum Cystic Fibrosis Research Center and served as chief of its pediatric pulmonary division. She holds seven U.S. Patents and is a founding scientist of Copernicus Therapeutics, Inc. She has also served on the Advisory Council to NIDDK and the Board of Scientific Counselors for NHLB.
Helen Moss – Moss, who currently residents in Bratenahl, is the founder and managing trustee of the Helen Moss Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Moss is now a nine-year survivor of metastatic breast cancer. She was appointed by Governor Dick Celeste to the Ohio Arts Council and has founded the Akron chapter of the National Organization for Women. Moss has served on many boards, including the Cleveland Music School Settlement, the Cleveland Ballet, the Great Lakes Theater Festival, the Cleveland Opera. She also served as treasurer of the Modern Art Society of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Chad
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