Four individuals who have risen to the top of their professions, held significant national leadership positions and supported the mission of West Virginia University will be awarded honorary degrees from the University during Commencement exercises Sunday, May 18, at the WVU Coliseum at 1:30 p.m.

The 2003 honorees are: U.S. Congressman Alan B. Mollohan, Doctor of Law; former Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget Sylvia M. Mathews, Doctor of Humane Letters; poet and Distinguished Professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Nikki Giovanni, Doctor of Humane Letters; and Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard, founder and CEO of YAS Broadband Ventures, LLC , Doctor of Science.

Long-time West Virginia Senator Lloyd Jackson, who now serves on the West Virginia Board of Education, will receive the President’s Distinguished Service Award for those who have provided exceptional leadership to the state or region which directly impacted WVU .

Honorary Degree Recipients

Alan B. Mollohan

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Cong. Alan B. Mollohan, a 1970 graduate of the WVU College of Law, has had a long and distinguished record of public service to the people of West Virginia as the U.S. congressman from the First Congressional District of West Virginiathe district in which WVU is located.

Mollohan’s quiet, yet effective leadership in the House of Representatives has led him to membership on strategic committees that represent the needs of north central West Virginia, facilitate the economic growth of this district and provide opportunities for partnerships with WVU . His leadership in the House, complementing that of . Robert C. Byrd and John D. Rockefeller in the Senate, has enabled WVU ’s congressional delegation to”get the job done.”

While remaining a staunch defender of traditional West Virginia industries such as coal, steel and basic manufacturing, Mollohan has demonstrated a keen interest in and commitment to high technology developmenthelping to make North Central West Virginia a vibrant and dynamic place.

Among his most notable intereststhe development of the West Virginia High Technology Consortium in Fairmont and the Institute for Scientific Research, also located in Fairmont, in which WVU has played an important part.

Mollohan has also worked with technology-oriented government agencies to identify ways in which West Virginia talent can help these agencies achieve national missions. His efforts have provided growing opportunities for students at WVU and other institutionsto work in West Virginia while attaining their education and to remain in the state after graduation.

Mollohan’s interests coincide not only with the educational interests of WVU , but also with the University’s obligation to become instrumental in generating economic development for the state. Much of the exciting economic movement taking place in north central West Virginia is directly attributable to the efforts of Cong. Mollohan and to collaboration with WVU .

President David C. Hardesty said:”It is most fitting that we mark the 20th anniversary of Congressman Mollohan’s long and dedicated service to the citizens of West Virginia in the U.S. Congress by awarding him an honorary degree.”

Sylvia M. Mathews

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Sylvia M. Mathews was born and raised in Hinton, W. Va. She graduated cum laude from Harvard University with an A.B. in Government in 1987, and, as a Rhodes Scholar, earned an honors degree in philosophy, politics and economics in 1990 from Oxford University in Oxford, England.

Mathews began her career while still in college, serving as an intern for West Virginia Cong. Nick Rahall, as governor’s aide to Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, and working on the Dukakis/Bentson and the Clinton/Gore campaigns.

After her return from England in 1990 she worked for McKinsey and Co. management consulting firm in New York before being tapped by the Clinton administration to manage the President-elect’s Economic Transition Team. She then became staff director for the National Economic Council and special assistant to the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy.

Her next position was as chief of staff to the Secretary of the Treasury from 1995-1997. In January 1997 she was appointed assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff. In October 1998 she was confirmed as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, the position she held until leaving government work in 2001.

In January 2001, Mathews was named executive vice president of the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world’s most extensive private foundations working globally in the areas of health, education and technology, and in August 2002 she was promoted to chief operating officer and executive director of Libraries, Pacific Northwest and Special Projects. As COO , she continues to lead the foundation’s operations, legal and policy teams. The executive director title gives her additional authority over the foundation’s Pacific Northwest giving, library program and special projects, where she will coordinate long-term strategy and grant-making. She helps to shape overall foundation strategy and evaluate the effectiveness of current programs, as well as coordinates the foundation’s strategy of building partnerships with governments, industry, United Nations agencies, foundations and non-governmental organizations.

She often returns to the Mountain State and to WVU to speak, and recently a scholarship was established in her honor to support aspiring WVU political science students.

“In the 15 years since her graduation from Harvard, this West Virginia native has truly risen to the top of her profession, garnering the respect and admiration of national and international leaders who have placed their confidence in her judgment, integrity and skill,”said President Hardesty.”She has remained proud of her ties to West Virginia, and while not a graduate of West Virginia University, she has remained a loyal and interested friend.”

Nikki Giovanni

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Yolanda Cornelia”Nikki”Giovanni, was born in Knoxville, Tenn., and raised in Ohio. In 1960 she entered Fisk University, where she worked with the school’s Writer’s Workshop and edited the literary magazine. After receiving her bachelor of arts degree, she organized a Black Arts Festival in Cincinnati and then entered graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania.

Today, Nikki Giovanni is a Distinguished Professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and one of the most widely read living American poets.

She entered the literary world at the height of the Black Arts Movement, and quickly achieved not just fame, but stardom. Her first two collections, Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968) and Black Judgement (1969) reflect on the African American identity. More recently she has published Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and not-Quite Poems (2002), Blues for All the Changes: New Poems (1999), Love Poems (1997) and Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni (1996).

Giovanni is much more than a famous poet and professor; she has written children’s books and at least five books of creative nonfiction. Near and dear to her heart is working with a retirement community near Blacksburg, Va., where she led a writing workshop with a group that led to the publication of a book Appalachian Elders: A Warm Hearth Sampler.

All of her more than 20 books are still in print. Her popular following is a rare achievement. Many ordinary people read, memorize and recite her work. She brings new meaning to the phrase,”Poet of the People.”Her work is a major voice in helping blacks and whites to understand the contributions of African Americans to this nation.

Giovanni has received numerous awards for her work, including the NAACP Image Award for Literature in 1998, in 2000 and in 2003, and the Langston Hughes award for Distinguished Contributions to Arts and Letters in 1996. Several magazines have named Giovanni”Woman of the Year,”including Essence, Mademoiselle and Ladies Home Journal. She is the recipient of 20 honorary degrees from colleges and universities.

“West Virginia University would like to honor Nikki Giovanni with an honorary degree in recognition of her outstanding contributions to American literature and life,”Hardesty said.

Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard

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Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard was born in Tehran, Iran. After attending the University of Phalvei for one year, he immigrated to the United States in 1977, settling in Morgantown, near his uncle and brother. He continued his education at WVU , pursuing an interest in science and electronics, and received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1981.

During his senior year, Yassini became fascinated by the burgeoning satellite communications industry. Upon graduation, he was recruited by GE, where he went to work building television receivers. Ever curious, Yassini would take TVs home to study signal flow and design and within two years he was designing new circuitry and filters and working with digital signal processing. In 1984 he had his first brush with the cable TV industry, working with GE’s Comband division developing some of their new technology.

Yassini was also chosen to attend GE’s Financial Management program, earning the equivalent of an MBA . Here he learned financial management, quality and branding issues, as well as production and delivery expertise, to complement his technical expertise.

He joined a data networking company named Proteon in 1986 and became vice president of engineering at Applitek, another data networking company in 1988, during which time his vision of a broadband communications network began to gel. He was one of the first to recognize the potential of a marriage between cable TV technology and data networkingand to do something about it.

In 1990, Yassini formed his own company, LANcity Corp., and proceeded to design and market the first standard base”cable modem.”By 1995 LANcity commanded about 80 percent of the cable modem market, and in 1996, LANcity was sold.

Today, Yassini is founder and CEO of YAS Broadband Ventures, LLC , and in addition to running this company, he serves as the cable industry’s point man on modem certification testing. Yassini is internationally recognized as the”father of the cable modem.” CED magazine named him”1998 Man of the Year”for creating and fostering the multibillion-dollar cable model”Broadband”industry.

He is a worldwide speaker and author on topics of digital services using the broadband infrastructure.

He recently pledged $500,000 to WVU ’s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources for support of initiatives that will advance the computer science department.

“Mr. Yassini has contributed to West Virginia University generously, both financially and technically,”Hardesty said.”He has established the YAS Broadband Fellowship, the YAS Broadband Seminar, and is working to establish the YAS Broadband Laboratory in the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. His goal is to create the best education in broadband technology in the country right here at West Virginia University.”

President’s Distinguished Service Award

Lloyd Jackson

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Lincoln County native Lloyd Jackson earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from WVU in 1974 and his law degree from WVU in 1977.

As an undergraduate, he was president of Mountain honorary, elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the WVU Student Foundation. In law school, he served on the Moot Court Board and as editor-in-chief of the West Virginia Law Review.

Following graduation, he was admitted to the West Virginia Bar and served a one-year appointment as law clerk to U.S. Circuit Judge K.K. Hall before returning to Hamlin to practice law for 11 years in the partnership of Stevens&Jackson.

His political career began in 1980 when Lincoln County voters elected him as prosecuting attorney; he was re-elected in 1984 and in 1986, was elected to the West Virginia Senate, representing Boone, Lincoln, Logan and Wayne counties. He voluntarily sat out the 1990 election, but was again elected to the state Senate in 1994 and served until his departure in 2003. He has served as vice-chair and as chair of the Judiciary Committee, chair of the Senate Education Committee, chair of the Finance Subcommittee on Education Funding and co-chair of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability. He remains a member of the Southern Regional Education Board where he serves on both the executive and finance committee.

Jackson also served as chairman of the successful 1988 and 1992 gubernatorial campaigns of former Gov. Gaston Caperton, and chair of the West Virginia Democratic Executive Committee from 1988-1990.

He also served on the Governor’s Commission on Educational Quality and Equity which drafted a revised master plan for public education in the state.

“During Lloyd Jackson’s distinguished legislative service, he was instrumental in the passage of significant laws that reformed higher education, initiated funds for scholarships and other financial aid, retooled K-12 education and improved our economy and our environment,”Hardesty said.”We are deeply grateful for his leadership and his vision.”

In February 2002, Jackson was appointed by Gov. Bob Wise to a nine-year term on the state Board of Education. He also serves as a task force chair for”A Vision Shared,”the state’s comprehensive plan for economic and social development.

Awards are numerous, including the WVEA ’s Margaret Baldwin Award, the Legislative Award from the WV Federation of Teachers and honorary degrees from Fairmont State, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College and West Virginia Northern Community College.

Jackson resides in Hamlin and operates a family oil and gas business.