Huntington College announces commencement speakers
FOR RELEASE: Monday, April 27, 1998
Huntington, Ind. " Huntington College's 100th commencement exercises will be held Saturday, May 16. A baccalaureate service for graduates and their families will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Merillat Centre for the Arts. Professor Jim O'Donnell will present the baccalaureate address. Commencement exercises will begin at 3:00 p.m. on the front campus, weather permitting. The 1998 commencement address will be presented by noted Indiana jurist Calvin D. Hawkins. The public is cordially invited to attend. PROFESSOR JIM O'DONNELL was chosen by the student body to present the baccalaureate address. O'Donnell serves as associate professor of business and executive-in-residence at Huntington College.
He brings to Huntington's business department the savvy earned as a senior executive at some of the nation's largest investment companies. From 1981 to 1985, he served as vice president and national sales manager for the Dreyfus Service Corporation, where he was charged with developing and managing a national sales force. During his final year with Dreyfus, he sold $1.5 billion in new investments. From 1985 to 1989, O'Donnell led the sales and marketing division of the Portfolio Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Chemical Bank. During his tenure, assets under the firm's management grew from $800 million to $2.5 billion. O'Donnell then moved to Fidelity Investments, first as the senior vice president for Personal Advisory Services, then as executive vice president and founding director of the High Net Worth Group, a segment marketing arm serving the needs of wealthy individuals. In 1992, he joined the Boston firm of Scudder, Stevens and Clark, where he organized the Investment Guidance Program.
A man of deep convictions and great thoughtfulness, he strove to inject principles of his Christian faith into the investment industry. A thought provoking writer, his opinions on ethics and finance have appeared in Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, America, Aspire, and many other publications. At Huntington College, O'Donnell helps both traditional undergraduates and the EXCEL Program's adult students to integrate Christian faith and ethics with modern business practices. In 1995, Huntington College students named O'Donnell "Professor of the Year." The following year, students successfully nominated him for Who's Who Among American Educators.
O'Donnell is among 15 Christian college faculty from across the nation who are collaborating on the development of curricular models showing linkages between faith, economic development, and civil society. In addition, O'Donnell serves on the Huntington College Investment Committee, and on the Pension Committee of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. O'Donnell is also very active in the local business community. He serves as a member of the board of the Huntington County Chamber of Commerce. He directed publication of Welcome to Huntington County, the Chamber's quadrennial guidebook to the local community.
CALVIN D. HAWKINS will present the 1998 commencement address. He has practiced law, served in the ministry and been active in politics in Gary, Indiana for more than two decades.
Hawkins was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended public schools in Washington, DC, and graduated from Huntington College in 1967. He then completed his law degree from Howard University and his MDiv from Wesley Theological Seminary.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hawkins served as a community relations specialist, law clerk and attorney in the US Department of Justice. From 1981 to 1983, he was Chief Deputy in the Lake County Prosecutor's Office. In 1992, Hawkins sought the Republican nomination for Attorney General of Indiana.
Hawkins has also held a number of ministerial positions. From 1971 to 1972, he served as Assistant Chaplain of American University in Washington, DC. He was Associate Minister of St. Luke AME Zion Church in Gary, Indiana, from 1974 to 1977. From 1983 to 1984, Hawkins directed the Urban Ministry of First United Presbyterian Church of Gary, where today he serves as interim pastor.
Hawkins presently is a labor arbitrator, an administrative law judge, and a Chapter 7 Trustee for the US Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Indiana. In addition, he practices law in Gary, Indiana.
Hawkins has served his alma mater in a wide variety of ways. He has been a member of Huntington College's Alumni Board, Board of Trustees and President's Advisory Council on Excellence. He has taught Constitutional Development as an adjunct professor and has previously served as a baccalaureate and honors convocation speaker.
Hawkins' accomplishments have been recognized in many ways. He has received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Social Theology Award, Jonathan M. Daniels Fellowship Award, and the Chicago Theological Seminary Fellowship Award. Hawkins was named Huntington College Alumnus of the Year in 1975. More recently, Hawkins was among 100 individuals to receive the Huntington College Centennial Medallion.
