The third annual College of Arts and Sciences 2013 Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner was held on Friday, April 26. The event gave us an opportunity to recognize and honor some of our outstanding alumni whose accomplishments are tangible evidence of the growing distinction of arts and sciences alumni.

“We can think of no better way to wind up the academic year than to honor our alumni,” said Joseph E. Steinmetz, executive dean and vice provost, College of Arts and Sciences. “They are our ambassadors who have gone on to make a difference in the world.”

This year, the College of Arts and Sciences honors a woman at the forefront of law enforcement service; an internationally-recognized researcher in the fight against HIV/AIDS; and a couple with a passion for new concert music and the students and faculty who create it.

Distinguished Achievement:

Kimberley Jacobs (BA, sociology, 1979) has had a remarkable, pioneering career inside the Columbus Division of Police. On April 5, 2012, Jacobs completed her climb from patrol officer to take the helm of the Columbus Division of Police, becoming the first woman to hold the post—one of only a handful of female chiefs in a major metropolitan area—and the first open member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community to wear the city’s top badge.

A native of Ashland, Ohio, Jacobs graduated from Ohio State in June 1979 with a degree in sociology. In October 1979, she entered the Columbus Division of Police. This was only four years after the Columbus division first started training women to work in patrol. After patrolling the streets of Columbus for seven years, Jacobs was promoted to sergeant. In 1991, she was awarded the rank of lieutenant.

In 1995, Jacobs earned the rank of commander—the first woman in the history of the Columbus police to do so. She commanded the communications, training, and internal affairs bureaus and a patrol zone that included the Ohio State University campus area and the Clintonville and Linden neighborhoods.

In 2009, Jacobs attained another first—by being the first woman to be promoted to the rank of deputy chief. As a deputy chief, Jacobs oversaw the administrative subdivision, which handles budgeting, personnel and other areas. She also served as the division’s liaison to the mayor and city’s safety director.

Throughout her career, Chief Jacobs has been involved in projects aimed at improving operations, community relations, and recruitment. Among those accomplishments are her work in helping to set up the division’s Citizen Police Academy, the development of a separate Domestic Violence report, the reorganization of internal affairs to focus on citizen complaints, and the establishment of two new precincts.

Jacobs serves on the board of directors for the Center for Family Safety and Healing, the board of trustees for the Ohio Law Enforcement Foundation, and is a member of the United Way’s Women’s Leadership Council and Pride Council.

Dennis Liotta (postdoctoral research fellowship, chemistry, 1974-76) has distinguished himself as an international leader in academic organic chemistry. He is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry at Emory University, executive director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development, and co-director of the Emory / Republic of South Africa Drug Discovery Training Program. He also is co-inventor of several of the world's most successful and commonly used anti-HIV/AIDS drugs.

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic emerged as a national and global crisis, Liotta began research and experimenting with anti-viral drugs. In the late 1980s, he and his team developed two of the major drugs in the HIV/AIDS arsenal: 3TC and FTC. These breakthrough discoveries are used by approximately 80% of all HIV/AIDS patients who are receiving treatment.

For years, Liotta strove to establish a biotechnology company focused on the needs of the developing world. In 2008, iThemba Pharmaceuticals officially began operations in Johannesburg, South Africa. iThemba is just one component of Liotta's effort to foster what he considers a vital, missing element in global health—human capital in the developing world. The Emory / Republic of South Africa Drug Discovery Training Program, brings South African scholars to the U. S. for hands-on research training.

Liotta is a fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the recipient of a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Fellowship, an Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award, the 2005 Herty Award, Emory University’s Williams Distinguished Teaching Award, Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award, and the Thomas Jefferson Award, the highest award given at Emory. Liotta was recently inducted into the American Chemical Society (ACS) division of Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame

Liotta has served as a member of the scientific advisory boards and boards of directors of several biopharmaceutical companies including: Achillion, Triangle Pharmaceuticals, Altiris, Pharmasset, iThemba Pharmaceuticals, and FOB Synthesis. In addition, he has authored over two hundred and thirty research publications and over seventy issued U.S. patents.

While at Emory, Dr. Liotta has authored over two hundred and thirty research publications and over seventy issued US patents. During the past three decades he has also developed a great deal of experience in the discovery and development of pharmaceuticals and during that time has served as a consultant to many major pharmaceutical firms, including Merck, Glaxo, Burroughs Wellcome, Boehringer Ingelheim and Johnson & Johnson. He is (or has been) a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards (SAB) and Board of Directors (BOD) of several biopharmaceutical companies including: Triangle Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Gilead Sciences, SAB Chair), Altiris (scientific founder, SAB and BOD member), Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead Sciences, scientific founder and SAB member), iThemba Pharmaceuticals (scientific founder, SAB Chair and BOD member), NeurOp (SAB and BOD member) and FOB Synthesis (BOD member). In addition, he is the inventor of record for several clinically important agents, including FTC (Emtriva®, Emtricitabine), 3TC (Epivir®, Lamivudine), Reverset® (DPC-817, D-D4FC), Racivir®, Elvucitabine® (L-D4FC) and MSX-122.

Liotta received his PhD in organic chemistry in 1974 from The City University of New York. He completed his post-doctoral training at Ohio State under the direction of Dr. Leo A. Paquette. Despite his success as a medicinal chemist, Liotta says his first love remains teaching.

Distinguished Service Award:

Jack (PhD, musicology, 1984) and Zoe (honorary alumnae) Johnstone

Jack and Zoe met as music students at San Jose State University and have always shared an interest in contemporary music. In 1979, they moved Columbus from California so that Jack could pursue a PhD in musicology at Ohio State.

In 2000, they established the Johnstone Award for Excellence in Musicology as an endowment fund for the School of Music. The award provides $2,000 each year to an Ohio State musicology graduate student selected by School of Music faculty.

Spurred by a desire to stimulate the long-term health and vitality of the woodwind area in the School of Music, Jack, a bassoonist with the Upper Arlington Community Orchestra, and Zoe worked with faculty to develop a series that would focus on each woodwind instrument, one at a time. The result was the Johnstone Woodwind Master Series, an annual event that enhances the School of Music's curriculum by brining eminent teachers and performers to campus, highlighting newly commissioned works by recognized composers, encouraging and presenting student compositions for woodwinds, and recognizing the work of an Ohio woodwind music teacher with an award.

The Johnstone Fund, created in 2008, has helped finance performances by student groups including Ohio State’s New Music Collective and ensembles from the university’s dance department as well as the School of Music’s Contemporary Music Festival.

The generosity of Jack and Zoe Johnstone has created the most exciting and successful stimulus to the support of new concert music in the cultural history of Columbus, Central Ohio, and Ohio State’s School of Music.

Listen to the honorees reflect upon their years at Ohio State and their extraordinary accomplishments.