The Hall of Fame Awards will take place April 27, 2023 at the Longaberger Alumni House and through Zoom. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Lantern File Photo
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion will induct four people at its third-annual Hall of Fame Awards Thursday. Kimberly McCalla, the ODI director of strategic collaborations and external engagement, said the event will take place in person at the Longaberger Alumni House and online through Zoom. The four inductees are William J. Holloway, Minnie McGee, Rhonda R. Rivera and Congresswoman Charleta B. Tavares.
McCalla said the hall of fame serves to honor the legacy of figures who have made lasting impacts at Ohio State and beyond. McCalla said the hall of fame is a great opportunity for people at Ohio State to learn more about individuals who paved the way for them.
“Oftentimes many of these individuals, some are well known and some are very, very much lesser well known,” McCalla said.
McCalla said any past or present students, faculty, staff and community members can be nominated to join the hall of fame, regardless of their title or position. Members of the hall of fame include a group of Black Student Union members named “The OSU34,” who had been expelled from the university in 1968 due to their push for a more equitable campus. Specifically, the students wanted the hiring of more Black faculty and staff, the implementation of an African American studies department and a minority affairs office, which is now the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, McCalla said.
Whether other figures in the hall of fame had experienced similar obstacles or not, McCalla said figures who are inducted into the Hall of Fame Awards shared a common accomplishment.
“For many people, it was just them doing what they thought was right. Creating spaces and places and opportunities for marginalized and historically excluded persons and challenging systems,” McCalla said.
According to ODI, a Hall of Fame award is given to those in the community who have “contributed through exemplary and sustained leadership the ideals of diversity, equity, inclusion, and community engagement.” Those who nominate someone are asked to demonstrate the achievements and contributions of the nominee to the private, nonprofit or public sector. More criteria can be found on ODI’s website.
Since 2021, there have been nine people inducted into the hall of fame — including Jesse Owens, Judge Robert M. Duncan and Mónica Ramírez. Owens, an Ohio State track and field athlete, made strides in his career, ultimately winning goals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Duncan, a 1948 graduate, was the first Black person to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court. Ramírez is a lawyer who created the world’s first legal project that focused on sexual harassment and gender discrimination against farmworker women.
For this year’s nominees, Aaron Marshall, the executive communications specialist of ODI, said Holloway did important work with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. According to The Washington Post, Holloway organized the Office of Minority Affairs, recruited 4,000 minority students to campus and founded the university’s Nigerian Education Program.
“He really laid the ground floor, that foundation where everything that we do today, whether it’s in terms of recruiting students, in terms of services that we can provide to help students and make sure that they succeed here,” Marshall said. “I just found it to be fascinating and he seemed like a guy that deserves to be talked about as much as say Frank Hale, who we honor with Hale Hall.”
Marshall said it’s good to honor figures like Holloway at Ohio State.
“I think to really know who you are, you kind of have to know where you come from,” Marshall said. “I think it’s important the whole university knows where it all started or who are the greats whose shoulders we all stand on.”
According to ODI’s website, McGee has helped nurture underrepresented students at Ohio State, being the first Black assistant dean in the College of Engineering. Rivera worked to end discrimination of LGBTQ communities in Ohio and helped use her knowledge to help the rights of AIDS patients. Tavares is the first Black woman to hold a leadership position in the Ohio Senate, and she’s used her role to help the community.
The event will start at 6 p.m. Thursday. More information can be found on the event’s website.
