University of Pittsburgh Names Four New Legacy Laureates

PITTSBURGH-The University of Pittsburgh has named four new Legacy Laureates, alumni recognized for their outstanding personal and professional accomplishments. The laureates will be honored Oct. 19, Legacy Laureate Day at Pitt. They will participate in a Laureate Leadership Panel Discussion with Pitt alumni and student leaders and attend the opening of the Pitt's Legacy Gallery, interactive displays in Pitt's Alumni Hall that highlight the accomplishments and achievements of Pitt alumni and faculty.

The Pitt Legacy Laureate program was launched in 2000. Following are biographies of this year's honorees.

Derrick Bell

Derrick Bell earned his law degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1957. He is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh and a visiting professor at New York University School of Law.

A U.S. Air Force veteran, Bell embarked upon his legal career by first joining the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He went on to serve as first assistant counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and later became deputy director of the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). In 1969, he joined Harvard Law School, becoming the school's first tenured Black professor.

Among his many honors and awards are the 2003 Lamplighter Award for Civil Rights from the Black Leadership Forum; a 1997 American Book Award for Gospel Choirs: Psalms of Survival in an Alien Land Called Home (Basic Books, 1996); and a 1985 Teacher of the Year Award from the Society of American Law Schools.

Ellsworth T. Bowser

Ellsworth T. Bowser received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1958 and his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1960 from the University of Pittsburgh.

A recipient of the 2001 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award from Pitt's School of Dental Medicine, Bowser is a life member of the Pitt Alumni Association and past president of Dental Medicine Alumni Association. He also served on the School of Dental Medicine Board of Visitors. He established in Pitt's dental school the T.F. Bowser Memorial Lecture Series to honor his father, Theodore Bowser; Ellsworth Bowser and his wife, Joanne, also created at Pitt the Captain David E. Bowser U.S. Marine Corps Scholarship Fund in memory of their son, who was killed during flight training exercises over Nevada.

Bowser is a member of the American Dental Association, the National Foundation of Dentistry for the Handicapped, and the Syria Shrine. He is a board member of the National Aviary, chair of the American Automobile Association East Central Regional Board, and an active member and past president of the Rotary Club of Pittsburgh.

Michael R. Grever

Michael R. Grever earned his B.S. degree in chemistry in 1967 and his M.D. degree in 1971 at Pitt. He is internationally recognized for his contributions to the field of drug discovery and development, particularly for achievements in the development of new chemotherapeutic agents to treat patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Grever held various positions at the National Cancer Institute, including deputy director of the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis and, within that division, chair of the Operating Committee for Cancer Drug Development. He joined the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1994, serving as a professor of oncology and director of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies. In 1999, he joined the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, where he currently serves as chair of the Department of Internal Medicine and associate dean for medical services and holds the Charles A. Doan Chair of Medicine.

A fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American College of Physicians, Grever also was named to the peer-reviewed list of "Best Doctors in America" in 2005.

Hakjoon Kim

Hakjoon Kim earned his Ph.D. degree in political science at Pitt in 1972. He has been since 2001 the president and publisher of Dong-A Ilbo, one of South Korea's most respected daily newspapers. Kim has written extensively on Korean politics, including On Korean Politics (1983), which won the Best Book Prize from the Korean Political Science Association, and North and South Korea: Internal Politics and External Relations Since 1988, published earlier this year by the University of Toronto Press.

Kim began his career at Seoul National University, where he served for 16 years as a professor in the Department of Political Science. During that time, he was a visiting scholar at a number of universities and colleges, including Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, King's College in London, and the University of California at Berkeley, as well as the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Kim's appointments have included service as a professor and chair of the Board of Directors at Dankook University and as president of the University of Inchon.

Elected to the National Assembly of South Korea in 1985, he later served as the chief policy assistant and chief press secretary for then-South Korean president Roh Tae Woo.

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10/16/06/tmw