Capital University Holds Winter 2006 Commencement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Nichole Johnson
Assistant director for media relations
Capital University
(614) 236-6945

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Friday, Dec. 15, 2006–When Katherine Clawson walks the stage of Capital University’s Mees Hall tomorrow to receive her bachelor’s degree in criminology, she’ll reflect on the mutual respect that buffered exchanges of opposing views between her and her fellow students. She’ll walk by the faculty members who were unbending in their insistence that she meet their academic challenges, yet showed almost parent-like concern that she successfully complete her degree. Even if most of them were young enough to be her children.

But mostly, she’ll pride herself that, even as a 75-year-old retired owner of a title agency and founder of a nonprofit organization that built the retirement community she now lives in, she had a lot to learn; and she learned it. She’s got the honors cords to prove it.

“I have learned so much that I didn’t know before,” Clawson said. “My experience with the faculty and students has enriched my life a lot.”

Clawson’s journey into higher education began several years ago, when she attended her first meeting as a new resident at the National Church Residences of Greenfield’s Greenfield Village.

“I’m not proud of this, but I went to one of their meetings, and I had to leave because I panicked,” she recalled. “A friend of mine asked me what was wrong, and I said, ‘Those are my contemporaries, and they’re old.’ He said, ‘Kate, I hate to tell you this, but you’re old, too.’”

Shortly thereafter, Clawson made up her mind to keep herself young by pursuing the degree she always knew she could get. Not the bachelor’s degree. The law degree.

“A friend told me I could go to Southern State Community College for free if I was over 60. So, I did my two years there and transferred to Capital. And now, I’m graduating with honors in criminology and a minor in sociology.”

Clawson had worked with a title agency after leaving the real estate business back in the 1980s and learned quickly from the attorneys who resolved probate and real estate problems discovered during title searches. Soon, she knew how to resolve the problems, herself, but lacked the law degree and license to do so. Eventually, she learned the business so well that she was encouraged to open her own title company, which she successfully ran until she retired.

Armed, now, with her degree, Clawson shows no signs of slowing down. She plans on taking the LSAT and, if accepted, attending Capital Law School this summer.

“Senior citizens and young people are being taken advantage of left and right because they can’t afford an attorney. So, once I graduate and pass the bar, if they agree to pay their filing fees and the gas it takes me to get to court, I’ll represent them for free.”

Clawson will graduate with nearly 170 students. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 16. Michael V. Knopp, a dedicated medical researcher and leader in the advancement of radiologic imaging, will be the Commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient.

A native of Germany, Knopp began his pursuit of medicine at Capital University, then went on to study at the University of Saarland in Homburg, Germany, before finishing his medical degree at the University of Heidelberg (Germany) College of Medicine in 1984. He continued his studies at the University of Heidelberg in medical computer science, and went on to earn a doctor of medicine in surgery degree in 1988 and a doctorate in radiology in 1997, both from Heidelberg.

Knopp joined The Ohio State University in 2001 after several years as a staff scientist at the National Institutes of Health, where he conducted research in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography, computed tomography and ultrasound. Today, he is an internationally recognized expert in research and clinical applications of radiologic imaging. He serves as chair of The Ohio State University Department of Radiology and holds the OSU Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation Chair for Imaging Research. Knopp is a member of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and also holds adjunct appointments in the departments of biomedical informatics, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science.

Before working at the NIH, Knopp spent 12 years at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, where he rose through the ranks to become vice chair of the department of radiology and chief of the division of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy.Knopp was part of a team that championed the $60 million Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Structural, Functional and Molecular Imaging at Ohio State. The Wright Center was launched in May 2003 with funding from a $9.1 million Third Frontier Grant and an $8 million Biomedical Research and Technology Transfer award, both from the state of Ohio. Knopp is principal investigator for both grants.A strong supporter of Capital’s science and computational studies program, Knopp has published more than 180 papers in peer-reviewed journals, written more than 500 scientific abstracts and given more than 600 oral presentations, lectures, scientific posters and exhibits. He has received 16 international awards, including the prestigious fellowship award of the European Congress of Radiology.