DETROIT -- Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will be the special guest speaker and will receive an honorary doctoral degree at Wayne State University commencement ceremonies, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, in Detroit's Cobo Arena. Also receiving an honorary doctoral degree will be Margaret "Maggie" Allesee, civic leader and philanthropist.

Holbrooke will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and Allesee an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. They will join 3,200-degree recipients who make up the university's December graduating class.

Described by The New York Times as "a master of impossible missions," Holbrooke was UN ambassador under the Clinton administration from 1999-2001. Prior to that, as assistant secretary of state, he was chief negotiator at the1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia. During a diplomatic career spanning four decades, he has served as a foreign service officer in Vietnam, advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson, director of the Peace Corps in Morocco, assistant secretary of state, and ambassador to Germany.

To End a War, Holbrooke's best-selling book about the Dayton negotiations was named by The New York Times as one of the best books of 1998.

Maggie Allesee of Bloomfield Hills is widely known for her volunteer service and charitable contributions to community groups and cultural institutions. She has been active in numerous public service organizations, including the American Lung Association, American Red Cross, Community House of Birmingham, Detroit Historical Society, Hospice Care of Michigan, Girl Scouts of Metropolitan Detroit, the March of Dimes and the Salvation Army, to name a few.

At Wayne State, Allesee serves on the university's Foundation Board and on the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts Board of Visitors, an advisory group. She has generously supported dance, music and theatre programs at Wayne State and also has established scholarship funds.

In the year 2000, the Maggie Allesee Department of Dance was named in her honor.

Two graduating seniors, Sheldon N. Bernard of Oak Park and Susan M. Corsetti of Clinton Township, will receive the prestigious David D. Henry Award at the ceremonies. The award is given to a man and to a woman in the midyear graduating class who have distinguished themselves through outstanding contributions in the areas of leadership, service and student activities, consistent with high scholarship.
Bernard is receiving a bachelor's degree in finance and university honors from the School of Business Administration. Corsetti is receiving a bachelor's degree in business logistics, also from the School of Business Administration.

Two WSU alumni also will be recognized during commencement. Chris Allen of Detroit and Phoebe Mainster of Bloomfield Hills will receive Distinguished Alumni Awards.

Allen is president/chief executive officer for Arthur's Place for Wellness and Fitness, a health center for people with arthritis and connective tissue disease. He also is president/CEO of Family Road, a one-stop location for families in need of Health Care and social services.

A past president of the WSU Alumni Association, Allen is a member of the American Red Cross national board of directors, North Rosedale Park Civic Association, Highland Park Chamber of Commerce and the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral Parish Council.

Mainster, a lecturer in the WSU English department and former assistant director of composition in the department, has spent several weeks each summer for the past 32 years teaching English as a second language in developing nations on several continents.

She is active in civic endeavors and is particularly active with the Jewish community. She is on the board of advisors for WSU's Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies and chairs the Maas Foundation Prize for Achievement in Jewish Culture and Continuity, a program of the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 31,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.