Stanford and Rosa Ovshinsky

Carlos Galarce

Candace Gardner

Hassan Jaber

Wayne State University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) will honor three alumni: Carlos Galarce, Candace Gardner, Hassan Jaber, and community leaders, Stanford and Rosa Ovshinsky, during the Thursday, Sept. 30, Collegian Awards Dinner.

The event, scheduled at 5:30 p.m., will be held at Wayne State University's McGregor Memorial Conference Center in Detroit. For ticket and sponsorship information, call (313) 577-2226.

Established by CLAS in 2007, the awards recognize outstanding alumni for their individual achievements, contributions to their industries or professions and service to their community. In addition, awards will be extended to individuals or organizations whose longstanding leadership and service have made a significant impact on their field and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

This year's 2010 Community Leadership Award will be given to Stanford and Rosa Ovshinsky in recognition of their outstanding contributions.

Stanford Ovshinsky has dedicated his life to creating an entirely new area of physics and materials science, providing innovation in atomic engineering of amorphous and disordered semiconductors. He holds more than 400 U.S. patents, including some that have led to remarkable new approaches to the uses of solar power and hydrogen fueled vehicles. He has authored more than 300 scientific papers and received global recognition for his discoveries. Named "Hero for the Planet" by Time magazine, Ovshinsky also has numerous honorary degrees including an Honorary Doctor of Science from Wayne State University and is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Rosa Ovshinsky received her Ph.D. in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1971. She has dedicated her career to renewable energies ranging from crystalline and thin film solar cells, superconductivity, battery and hydrogen storage and systems. She received numerous awards during her tenure in Oak Ridge National Laboratory and has published more than 80 scientific papers and holds 60 patents. Ovshinsky served as one of the NATO lecturers on Hydrogen and Sustainable Energy during 2000 to 2004.

Stanford Ovshinsky serves on the Board of Visitors for the WSU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and serves on the advisory board of the university's Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. Rosa Ovshinsky currently serves as an adjunct professor at Wayne State University, is a member of the Confucius Institute and the Chief Technical Advisor of China Bridge.

Galarce, chief operating officer of TriNet, is responsible for operations, information technology and enterprise project management. He is multilingual and has more than 15 years of international experience in managing global operations including direct in country operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Australia and India. Galarce earned a master's degree in computer science from Wayne State.

Gardner taught German, French and Spanish at Dearborn High School until her retirement in 2001. Following her teaching career, she earned a Ph.D. in German, French and Spanish at Wayne State. She has presented papers at several language conferences and written entries for an encyclopedia of folk and fairy tales. Her dissertation on the first Spanish-to-German translation of Cervantes's Don Quixote was recently published by a German publishing house.

Jaber, executive director of ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services), helped transform ACCESS from a storefront organization into the country's largest Arab-American organization. Jaber's commitment has grown ACCESS into an organization that provides more than 90 different programs with an operating budget of more than $15 million. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in public administration from Wayne State University.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research university offering more than 400 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 32,000 students.