5/19/99

Contact: Mark Weinberg, (740) 593-4390

ATHENS, Ohio -- The Ohio University Public Affairs Advisory Committee will present Ohio Office of Budget and Management Director Tom Johnson with the 1999 Outstanding State Government Alumni Award at a noon luncheon Thursday, May 20, at The Athletic Club in Columbus.

Johnson served 12 terms in the Ohio House of Representatives as representative of the 96th District. He is chair of Ohio University's Institute for Local Government and Rural Development and last year he served as a senior policy fellow at the university's Center for Public and Environmental Affairs, recently renamed the Voinovich Center for Leadership and Public Affairs.

Ohio University President Robert Glidden praised Johnson for his leadership in the development of the Voinovich Center and ILGARD as well as his service to the 96th district.

"I can think of no other individual so deserving of this award for outstanding service to the state of Ohio and to Ohio University," Glidden said.

A graduate of Muskingum College, Johnson is one of only two non-Ohio University graduates to receive the award. The other, Jim Tilling, a former Ohio University political science professor, received it in 1985.

The committee typically selects winners who are Ohio University graduates with records of outstanding public service, preferably to the state of Ohio, and who have been involved in the university's public affairs program.