Ming-Cheu Chen has been elected as the first international graduate to Ohio University's National Alumni Board. Chen was among six new members who were selected at the April board meeting on the Athens campus and began serving three-year terms July 1.
Chen, MARC '70, chairman of the Department of Urban Affairs at Chinese Culture University in Taipei, Taiwan, has worked with the Taiwan Alumni Chapter for the past six years. Chen attended Ohio University's Asian Alumni Conference in Hong Kong in 1994 and in Malaysia in 1996 and, most recently, he was involved in coordinating the Ohio University/Ohio State alumni chapter reception for Gov. George Voinovich, AB '58, HON '81, during the governor's state-sponsored trade mission to Taiwan and Korea in March.
Other newly elected members of the 24-member board include Clifford Houk, BSED '55, MED '56, of Athens; Anne Marie McHugh Engel, BSJ '88, of Midlothian, Va.; David Radanovich, AB '79, of Coraopolis, Pa.; Diana J. Walters, BFA '68, MFA '70, of Grove City, Pa.; and David Wilhelm, AB '77, of Chicago. Darryl Peal, MSS '91, of Columbus, recently filled a one-year unexpired term on the National Alumni Board and was reelected for an additional two years.
Houk is professor emeritus of health sciences-industrial hygiene, having taught biological sciences, chemistry and health sciences at Ohio University from 1966 to 1995. A winner of the University Professor Award in 1984, Houk is a longtime supporter of Bobcat athletics teams and a member of the Trustees Academy.
Engel is executive director of the John Tyler Community College Foundation Inc. in Roanoke. A member of the Student Alumni Board as an Ohio University undergraduate, Engel is co-founder and current president of the Central Virginia Alumni Chapter.
Radanovich is director of communication and customer information for Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and Maryland. A member and co-coordinator of the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, he played a major role in the chapter's reorganization last year.
Walters is a voice teacher and opera director at Grove City (Pa.) College and a performer who has appeared around the world. She is a charter member and past president of the School of Music Society of Alumni and Friends and former member of the College of Fine Arts Society of Alumni and Friends.
Wilhelm, who grew up in Athens as the son of a geography professor, served as campaign manager for Bill Clinton's presidential bid in 1992 and later became the youngest person ever to be named chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He currently is senior managing director of Evern Securities and a director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. Wilhelm won the Medal of Merit Award from the Alumni Association in 1994.
Peal is assistant dean of students and coordinator of ethnic diversity at Otterbein College in Westerville. He is a member of the Central Ohio Black Alumni Chapter and is active in the Higher Education Council of Columbus, Association for Student Judicial Affairs, NAACP and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
