By Ralph Derickson

Honorary doctoral degrees will be presented to Peter P. Bosomworth, Linda Challis Gill and Frank X Walker.  UK President Charles T. Wethington Jr., who will step down July 1, will give the commencement address.

The honorary degrees will be presented to the three recipients at UK's 134th commencement at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 6, in Memorial Coliseum.

This year's commencement speaker will be UK President Charles T. Wethington Jr., who will step down July 1 after 11 years at UK's helm.  President Wethington, who earned his master's and doctoral degrees from UK, also headed Kentucky's Community College System when the university administered the community colleges.

Jack and Linda Gill of Houston, Texas, gave an initial donation of $5 million in 1998 to build a heart institute.  The Linda and Jack Gill building, which will house the institute, is under construction at the medical center and will be completed in about a year.

Linda Gill is formerly a resident of Fort Thomas and Louisville and is a UK graduate and former teacher.  She served as president of the Palo-Alto, Calif., Parent-Teacher Association and was involved in coaching and student counseling.  She also spent 18 years as a docent and volunteer at the Stanford Medical School and is a board member for the University of Houston School of Music.

The Gills' donation not only laid the foundation for a heart institute, but also will help Kentucky attack coronary disease through an endowed chair in preventive cardiology, five endowed professorships and endowed research and special programs.

The Gill Building will feature outpatient clinics, research laboratories, classrooms and office space for faculty and staff.

Bosomworth joined the university in March 1962, three weeks before the University Hospital opened.  At age 32, he became the youngest chair of a department of anesthesiology in the nation.  He held that post until 1970 when he was named vice president of the medical center, becoming chancellor in July 1982.

An Akron, Ohio, native, he received a bachelor of science degree from Kent State University and a medical degree from the University of Cincinnati.   He earned a master's of medical science degree from Ohio State University following an internship at Cincinnati General Hospital and a residency at The Ohio State University Hospital.

From 1958 to 1960, Bosomworth served in the U.S. Navy and was chief of anesthesia at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital.  He has served as a medical consultant in many countries around the world including Taiwan, China and Ecuador.

Walker, a native of Danville and a UK graduate, served as the program coordinator for UK's Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Center and currently works at the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts.

Both an activist and an artist, Walker is linked with the Roots and Heritage Festival, the Bluegrass Black Arts Consortium, the Living Arts and Science Center, the Robert H. Williams Cultural Center, Message Theater, and the Affrilachian Poets.

Walker is also known for his first book "Affrilachia" a collection of poetry published by Old Cove Press that was converted to a live performance and presented recently by UK's Theatre Department.