Honorary doctoral degrees will be conferred by The California State University and California State University, Fresno on Mr. Hugo Morales of Fresno and Mr. Paul O’Neill of Pittsburgh, Penn., during the commencement ceremonies at Fresno State in May.

Morales, founder and director of Radio Bilingue, and O’Neill,

chairman of the board of Alcoa, will receive doctor of humane letters degrees during Commencement on Saturday, May 22, in Bulldog Stadium.

Morales, a Harvard-educated Fresnan who emigrated to the United

States from Mexico, has spent years and countless hours helping underserved minority communities, emphasizing music and culture. He runs a public radio network that reaches a half-million listeners, sits on dozens of local, state and national boards, travels extensively, and shuns neckties.

A former lecturer in the La Raza Studies Program at Fresno State, Morales has worked to foster multicultural understanding through his endeavors.

Colleagues, who respect his groundbreaking work in public radio and community service, call him “a visionary, a treasure, a humble and genuine man.”

Though Morales has received numerous awards, most recently he was honored by the Association of Mexican-American Educators with its highest honor โ€” The Cesar Chavez Leadership Award. The Alliance for Public Technology has chosen him to receive the 1999 Susan G. Hadden Pioneer Award for ensuring equitable access to information for the Spanish-speaking population in the U. S. and Mexico.

Dubbed by the Associated Press as a “corporate chieftain,” Paul O’Neill has shared his career work with community and business organizations, where he has been a director, trustee or board member of more than a dozen organizations and foundations.

O’Neill received a bachelor’s degree in economics from then Fresno State College in 1961.

Although he holds Alcoa’s top position, he recently gave up his plush mahogany office โ€” replete with seven armchairs, massive desk and private bathroom โ€” for a cubicle with his staff. O’Neill enjoys “bumping” into his employees and working together in an informal setting.

O’Neill has served on the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was a director of the Council for Excellence and the Gerald Ford Foundation. He was a founding member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and a trustee for the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment.

Some of O’Neill’s industry highlights include serving as director for Eastman Kodak Company, the Institute for International Economics, Lucent Technologies, the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation and the International Primary Aluminum Institute_

This is the seventh year honorary doctorates have been awarded by the CSU and Fresno State. A campus committee comprised of faculty and administrators considered nominees for the honor and recommended the candidates to President John D. Welty, who then made the recommendation to the CSU Board of Trustees.

Previous recipients are Mr. Sid Craig, Dr. Lee Brown, Dr. Vincent Petrucci, Mr. Earl Smittcamp, Mr. Robert Duncan, Mr. Edward James Olmos and Elmer “Bud” Richter.