Charlie Crist
	William D. Clay, Jr.
	Marvalene Hughes
	Mark H. Thiemens

As Florida State University alumni returned to campus for Homecoming 2007, recognition of their outstanding peers as 'Grads Made Good' was among the top activities on their agendas.

Chosen each year by the FSU Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society, the Grads Made Good recognition is the best-known honor presented to FSU alumni.

For 2007, the distinguished Grads Made Good are:

Charlie Crist (B.S., '78), the current governor of Florida, who received his bachelor's degree in political science in 1978. While at FSU, he served as student body vice president, setting the stage for his career in politics; was a member and officer of the Garnet and Gold Key Honorary; and was elected by his fellow students as the 1977 Homecoming Chief. Crist earned his law degree from Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Ala. In 1992, he brought his FSU enthusiasm back to Tallahassee when he won a seat in the Florida Senate, where for six years he served as chairman of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee and as chairman of the Appropriations Criminal Justice Subcommittee. After Crist completed his Senate service, Gov. Jeb Bush appointed him as deputy secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. In 2000, he won a special election and became Florida's last elected commissioner of education. Crist was elected as the state's attorney general in 2002.

William D. Clay, Jr. (B.A., '71; M.S., '74), who serves as a special adviser in the Division of Nutrition and Consumer Protection for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Clay, who resides in Rome, Italy, has visited and worked in more than 90 countries throughout his career. "When I was at FSU in the late '60s and early '70s, the U.S. was going through tumultuous times, and we all needed to figure out how to cope and, hopefully, shape what was going on around us," he said. "My FSU experience-both the academic and the social aspects-was fundamental to making me who, and how, I am. It extended the base from which I have continued to grow."

Marvalene Hughes (Ph.D., '69), president of Dillard University in New Orleans. She is the first female president of Dillard, a historically black, four-year university. Her leadership is credited with guiding the university through the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, which caused more than $400 million in damage to the campus. Prior to beginning her tenure at Dillard University, Hughes served for 11 years as president of California State University-Stanislaus, where she is credited with increasing enrollment by 40 percent and achieving many national rankings for the first time in the institution's history. Last year, she delivered the invited keynote address at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, to the International Conference for Women University Presidents. In 2005, "Black Voices" selected Hughes as one of the "Top 10 Black Women in Higher Education in America."

Mark H. Thiemens (Ph.D., '77), dean of the Division of Physical Sciences at the University of California-San Diego and a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He is an atmospheric chemist who conducts research on atmospheric aerosols and strategies to detect bioterrorist agents on aerosols. He has served as chair of UCSD's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and is founder and director of the university's Center for Environmental Research and Training. Thiemens' research has taken him to the most remote regions of the Earth, including the South Pole, and extended even to the solar system, with devices to collect samples from stars and planets for analysis. Thiemens was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2006.