During the Commencement ceremony and in addition to keynote speaker Fred Mitchell ’69, a mathematician and two prominent Springfield residents were also among those honored May 13.

Martha Demarest Rodgers received the Wittenberg Medal of Honor, which is awarded by the Board of Directors in recognition for loyalty of service and dedication to Wittenberg as a liberal arts institution, and J. Wesley Babian, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springfield, received the honorary doctor of divinity degree.

A lifelong resident of Springfield, Rodgers has been a community leader almost since the day she graduated magna cum laude from Wittenberg at age 19 in 1931.

Along with her husband of 55 years, the late Don C. Rodgers, Martha has been a contributor not only to the Springfield community but also to Wittenberg. They provided the “Tree of Life” door for the Thomas Library on campus.

Rodgers, who also received the Alumni Association’s Class of 1914 Award in 1995, founded the Wittenberg Style Show in 1956, the main fund-raising event of the Wittenberg Guild, which provides support to the university.

Throughout the years, the style show and the Martha Rodgers Benefactors Fund, established in 1990, have raised more than $600,000, which has gone for scholarships and other projects on campus.

Babian has been pastor of First Baptist Church since 1984. The Monroe, Mich. native has been a leader in Springfield’s efforts to revitalize its neighborhoods and to make the community more livable.

His efforts led to the establishment of the Springfield Community Redevelopment Corporation, which began with a budget of $50,000 and has grown to $1.1 million within just four years.

The group develops homes in south Springfield for low- and moderate-income families.

Also during the ceremony, world-renowned mathematician Ronald Graham was awarded the honorary doctor of science. Graham has authored or co-authored more than 250 papers and several books.

His work in combinatorics won him election to the National Academy of Sciences, and he is past president of the American Mathematical Society. He has also held numerous academic positions at places such as Stanford.

A scientist at AT&T Bell Labs for 37 years, Graham has spent much of that time in support of AT&T’s communications network.

Since 1996 Graham has been a professor of computer science at the University of California-San Diego and Chief Scientist Emeritus at AT&T Labs. In 1989 he visited Wittenberg as IBM Lecturer in the Sciences.