PBS managing editor and correspondent Gwen Ifill, a member of Congress, a Nobel Prize winner and a host of other experts are among Georgetown’s speakers for its
210th commencement exercises held the weekend of May 14-17.
The university holds individual ceremonies for each undergraduate and professional school after a series of awards ceremonies and celebrations on campus that begin with Senior Convocation on May 14. The speakers come from various backgrounds and are leaders in the fields of politics, journalism, business, education, law and health.
“This year’s commencement speakers are exceptional individuals representing a diverse array of backgrounds and perspectives,” said
John J. DeGioia, Georgetown University president. “These men and women have devoted themselves to public service, teaching others and addressing critical global issues. They embody the many kinds of opportunities that await our graduates.”
The 2009 Commencement speakers include (listed in order of ceremony):
Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business, MBA Program
Ana Palacio, Spain’s former foreign minister, will speak during commencement exercises for the McDonough School of Business MBA program at 11 a.m. on May 15 on Healy Lawn. Palacio’s distinguished career includes serving as a member of the Spanish parliament from 2004 to 2008 and from 2002-2004 as Spain’s first female foreign minister. She also was a member of the European Parliament during the fourth and fifth legislatures from 1994 to 2002, serving as chair of the Legal Affairs and Internal Market Committee, the Justice and Home Affairs Committee and also the chair of the Conference of Committee Chairman – the group’s most senior body for the coordination of its legislative work. A lawyer by profession, Palacio has held the highest positions in the governing bodies of the Madrid Bar and the European Bar. In 2004, she was listed among the Wall Street Journal’s 75 “global opinion leaders.”
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Daniel Kahneman, winner of the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and professor emeritus of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, will speak during the graduate school’s commencement exercises at 2:30 p.m. on May 15 on Healy Lawn. Kahneman, an Israeli psychologist most known for his work on behavioral finance and hedonic psychology, helped establish a cognitive basis for common human errors using heuristics and biases during the 1970s and 1980s. He also helped develop the Prospect theory, which describes decisions between alternatives that involve risk. Kahneman received the Nobel Prize for his work on Prospect theory. Currently, he serves as professor emeritus of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School.
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Former U.S.
Sen. Charles Hagel (R-Neb.) will speak during the Walsh School of Foreign Service commencement exercises at 9 a.m. on May 16 on Healy Lawn. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, Hagel served two consecutive terms and served as chair of the Senate Global Climate Change Observer Group and the Senate Oversight Task Force. He was co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Hagel has been a member of four Senate committees – the Committee on Foreign Relations; the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; and the Select Committee on Rules and Administration. Hagel has authored “America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers” (Ecco 2008), in which he explores domestic issues – including the health care crisis, immigration and Social Security and Medicare reform. He also examines foreign policy issues that include China’s growing economy, India and Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities and Iran’s aggressive political, ideological and nuclear stances. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of Governance and Politics at Georgetown University.
School of Continuing Studies
Freeman Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County will speak during the School of Continuing Studies commencement exercises at 10:45 a.m. on May 16 on Healy Lawn. Hrabowski has served as president of UMBC since May 1992. His research focuses on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance. He is chair of the National Academies’ Committee on Underrepresented Groups and the Science and Engineering Workforce Pipeline. He serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Academies and universities and school systems nationwide. Hrabowski has authored numerous articles and co-authored two books, “Beating the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Males” (Oxford University Press, 1998) and “Overcoming the Odds: Raising Academically Successful African American Young Women” (Oxford University Press, 2002). The books focus on parenting high-achieving African-American boys and girls in science.
Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business
Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, will speak at the McDonough School of Business undergraduate commencement exercises at noon on May 16 on Healy Lawn. Before Moreno became president of Inter-American in July 2005, he served as Colombia’s ambassador to the United States in September 1998. Prior to his post as ambassador, Moreno served both the public and private sectors in Colombia. From 1997 to 1998 he served as representative for the Andean Region of WestSphere Capital, a private equity firm focusing on investment opportunities in Latin America. He also was a senior adviser to the Luis Carlos Sarmiento Organization, one of the leading banking and financial groups in Colombia.
Georgetown College
Gwen Ifill, moderator and managing editor of PBS’s “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” will speak during the Georgetown College commencement exercises at 3 p.m. on May 16 on Healy Lawn. The best-selling author of “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” (Doubleday, 2009) also moderated the vice presidential debates during the 2004 and 2008 elections. Ifill has covered six presidential campaigns during her career. During the 2008 campaign, she brought “Washington Week” to live audiences around the country as part of a 10-city tour. The native New Yorker has received honors for her work by the Radio and Television News Directors Association, Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center, Ebony Magazine and Boston’s Ford Hall Forum.
School of Nursing and Health Studies
Bestselling author
Laurie Garrett will speak during the School of Nursing and Health Studies commencement exercises at 6 p.m. on May 16 on Healy Lawn. As a medical and science writer for Newsday, Garrett became the only writer ever to receive all three writing awards: the Peabody Award; the George Polk Award, twice; and the Pulitzer Prize. Garrett’s books include “The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance” (Penguin Group, 1994) and “Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health” (Hyperion, 2001). In March 2004, Garrett became senior fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an expert on global health with a particular focus on newly emerging and re-emerging diseases and the effects of public health on foreign policy and national security.
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) will speak during the School of Medicine commencement exercises at 11:15 a.m. on May 17 at Consitution Hall. Barrasso was elected to the United States Senate on Nov. 4, and is known by many as “Wyoming’s Doctor.” He has had a long and recognized career in both medicine and public service. He represented the people of Natrona County in the Wyoming State Senate for five years before joining the U.S. Senate. During 24 years as an orthopedic surgeon in Casper, Wyo., Barrasso served as president of the Wyoming Medical Society and was named Wyoming Physician of the Year. He also served as medical director of the Wyoming Health Fairs, bringing low-cost health screening exams to people all around the state. Barrasso serves on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Indian Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Georgetown University Law Center
David Vladeck, co-director of the Institute for Public Representation and director of the Center on Health Regulation and Governance, will speak at the Law Center commencement exercises at 2 p.m. on May 17 on Healy Lawn. Vladeck co-directs the Institute for Public Representation and serves as director of the Center on Health Regulation and Governance in Georgetown’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. A scholar with the Center for Progressive Regulation, Vladeck has served as a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. In addition to his clinical teaching, the professor teaches courses on federal courts, civil procedure and government processes.
Other Notable Speakers for Commencement Weekend
Other guest speakers during the May 14- 17 Commencement weekend include U.S. Army
Capt. Daniel Feehan (SFS ’05), who will speak during the May 14 Senior Convocation.
Gen. George Casey (SFS’70), Army chief of staff, will speak during the May 15 ROTC Commissioning Ceremony, and retired
Army Gen. Wesley Clark will speak during the May 15 Master of Science in Foreign Service tropaia ceremony.
This year also marks the first graduating class of students from Georgetown’s
School of Foreign Service -Qatar campus. Commencement exercises will be held in Doha, Qatar on May 9 and Georgetown’s President DeGioia will deliver the commencement address.
