Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig will speak at each of the four
Selig will speak on May 16 and 17 at the
“We’re excited that Selig was able to do it,” senior class president Oliver Delgado said. “The whole senior class … is just so glad that he was open to [speak] and making commencement as enjoyable as possible.”
According to MLB spokesperson Richard Levin, Selig is a devoted alumnus and is very excited about the chance to speak in front of the senior class.
“He has very fond memories of his days there; he always follows the
Selig graduated from UW in 1956 with a degree in American institutions, according to the university. He later went on to become the owner and president of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Prior to becoming the official MLB commissioner in 1998, Selig was club president and chair of MLB’s Executive Council, being named acting commissioner of the league in 1992.
According to the university, Selig has also held several positions within UW, including serving on the Board of Visitors for the LaFollette School of Public Affairs and the Department of Political Science.
“Especially with Bud, who is an amazing person who has become so influential in the sports arena, it [is inspiring to] see professionals go out and become monumental in their perspective field,” Delgado said. “It’s always a good feeling to see UW alums have gone out and succeeded. It makes them feel like if they can do it, I can do it, too. That’s always good to have at graduation.”
According to Delgado, the selection process for a commencement speaker began with a list of hundreds of names.
From there, the list was narrowed down to five to 10 prospective speakers and referred to university officials.
“We have a list of names that we think are of interest and are notable figures both professionally and with ties to the university. From there, we submit that to the faculty [who] are in charge of contacting the prospective speakers. From there, our responsibility kind of hands off to them,” Delgado said.
Commencement last spring featured alumnae Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and USA Networks founder Kay Koplovitz.
Student speakers this year will be seniors Joshua Herman and Jamie Holzhuter, along with student class officers like Delgado.
Commencement ceremonies will take place on May 16 and 17 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day. The ceremonies are open to the public, and there is no entrance fee.
Honorary, doctoral and professional degrees will be awarded May 15 at 5:30 p.m.
According to university officials, all ceremonies are expected to last about 90 minutes.
