As seniors across the country gear up for graduation ceremonies, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee announced its commencement speech will be delivered by the state’s top political leader, Gov. Jim Doyle.

According to officials, Doyle will arrive at the U.S. Cellular Arena Dec. 20 to deliver a commencement speech to more than 2,000 soon-to-be graduates and their families.

UW-Milwaukee extended the invitation to the governor months ago, said Vice Chancellor for University Relations Tom Luljak.

“We’re very pleased that he will be able to join us,” Luljak said. “The governor has been very supportive of the initiatives at UW-Milwaukee and he has been instrumental in helping the institution to build its research capacity.”

Lee Sensenbrenner, spokesman for Doyle, affirmed Luljak’s praise.

“UW-Milwaukee is an incredibly strong part of our UW System,” Sensenbrenner said. “There’s a lot of hard work there that he’s supporting, especially the genomics initiative.”

The genomics initiative, he added, is a collaborative project being conducted by UW-Milwaukee and other institutions that treats patients based on their genome sequence.

A past Peace Corps volunteer who served in Tunisia, Doyle is also a strong supporter of public service, Sensenbrenner added.

He said Doyle’s speech is likely to reflect the values of service and education because these traits have always been on the governor’s top priorities.

Sensenbrenner said the governor looks forward to these opportunities to talk about the next generation of leaders and it would be a chance for him to discuss what the future holds.

UW-Madison’s commencement ceremony, which will also take place Dec. 20, is scheduled to be held at the Kohl Center. The event is free and open to the public.

In choosing the speaker, the elected senior class officers are responsible for providing Secretary of the Faculty David Musolf with a list of their top choices, after which he is responsible for securing a speaker for the ceremony from the list.

The name of UW-Madison’s commencement speaker is scheduled to be announced Dec. 9, said Musolf in an e-mail to The Badger Herald.