The University of Denver has announced its 2013 Commencement speakers. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will address graduate school students during ceremonies on June 7, and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock will address undergraduates on June 8. Both men also will receive honorary doctorates of public service.
Ban Ki-moon, a strong advocate for sustainable development, has strived to mobilize world leaders and the global public around such pressing challenges as eradicating poverty and hunger, advancing global health, addressing climate change, strengthening peacekeeping and conflict prevention, and empowering the world’s women and young people.
Ban received a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Seoul National University in 1970. In 1985, he earned a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His long career in public service in his native Republic of Korea has included postings in New Delhi, Vienna, New York and Washington, D.C., and culminated with his years as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
He became the eighth secretary general of the United Nations on January 1, 2007. In June 2011 he was unanimously re-elected by the U.N. General Assembly and will serve until Dec. 31, 2016.
Hancock became Denver’s 45th mayor in July 2011. A native of Fort Hood, Texas, he is the youngest of 10 children from an Army family that moved to Denver when he was less than a year old. A graduate of Denver’s Manual High School, he attended Hastings College, in Nebraska, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1991. He received his master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado-Denver.
In 1995 he joined Metro Denver’s Urban League affiliate as program director; he became the league’s president in 1999. In 2003, he was elected to Denver City Council and served two terms as council president, from 2006 to 2008.
Approximately 2,900 students will receive degrees at the undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies. Both ceremonies will take place in Magness Arena, inside the Ritchie Center on campus.
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