Senator John McCain will deliver address, receive honorary degree at WFU commencement

John McCain, U.S. senator from Arizona and decorated Navy veteran, will deliver Wake Forest University’s 160th commencement address and receive an honorary doctor of laws degree on May 20.

Approximately 835 undergraduate students and 686 graduate and professional school students, including the Wake Forest Divinity School’s first graduating class, will march at the 9 a.m. outdoor ceremony on Wake Forest’s University Plaza.

Wake Forest will award four other honorary degrees during commencement weekend. Marian Wright Edelman, Children’s Defense Fund founder and president, will receive an honorary doctor of humanities degree. Edelman will deliver the university’s baccalaureate address on May 19.

The university will present an honorary doctor of science degree to David Satcher, U.S. surgeon general from 1998-2002. Floyd Abrams, one of the country’s leading First Amendment attorneys and partner with the law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and F. M. Kirby II, president and director of the F.M. Kirby Foundation, will both receive an honorary doctor of laws degree.

For more information on commencement, visit the News Service Web site, www.wfu.edu/wfunews.

NOTE TO MEDIA: Please contact the News Service with requests for audio or video clips, or a transcript of McCain’s speech.

Categories: Commencement, University Announcement