Last modified: Monday, December 6, 2010
Surgeon general of the U.S. Navy to address graduates at IU Bloomington's 2010 Winter Commencement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 6, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Vice Admiral Adam M. Robinson Jr., surgeon general of the U.S. Navy, chief of its Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and an Indiana University alumnus, will address graduates at IU Bloomington's 2010 Winter Commencement on Dec. 18.
IU President Michael A. McRobbie will preside over the commencement ceremony in which 2,170 students are eligible to participate.
This number includes undergraduates as well as graduate students whose degrees were awarded during September and October, and those who are candidates for November and December degrees.
The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at Assembly Hall. The procession of students will begin at 9:15 a.m. Tickets are not required.
McRobbie will deliver a charge to the class, and then he will confer degrees with assistance from IU Bloomington Provost Karen Hanson and the deans of the individual schools.
Robinson, a native of Louisville, Ky., earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science at IU Bloomington in 1972 and a medical degree from the IU School of Medicine in 1976. He also earned a master's in business administration from the University of South Florida in 1995.
He was commissioned into naval service in 1977 after completing his surgical internship at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield.
The 36th surgeon general of the Navy and chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery since 2007, Robinson oversees medical operations and services for that branch of the armed services. It includes 60,000 employees and has an annual budget of $3 billion.
Over the past 33 years, Robinson has held numerous administrative medical positions with the Navy in Japan, Puerto Rico and the United States and with the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. He has served as ship's surgeon on the aircraft carriers USS Midway, USS John F. Kennedy and USS Coral Sea. From 2003 to 2007, he served as chief of the National Naval Hospital at Bethesda, Md., which also is known as "The President's Hospital."
His personal decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal (twice), Legion of Merit (also twice), Defense Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), Navy Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Navy Achievement Medal and various service and campaign awards.
The formal induction of new graduates into the IU Alumni Association will be done by graduating senior Brent Postlethweight, of Noblesville, Ind., representing his class during the induction; Patrick Shoulders, vice chair of the IU Board of Trustees, representing the university; and Michael Barlow of Chicago, chairman of the IU Alumni Association, representing the more than 540,000 graduates of Indiana University.
Father Robert Keller of St. Paul's Catholic Center will offer the invocation following the processional, which will be performed by the Indiana University Commencement Ensemble under the direction of Scott A. Jones, doctoral student in the IU Jacobs School of Music.
The ensemble also will provide music for the recessional. Jacobs School Dean Gwyn Richards will lead the audience, the graduating students and the platform party in singing "The Star Spangled Banner" and, later, "Hail to Old IU."
For more information, go to https://commencement.iu.edu/.
