Last modified: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Lugar to speak at IU Law School graduation ceremony
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- U.S. Sen. Richard G. Lugar will be the keynote speaker on Saturday, May 3, for the Graduation Recognition Ceremony of the Indiana University School of Law--Bloomington. The ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. at the IU Auditorium.
The school is awarding 211 Doctor of Jurisprudence degrees. Also, it is awarding 69 Master's or Doctor of Juridical Science degrees to international students from more than 15 countries.
Richard Lugar
Lugar, a fifth-generation Hoosier, is the longest-serving senator in Indiana history. He was first elected to the Senate in 1976 and was most recently re-elected in 2006 with 87 percent of the vote. He is the Republican leader of the Foreign Relations Committee and a member and former chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.
A longtime leader in reducing the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, he forged a bipartisan partnership with then-Armed Services Chairman Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., in 1991 to destroy weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. To date, the Nunn-Lugar program has deactivated more than 7,200 nuclear warheads that were once aimed at the United States.
Lugar graduated first in his class at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis. He graduated from Denison College in Ohio and studied at Pembroke College, Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar. Before becoming a senator, he served two terms as mayor of Indianapolis, and he has continued to manage a 604-acre family farm in Marion County. He and his wife, Charlene, have four sons and 13 grandchildren.
The student speaker at the ceremony, as selected by his classmates, will be J.D. candidate Eric Loftman of Bloomington. A 2001 graduate of the University of Colorado, Loftman has served as managing editor of the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, was external team captain for the 2008 Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition, is a board member of the Student Alliance for National Security, and has worked in public interest positions during law school and will continue in that career path after graduation.
Lauren K. Robel, dean of the IU School of Law--Bloomington and the Val Nolan Professor of Law, will preside over the ceremony and provide special welcoming and closing remarks. Leonard D. Fromm, associate dean for students and alumni, and Lesley Davis, assistant dean for international students, will lead the introduction and recognition of the graduating class.
