November 19, 2014

Fall commencement ceremony is Dec. 13

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Commencement exercises for fall graduates at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will be Saturday, Dec. 13. 

The commencement ceremony for all colleges begins at 2 p.m. at the SIU Arena. The ceremony is open to the public and tickets are not required. More information is available at commencement.siu.edu/

Donald F. McHenry, who served as ambassador and United States permanent representative to the United Nations and as a member of President Jimmy Carter’s Cabinet, will deliver the keynote address. He served in those posts from September 1979 to January 1981. Prior to that, he was ambassador and United States deputy representative to the United Nations Security Council from 1977 to 1979. 

McHenry earned a master’s degree in political science and speech from SIU Carbondale in 1959 and also an honorary doctor of law degree from the university in 1980.  McHenry, a native of St. Louis, who grew up in East St. Louis, earned his bachelor’s degree in 1957 from Illinois State University. 

In his career, he studied, taught and worked primarily in foreign policy and international law and organization fields. McHenry was a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service from 1981 to 2014. Upon his retirement, Georgetown University established the Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development. 

Additional information on McHenry is available at commencement.siu.edu/graduateinfo/keynotespeaker.