PHILADELPHIA (AP) - New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker will speak at the University of Pennsylvania’s commencement this spring.
Penn President Amy Gutmann says in a Tuesday announcement that Booker’s service as a U.S. senator and former mayor of Newark “embodies Penn’s fundamental values of civic engagement, applying one’s intellect and energy to better the world.”
The 47-year-old former Rhodes scholar attended Stanford University on a football scholarship. He moved to Newark after getting a law degree from Yale, and in 1998 won election to the city council at age 29. In 2006 he became mayor.
School officials say Booker will also receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. Others set to receive honorary degrees in the May 15 ceremony include public radio host Terry Gross, Chilean-American author Isabel Allende and civil rights activist Bob Moses.
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