Two prominent Arizonans will address May graduates during the morning and afternoon commencement ceremonies, university officials announced yesterday.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will deliver the afternoon commencement speech while Phoenix Suns majority owner Robert G. Sarver will speak in the morning for the UA's 132nd Commencement Ceremony, May 14 in McKale Center.
President Peter Likins invited the two after receiving recommendations from Student Body President Alistair Chapman last month.
Chapman, a molecular and cellular biology senior, said he asked Likins to invite the men after consulting with other students, who showed an interest in both speakers.
"Robert Sarver is young and successful, not only in business but he's also a philanthropist in our community," said Chapman, referring to the 43-year-old's role in the UA Sarver Heart Center. "McCain is one of the most import political figures in our country and he's also from Arizona."
Likins said when inviting commencement speakers, the university looks for a person who has made an impact as opposed to arbitrary entertainers.
"We usually try to get a person the students recognize and look up to in some way," Likins said. "Often times, political figures, people in the entertainments, in some instances, we've been able to bring in high visibility performers or athletes."
McCain, a 1958 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., has served on the U.S. Senate since 1986, when he took the seat occupied by the late Sen. Barry Goldwater.
Before his career in the Senate, McCain was a naval aviator and, in 1982, he was elected to Congress as a representative of Arizona.
Sarver, a 1982 UA graduate in business administration, became the youngest person to found a national bank at age 23.
Along with the title of majority owner and managing partner of the Phoenix Suns, Sarver is also the chairman and chief executive officer of Western Alliance Bancorporation, founder of the real estate investment company Southwest Value Partners and member of the Board of Trustees for the UA Sarver Heart Center, the namesake of his late father Jack.
Last year, UA alumnus and former NBA star Steve Kerr spoke at both the morning and afternoon ceremony after the UA received word President George W. Bush declined the commencement invitation.
Past UA commencement speakers include Gov. Janet Napolitano, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
The commencement morning ceremony will be at 9 and the afternoon ceremony beings at 1:30.