Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg LP, will address undergraduates at the University’s 485th Convocation on June 10.
The convocation address, delivered by a U of C faculty member, will be given by James Chandler, professor of English in the College.
“We are honored and will welcome the mayor of the city of New York to our convocation and will be interested in what he has to say about contemporary urban problems,” said William Harms, U of C spokesperson.
Bloomberg was elected mayor of New York City in 2001 and reelected in 2005. As mayor, Bloomberg oversaw the integration of New York’s school board into the mayor’s office in order to increase accountability and improve performance.
Since its founding in 1982, Bloomberg LP has become a leading financial information service with over 8,000 employees in over 100 offices around the world. Bloomberg LP operates a news service and radio, television, Internet, and publishing operations.
Bloomberg received his B.S. in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1964 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1966.
Chandler’s primary interest is in English romanticism, focusing on 18th- and 19th-century literature. He is the director of the Franke Institute of the Humanities.
Chandler is currently working on The New Cambridge History of English Romantic Literature and is the general editor of the Cambridge Studies in Romanticism book series, which has published 60 volumes through 2004.
Non-faculty speakers have been rare over the past decade. Exceptions include Bill Clinton, who spoke in 1999, and Katherine Graham, a former University donor and then-Washington Post publisher, who spoke in 1996.
The graduation ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. on the Harper Quadrangle. The University will grant nearly 3,000 degrees from the College and its graduate and professional schools.
