Jon M. Huntsman Jr. C’87, U.S. Ambassador to China, will speak at Penn’s 254th Commencement on May 17. Hunstman brings a distinguished career in public service to the podium, including two terms as the governor of Utah between 2005 and 2009.
Huntsman has made a lot of his bachelor’s degree in international politics. He has served as an ambassador to Singapore, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Asia, a U.S. Trade Representative, and is a founding director of the Pacific Council for International Policy. He also served on Penn’s Board of Trustees from 1996 to 2000.
“It is an honor to welcome Jon Huntsman back to campus as this year’s Commencement speaker,” President Amy Gutmann said. “He is a distinguished public servant—and a proud Penn alum—and has been an exemplary role model not only for our graduating students but for all Americans. He is carrying on the Penn tradition of outreach and engagement with the world.”
The Huntsman family has a history of benefaction at Penn, endowing both the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business and Jon M. Huntsman Hall, which was named for the ambassador’s father.
Huntsman will receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree along with seven other honorands, including astronomer Sandra M. Fiber, humanitarian and author Greg Mortenson, and Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey, the president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
—Ty Russell C’11
