Commencement
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Schuldes Sports Center
1:30 p.m.

May 2007

Donald Kommers, a University of Notre Dame professor known for his work in human rights, politics and law, will be the speaker at Commencement this year.

Dick Rankin ’65, who retires this year after 29 years as vice president for student life, is among those receiving honorary degrees. An honorary degree will also be presented to outgoing Green Bay Packers president and CEO Robert Harlan.

Kommers, a member of the law faculty and professor of political science at Notre Dame, has spent a significant portion of his academic career as a guest lecturer at the University of Cologne in Heidelberg, Germany. He has also held a Fulbright lectureship in Japan.

His more than 100 publications span topics from human rights and comparative constitutional law to German politics.

Kommers, an active member of the Association of American Law Professors and the International Constitutional Law Association, served as an adviser to President Jimmy Carter’s Commission on the Holocaust.

Honorary degrees

Kommers is one of five people who will receive honorary degrees this year.

Robert Harlan and his wife, Madeline, will be honored in recognition of their service to the community. During Bob Harlan’s 18-year tenure at the Packers he drove forward projects like the renovation of Lambeau Field. Among her many humanitarian projects, Madeline Harlan headed fund raising for the new emergency room at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Green Bay.

Honorary degrees also go to Dick Rankin and his wife, Rosemary, who have played a vital role in connecting the College with the greater community during their long association with St. Norbert. This year’s presidential award will be presented to Robert Rutter, associate vice president for institutional effectiveness at St. Norbert. Rutter is in the process of expanding his office’s duties beyond student assessment and into general institutional research.