May 9, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Attorney, civil rights legend and presidential adviser Vernon E. Jordan Jr. will provide the principal address at Saturday's commencement exercises for the Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis. The event begins at 2 p.m. at the Indiana Convention Center.
The following day, Jordan will address graduates of Penn State University's College of the Liberal Arts and receive an honorary degree at noon in the Bryce Jordan Center.
A 1957 graduate of DePauw University, Jordan is a senior managing director of Lazard Frères & Co. LLC in New York. He was previously a senior executive partner with the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where he remains senior counsel.
Jordan has also served as
president and chief executive officer of the
National Urban League, Inc.; executive director of the United Negro
College Fund, Inc.; director of the Voter Education Project of the
Southern Regional Council; attorney-consultant, U.S. Office of Economic
Opportunity; assistant to the executive director of the Southern
Regional Council; Georgia Field Director of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People, and an attorney in private practice
in Arkansas and Georgia. (above right: Jordan delivers DePauw's commencement address in 1993)
His presidential appointments include: the President’s Advisory Committee for the Points of Light Initiative Foundation; the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on South Africa; the Advisory Council on Social Security; the Presidential Clemency Board; the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission; the National Advisory Committee on Selective Service; and the Council of the White House Conference "To Fulfill These Rights." In 1992, Jordan served as the Chairman of the Clinton Presidential Transition Team.
An advisory member of DePauw's Board of Trustees,
Jordan earned his law degree at Howard University Law School and
honorary doctoral degrees from more than 60 colleges and universities in America, including
DePauw. He is the author of Vernon Can Read! A Memoir and Make It Plain, Standing Up and Speaking Out.
Read more here.
In December 2009, Jordan was one of eight individuals presented with the Du Bois Medal, the highest honor awarded by the Harvard University Institute of Politics' W.E.B. Du Bois Institute. He's also been honored with the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP's highest honor for achievement, the Trumpet Award, and his alma mater's Old Gold Goblet and McNaughton Medal for Public Service.
In his 1993 commencement address at DePauw, Jordan declared, "DePauw expanded my mind, broadened my horizons, lifted my sights, prepared me to serve and to lead and nurtured my growth and maturity. I made lasting friendships here. If I had my life to live over again, I would return to this place."