Contact: Kristin K. Anderson, University Relations, (517) 353-8819, ander284@msu.edu

12/1/2004

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin

Dan L. DeGrow

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Two individuals who have made significant contributions at local, state and national levels will speak at Michigan State University’s fall commencement undergraduate ceremonies Saturday, Dec. 11.

All commencement ceremonies will be held at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center.

The two undergraduate commencement speakers are U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, who will speak at the 2 p.m. ceremony, and Dan L. DeGrow, former Michigan state senator of Port Huron, who will speak at the 10 a.m. ceremony.

Levin, a native of Detroit, has served in the U.S. Senate since 1978 and is a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He is known for his efforts to make government more efficient and ethical, and as an advocate for education, and improving the economy and the environment. Levin will receive an honorary doctor of laws at the ceremony.

“Sen. Levin has responded to MSU time and time again, from obtaining meningitis vaccines promptly to helping with the Rare Isotope Accelerator,” said MSU President Peter McPherson. “He is a thoughtful and distinguished individual, and we are pleased to have him speak at our commencement ceremony.”

The undergraduate speaker at the 2 p.m. ceremony will be Emukule Ekirapa of Nairobi, Kenya, a senior majoring in telecommunication, information studies and media in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.

Students attending the 2 p.m. ceremony are in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering, College of Human Ecolgoy, College of Natural Science and College of Nursing.

DeGrow is the superintendent of the St. Clair Regional Educational Service Agency in Marysville. He has been a long-standing advocate of secondary and higher education and MSU. DeGrow will receive an honorary doctor of laws at the ceremony.

“Dan DeGrow has a fundamental understanding of the land-grant mission of MSU and has fought for that vision effectively year after year as a leader in the state Senate,” McPherson said. “He provided leadership for education for both K-12 and the university in the state Capitol. We are pleased to have him speak at our undergraduate ceremony.”

The undergraduate speaker at the 10 a.m. ceremony will be Rachel M. Harris of Detroit, a senior majoring in social relations in the James Madison College.

Students attending the 10 a.m. graduation ceremony will be from the College of Arts and Letters, College of Education, James Madison College, the College of Social Science and The Eli Broad College of Business.

Biographies of the speakers follow:

DAN L. DeGROW

Dan L. DeGrow of Port Huron, a former Michigan state senator, and currently superintendent of the St. Clair County Regional Educational Services Agency in Marysville, has, as an elected official, served the needs of Michigan citizens for more than 20 years. Before he entered politics in 1981, he was a practicing attorney.

De Grow began his career in state government as a state representative in 1981. He served as a state senator from 1982 to 2002, and was Senate majority leader from 1999-2002, where he was responsible for a $33 million budget.

He is an advocate for high-quality primary and secondary education in Michigan, and authored and guided the passage of landmark K-12 legislation for 20 years.

As an advocate for the university, he provided critical support for the passage of various MSU projects including recurring appropriations for MSU technology improvements, the Bio-Physical Sciences Building, the Animal Industry Initiative, Crop and Soil Sciences Field Laboratory, Project GREEEN (Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs) and the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor Initiative.

He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 2002 President’s Legislator of the Year Award, 2002 Alumni of the Year Award from the Michigan Community College Association and the Frank. J. Kelly Distinguished Public Service Award in 2002.

DeGrow is a member of several educational associations, including the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators, and serves on numerous committees and advisory boards, including the Michigan Workforce Policy Reinvention Project Advisory Committee, the Lieutenant Governor’s Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth and the Center for Educational Performance and Information Advisory Board.

He received his bachelor of arts degree from MSU in 1975, where he was Phi Beta Kappa, and his law degree from Wayne State University in 1978. DeGrow and his wife, Cheryl, have three children, Allison, Stephen and Kelsie.

CARL LEVIN

Carl Levin, a native of Detroit, has served as a U.S. senator from Michigan since 1979 and is recognized as a leader in making government more efficient and ethical, and improving education, the economy and the environment.

He has pursued increased funding for the Head Start preschool program, for Title I for educationally disadvantaged students and for loans and Pell Grants for college and vocational school students. He is a strong advocate for the use of technology in K-12 schools and helped create the Consortium for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching with Technology, a Michigan partnership helping teachers master technology skills.

Levin has worked to strengthen the state’s industrial economy and to protect Michigan’s environmental treasures. He has been a long-time advocate of programs to provide for joint government-industry partnerships in development of advanced vehicle technologies, which led to the establishment of the U.S. Army’s National Automotive Center in Warren.

As co-chairperson of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, he supported cleanup efforts of contaminated sediments and created new standards of environmental protection. He also worked to secure funding to prevent introduction of new invasive species to the Great Lakes.

A ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he is regarded as an expert on national security issues, and in 2003, was recognized for his exceptional service by the Navy and Marine Corps with the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest award given to a civilian.

The senator has been a strong supporter of MSU. When cases of meningitis were discovered and the university decided to vaccinate students to prevent the spread of the disease, Levin’s efforts made it possible for the university to acquire overnight delivery of enough vaccine to inoculate every student on campus.

Levin is a 1956 graduate of Swarthmore College and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1959. He practiced and taught law in Michigan until 1964 when he was appointed an assistant attorney general of Michigan and the first general counsel for the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. He and his wife, Barbara, have three daughters.