Commencement Speakers Announced

Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter, will speak during the undergraduate ceremony and Alan Weisman, author of The New York Times best-selling book "The World Without Us," will speak during the graduate ceremony.

The University of Arizona's 140th commencement will be celebrated during two ceremonies at the McKale Memorial Center in May. The ceremony for graduate students will be held on Friday, May 15, and the ceremony for undergraduate students will be held on Saturday, May 16.

Graduate Ceremony and Speaker Information

Alan Weisman, UA professor of journalism and Latin American Studies and author of The New York Times best-selling book "The World Without Us," will be the graduate ceremony commencement speaker. The ceremony begins at 7:30 p.m. on May 15. Graduate student instructions can be found at the Dean of Students Commencement Web site.

Candidates for master's, specialist and doctoral degrees will be honored during the Friday night ceremony, which will also include recognition of honorary degrees, alumni achievement awards and graduate student awards. Graduate students from all colleges are invited to participate.

Weisman's book, "The World Without Us," published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press in 2007, was named Time Magazine's No. 1 nonfiction book of 2007. Weisman, a noted environmental reporter, interviewed scores of scientists and engineers and assembled a timeline of how our physical legacy would decompose without our constant stewardship.

Other works include "An Echo In My Blood" (Harcourt Brace Inc., 1999); "Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World" (Chelsea Green Publishing, 1998); "La Frontera: The United States Border With Mexico" (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986); and "We, Immortals" (Pocket Books, 1979).

Weisman's awards include a Four Corners Award for Best Nonfiction Book, a Los Angeles Press Club Award for Best Feature Story and a Best of the West Award in Journalism. His reports from Latin America have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times Magazine and the Los Angeles Times Magazine.

In collaboration with his colleagues at Homelands Productions, which develops reports for National Public Radio and other news media, Weisman has received a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Citation, the Unity Media Award, the Brazilian government's Premio Nacional de Jornalismo Radiofonico and major grants from The Ford Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Rockefeller Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

Undergraduate Ceremony and Speaker Information

The ceremony for undergraduate student bachelor's degree candidates, their friends and family will begin at 8 a.m. on May 16. This ceremony will include recognition of undergraduate student awards and the presentation of all undergraduates by college. Procession and assembly instructions for undergraduate candidates for bachelor's degrees can be found at the Commencement Web site.

The undergraduate commencement speaker, Dean Kamen, is the inventor of the Segway Human Transporter and an entrepreneur and advocate for science and technology.

He is the founder of DEKA Research & Development Corporation, where he develops internally generated inventions and provides research and development for major corporate clients.

Kamen holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents for innovative devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. Some of his notable inventions include the first wearable insulin pump for diabetics, the HomeChoice portable peritoneal dialysis machine, the INDEPENDENCE IBOT Mobility System and the Segway Human Transporter.

Kamen also founded FIRST, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and technology.

Kamen has been awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000, the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002, is a member of the National Academy of Engineers and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005.