University announces commencement speaker

The University announced today that Justice Michael Kirby, a human-rights advocate who recently retired from the Australian High Court, will present the 2009 commencement address.

"Justice Kirby is world-renowned for the range and multitude of topics whose relationship to and implications for the law he has penetratingly and thoroughly addressed," said IU President Michael A. McRobbie. "In many areas, such as biotechnology and bioethics, and privacy and technology, he is widely seen as a global leader.

Kirby was a Distinguished Citizen Fellow with the Institute for Advanced Study at IU Bloomington in 2004 and delivered the institute's Branigin Lecture in 2004 and 2006.

He will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree on May 9.