Sen. Kent Conrad to deliver Spring Commencement address

U.S. Senator Kent Conrad will address graduates, faculty, alumni, family, and university supporters at UND’s 2011 Spring Commencement Ceremony at the Alerus Center, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 14.

“We are extremely pleased and proud that Senator Kent Conrad will deliver the commencement address at the University of North Dakota this May,” said President Robert Kelley. “This is an honor for us. Senator Conrad has been a strong supporter of higher education and the University of North Dakota for many years.”

“It is a privilege to be asked to speak to North Dakota’s next generation of leaders,” Conrad said. “Commencement is all about celebrating graduate’s accomplishments and embracing the next exciting phase of their lives. I’m looking forward to playing a small part in that celebration.”

As chair of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Conrad has long fought for a comprehensive plan to reduce the nation’s debt and deficit. That effort – which the Senator says must include targeted spending cuts, and fundamental changes to our entitlement programs and the nation’s tax code – is designed to increase job growth, improve the nation’s competitive advantage in the world, and improve the quality of life this generation is passing on to 2011 graduates, their children and grandchildren.

“Just as the ‘Greatest Generation’ left us a better world than the one they inherited, it is incumbent upon our generation to leave the next generations a world full  of optimism and opportunity, rather than one of deficits, debt and decline,” Conrad said. “The graduates of 2011 and subsequent classes deserve at least that much.”