From Knox College
GALESBURG -- Knox College will again have a Commencement speaker pulled straight from the headlines. Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, will deliver the Commencement address on Saturday, June 6, 2009.
"United States Attorney Fitzgerald's leadership in combating crime is exemplary,” explains Roger Taylor, Knox College president. “Once again, Knox students have chosen a national figure to address their class at Commencement,” Taylor said.
The Class of 2009 knows Fitzgerald for his role in nationally significant investigations into terrorism financing, public corruption, corporate fraud, and violent crime. His most recent work includes fighting corruption in the Illinois governor’s office. In December, 2008, Fitzgerald announced the arrest of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich for allegedly plotting to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. He also supervised the public corruption investigation that resulted in sending former Illinois governor George Ryan to prison.
Fitzgerald may be best known for his role as Special Counsel in the investigation of the leaked identity of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative, and the subsequent prosecution of Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby. He also played a key role in the prosecution of conspirators in the 1998 bombings of the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the prosecution of twelve defendants involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and the prosecution of members of the Gambino crime family.
Fitzgerald was nominated to the U.S. Attorney’s position by former Illinois Senator Peter Fitzgerald (no relation) and confirmed by the Senate in October 2001. He has been honored for his service to the country with the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the Stimson Medal from the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service.
2009 will mark the fifth year in a row that a Commencement speaker from recent headlines has accepted Knox's invitation to deliver the address to graduating seniors. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke in 2008; former President Bill Clinton spoke in 2007; Stephen Colbert, star of The Colbert Report, spoke in 2006; and Barack Obama, then a United States Senator from Illinois, spoke in 2005.
As is tradition, Knox College also will award Fitzgerald an honorary degree.
Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with 1,400 students from 47 states and 48 nations. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.
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