Head of the EPA, Politicians and the CFO of Tesla Will Speak to UCSC Grads

Lisa Jackson, administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, is one of the key graduation speakers for the 10 colleges that make up the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Jackson, the first African-American to head the EPA, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address for College 10's commencement at 1:30 p.m. June 12 on UCSC's West Field.  

A summa cum laude from Tulane University with a master's degree in chemical engineering from Princeton, she worked for New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine as chief of staff. Most of her work, however, has been at the EPA, where she's worked for 16 years.

 A complete list of speakers and times is available here.

They include Alexander Gonzalez, president of California State University, Sacramento, who is a UCSC grad; California Secretary for the State's Resources Agency John Laird, also a UCSC alumnus (Stevenson '72); state Assemblyman Bill Monning; Deepak Ahuja, chief financial officer of Tesla Motors; alumnus Bill Dickinson (Cowell '68), founder of the Smith Renaissance Society; alumnus Ricky Bluthenthal, (Merrill '86), professor of preventative medicine at the University of Southern California; and alumnus Eden Jequinto (Oakes '04), founder of the Engaging Education (e2) program at UCSC.  

 Also speaking are Bettina Aptheker, UCSC professor of feminist studies and history; Dard Newman, Hasan Endowed Chair in Classical Indian Music, UCSC Music Department; Kate Edmunds, associate professor, Theater Arts; and Nancy Cox-Konopelski, director of the UCSC Academic Excellence Program.

The ceremonies are June 10-12.