David Brooks to speak at commencement

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Mills College President Alecia DeCoudreaux will speak at May commencement ceremonies.

Honorary doctoral degrees will be presented to both Brooks and DeCoudreaux.

“We are extremely honored that these two distinguished leaders will be addressing our graduates this spring in Bloomington,” said IU President Michael McRobbie in a press release. “David Brooks is one of the most respected political and cultural observers of our time. Alecia DeCoudreaux, an alumna of our Maurer School of Law, had a distinguished business and legal career and has combined integrity, tenacity and a keen intellect to bring important change through her community service and work, now in academia.”

In addition to his work as an op-ed columnist for the New York Times, Brooks has contributed to “PBS News Hour” as an expert commentator and is a frequent contributor to NPR, The Washington Post and The New Yorker. He is also the author of three books regarding the complexity of human society and experience, according to the release.

Brooks, whose son is currently enrolled at the Kelley School of Business, will address degree recipients at the graduate commencement ceremony at 3 p.m. May 3 in Assembly Hall.

DeCoudreaux left her position as a senior executive at Eli Lilly and Co. to become president of Mills College in San Francisco in 2011. In 2012, the Indianapolis Business Journal named her one of the year’s most influential women.

She is the first African-American female president of Mills College.

“I have known Alecia for over 25 years,” Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel said in a press release. “She is a brilliant and highly pragmatic counselor, committed to leadership by example and to deep values of community service. This is richly deserved.”

DeCoudreaux has had honorary and leadership roles at IU, including honorary director of the IU Foundation from 1998 to 2007. In 1998, she was inducted into the Academy of Law Alumni Fellows, the highest honor Maurer bestows upon alumni.

She will speak at the undergraduate commencement ceremonies at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. May 4 at Assembly Hall.

— Kathryn Moody