![\"obama-speaks-at-asu\"](\"https:\/\/media.arizonafoothillsmagazine.com\/valleygirlblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/24215838\/obama-speaks-at-asu-80x59.jpg\" "\\"obama-speaks-at-asu\\"")
\u00a0<\/p>\nOur 44th and first African American US president, Barack Obama, will speak at ASU\u2019s commencement ceremony on May 13, however he will not be awarded with an honorary degree as his current body of work does not meet the university\u2019s criteria. After much controversy on the school\u2019s decision, ASU has decided to name a scholarship program after the president.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler said the university awards honorary degrees based on a person\u2019s \u201clifetime achievements\u201d and President Barack Obama\u2019s presidency has only just begun.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause President Obama\u2019s body of work is yet to come, it\u2019s inappropriate to recognize him at this time,\u201d Keeler said.<\/p>\n
The scholarship program will be named the \u201cPresident Barack Obama Scholars\u201d and will help students who have high financial needs, the university said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has always been our intention to recognize and honor President Obama\u2019s accomplishments during his visit,\u201d\u00a0ASU President Michael Crow\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
An ASU committee selected and invited President Obama to be its commencement speaker, in which he accepted in March. However, a separate six-member committee that chooses each honorary candidate, did not nominate the president as a recipient for the degree. ASU usually only awards one or two people each year and ASU will not be awarding anyone this spring, Keeler said.<\/p>\n
In the past, those who have received honorary degrees from ASU had \u201clong-established careers in their fields of work\u201d and are not necessarily affiliated with the school, Keeler said. Last spring, ASU presented an honorary degree to James Duderstadt, a professor emeritus of the University of Michigan and an international leader in higher education. In 2006, degrees went to Chinese vice minister of education, Wu Qidi, and to Frank H. T. Rhodes, Cornell University\u2019s former president.<\/p>\n
This will be President Barack Obama\u2019s second visit to Arizona in his first five months in office. The ceremony, on\u00a0Wednesday, May 13\u00a0at\u00a07 p.m.,\u00a0is expected to celebrate about 8.000 graduating ASU students.<\/p>\n
On May 17, Obama will speak at Notre Dame\u2019s commencement ceremony as well as receive an honorary degree, as it is conventional for all Notre Dame\u2019s graduation speakers to receive this degree.<\/p>\n
President Crow of ASU said to local Arizona newspapers that the university has a policy of not awarding the degree to politicians in office and would not reverse its decision.<\/p>\n
President Obama already has degrees from Columbia and Harvard Law, where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review<\/em>, according to Wikipedia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our 44th and first African American US president, Barack Obama, will speak at ASU\u2019s commencement ceremony on May…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[952,951,950,943,954,948,945,949,955,944,956,953,946,947,958,957],"class_list":["post-1827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-arizona-state-does-not-award-president-obama","tag-asu-against-obama","tag-asu-denies-obama","tag-asu-does-not-award-obama-with-honorary-degree","tag-asu-obama-controversy","tag-asu-president-barack-obama-scholars","tag-barack-obama-to-speak-at-asu","tag-interview-with-sharon-keeler-of-asu","tag-no-degree-for-obama-from-asu","tag-obama-in-phoenix","tag-obama-speaks-at-asus-commencement-ceremony","tag-president-barack-obama-at-asu","tag-president-obama-in-tempe","tag-president-obama-speaks-at-asu-graduation","tag-when-does-obama-speak-at-asu","tag-when-is-asus-obama-commencement-ceremony","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"yoast_head":"\n