Retired Gen. Colin L. Powell will be the commencement speaker at Franklin & Marshall College's 2009 graduation, it was announced Saturday.
College President John A. Fry, reached by phone, said F&M is thrilled to have someone of Powell's caliber and stature.
"I heard him speak once before, and he was so inspirational," Fry said. "He's a real American hero."
Powell also will receive an honorary degree at commencement, set for Saturday, May 16.
Secretary of state during President George W. Bush's first term, Powell is a four-star general who served as national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War.
Currently, he is a strategic limited partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and is helping to raise money for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. Powell also is the best-selling author of an autobiography, "My American Journey."
At his alma mater, City College of New York, he founded the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies that seeks to develop a new generation of publicly engaged leaders.
Fry said an advisory committee at F&M compiles a list of potential graduation speakers, and that Powell was at the top.
He said he wrote the retired general a letter, and received a response from Powell saying that he would consider the invitation.
But the influence of F&M trustee and alumnus Ken Duberstein, a former chief of staff to President Reagan and a close friend of Powell's, is what made the difference, Fry said.
Duberstein "couldn't have been more helpful," he said.
Paula Wolf is a staff writer for the Sunday News. She can be reached by e-mail at pwolf@lnpnews.com.
