Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi to speak at commencement

The current Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, His Excellency Minister Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, will deliver the address at Lehigh University’s 144th commencement ceremony on Monday, May 21.

The university expects to confer more than 1,800 degrees to undergraduate and graduate students at the ceremony slated to be held in Goodman Stadium.

Al-Naimi, named one of the most influential people in the world by TIME magazine in 2008, has been minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources since 1995, following a career devoted to energy exploration and production.

He also serves as chairman of the board of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), an international, co-educational, graduate-level research university in Saudi Arabia that is dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement in the kingdom, the region, and the world. 

Al-Naimi '62 studied geology as an undergraduate at Lehigh, continuing on to earn his graduate degree in hydrology and economic geology at Stanford University. He will receive the Doctor of Science honorary degree. 

Also receiving honorary degrees at the commencement ceremony will be:

• Lawrence S. Bacow, the former president of Tufts University who is internationally recognized as an advocate for increasing access to higher education and as an expert in the non-adjudicatory resolution of environmental disputes. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Pedagogy during the commencement ceremony.

• Jody Williams, the American educator and grassroots peace activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to ban landmines. Williams, who was named one of the world’s most powerful women by Forbes magazine, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Williams will also deliver the baccalaureate address in Packer Memorial Church at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 20. The baccalaureate service follows the doctoral degree hooding ceremony at 2 p.m. in Baker Hall in the Zoellner Arts Center.

For more information about commencement activities, please visit the commencement website.