NEWS

Gov. Bobby Jindal will be the keynote speaker for Louisiana Tech’s spring commencement ceremonies, which will be held Saturday, May 23.

Graduation will take place at 2 p.m. in the Thomas Assembly Center.

Tech will also honor alumni and faculty members during commencement ceremonies. Glen Post, chairman and CEO of CenturyTel, will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree, and Tower Medallions, the highest alumni award, will be awarded to Jimmy Love, financial consultant, and Jim McCrery, former Louisiana congressman.

Additionally, three faculty awards will be awarded: the Louisiana Tech University Foundation Professorship Award, the F. Jay Taylor Tech Foundation Undergraduate Teaching Award and the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award.

Jindal, who was sworn in as Louisiana governor in 2008, has worked to reform the state’s health care, education and transportation centers. He also has continued recovery efforts in areas devastated by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.

Born in Baton Rouge in 1971, Jindal attended Brown University, where he graduated with honors in biology and public policy, and went on to attend Oxford University in England as a Rhodes Scholar, after turning down admissions to medical and law schools at Harvard and Yale.

Former President George W. Bush appointed Jindal to serve as assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Jindal served as the principal policy advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He later resigned from the position to return to Louisiana and run for governor. He received 48 percent of the vote in runoff.

In 2004 he was elected to the 109th United States Congress representing the First District of Louisiana and served as assistant majority whip, assisted with Louisiana’s recovery from Katrina and Rita, and passed legislation to bring offshore energy revenues to the state.
Jindal was re-elected to Congress in 2006 with 88 percent of the vote majority. He was elected governor the next year.

Jindal and his wife Supriya have three young children.

Written by Judith Roberts