Contact: Jason Hughes at 608-363-2625 or hughesj@beloit.edu
David Axelrod will deliver the commencement speech at Beloit College on May 9
David Axelrod, senior advisor to President Barack Obama, a key player in Obama’s 2008 election and a Beloit College parent, will address the 2010 Beloit College graduating class during commencement exercises May 9.
A political idealist who has played a critical role in American politics for a quarter century, Axelrod served as senior advisor to the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition and chief strategist and media advisor for the 2008 Obama campaign. Following the campaign, the President named him to his current post.
“David Axelrod’s message to the graduating class is one of idealism and a dedication to changing the world,” says Beloit College President Scott Bierman. “He started in politics at 13, working for Robert F. Kennedy, and launched his career as a journalist with an internship at the Chicago Tribune while studying at the University of Chicago. His is a message of commitment to one’s vision, and it is an important one to share with the next generation of our nation’s leaders who graduate this spring from Beloit.”
The soft-spoken Axelrod started his political consulting work as a campaign manager for the late Illinois Sen. Paul Simon in 1984. A longtime strategist for Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, he has managed media strategy and communications for more than 150 local, state and national campaigns, with a focus on progressive candidates and causes. Self described as a “specialist in urban politics,” he has worked on the mayoral campaigns for numerous African-American candidates around the country.
“I think a lot of the class of 2010’s Beloit experience has been political in some way,” says Tamara Fouche, a member of the class of 2010 who spearheaded then-candidate Barack Obama’s visit to Beloit in 2008. “It will be a tremendous opportunity to enter the adult world with words from one of the greatest figures in politics.”
Axelrod and his wife, Susan Landau, are the parents of two sons, Ethan and Michael, and a daughter, Lauren. Michael graduated from Beloit College in 2005. The couple has been active in charitable work in Chicago, supporting Special Olympics and Misericordia of Chicago and particularly in the work of seeking a cure for epilepsy. In 1998, they established a family foundation, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), which has raised $9 million.
The annual Beloit College graduation celebration takes place the weekend of May 8-9, with commencement exercises getting underway at 11 a.m. on Sunday on the lawn in front of historic Middle College. The public is invited to attend.
Issued: February 5, 2010
