Sen. Boozman to serve as 2016 ASU spring commencement speaker

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., will serve as the speaker for the spring 2016 commencement at Arkansas State University, Chancellor Tim Hudson announced Monday (April 25).

The spring 2016 commencement ceremonies are at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro.

Boozman, who is the senior senator for the state of Arkansas, chairs three subcommittees and serves on five committees in the 114th Congress: Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; Appropriations; Environment and Public Works; Rules; and Veterans’ Affairs.

He was instrumental in recent years in assisting Arkansas State’s ROTC to remain active. The Red Wolf Battalion celebrates its 80th anniversary this fall.

“It is an honor for us to host Sen. Boozman and to have him address our graduates,” Hudson said. “As his committee assignments reflect, Sen. Boozman has a keen appreciation of the core areas of this university. We are working on collaborative ways through agricultural research to lift up the Delta, and to build innovative public-private partnerships to enhance our historic role as the leading institution of higher education within this part of the Mid-South.”

Raised in Fort Smith, Boozman graduated from Northside High School and went on to play football for the University of Arkansas while completing his pre-optometry requirements.

He graduated from the Southern College of Optometry in 1977 and entered private practice that same year, co-founding a family business with his brother that would ultimately become a major provider of eye care to Northwest Arkansas.

Before serving in the Senate, Boozman represented the people of the Third District of Arkansas in the U.S. House of Representatives for five terms. He was elected to his Senate seat in 2010 and is up for re-election this year. Prior to his election to Congress, he served two terms on the Rogers School Board.