Grove City College welcomes Vice President of the United States Mike Pence to deliver the keynote address at the College’s 137th Annual Commencement at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 20, on the Quad between Harbison Chapel and Crawford Hall on campus.
It is the first of three commencement addresses the Vice President will deliver this season, followed by the University of Notre Dame on May 21 and the U.S. Naval Academy on May 26.
He is the first sitting vice president to speak at Grove City College and the highest ranking government official to ever visit campus. Vice President Pence also will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws (L.L.D.) degree from the College.
Admission to the event is by ticket only for graduates and their families, employees and friends of the College.
The College welcomes media coverage of Commencement. Media who wish to attend are required to be credentialed in advance by Grove City College. To learn more and request credentials, visit www.gcc.edu/mediacredentials.
“We are proud to welcome the Vice President and we are thankful that our graduates will have the opportunity to bear witness to his deep and abiding faith, quiet humility, and compelling leadership in challenging times,” President Paul J. McNulty ’80 said. “This will be a lifetime memory for the class of 2017.”
Michael R. Pence is the 48th Vice President of the United States. He was previously Governor of Indiana, a six-term Congressman representing east-central Indiana, an attorney and a radio and television talk show host.
Vice President Pence was born in Columbus, Indiana, and grew up with a “front row seat to the American Dream,” according to the White House. Watching as his parents built up a successful business, he learned to believe in the importance of hard work, faith and family. The Vice President earned a bachelor’s degree in history in 1981 from Hanover College, where he renewed his Christian faith, which is the driving force in his life. He attended Indiana University School of Law, where he met his wife, Karen. Together they have three children.
After graduation, Vice President Pence practiced law, led the Indiana Policy Review Foundation and began hosting “The Mike Pence Show,” a syndicated talk radio show and a weekly television public affairs program in Indiana. In 2000, he ran for Congress and entered the U.S. House of Representatives at the age of 40.
On Capitol Hill he established himself as a champion of limited government, fiscal responsibility, economic development, educational opportunity and the U.S. Constitution. He served as Chairman of the House Republican Study Committee and House Republican Conference Chairman. In 2013, the Vice President was elected the 50th Governor of Indiana. He brought the same limited government and low tax philosophy to the Statehouse in Indianapolis.
In July 2016, President Donald J. Trump selected then-Governor Pence to be his running mate. On Nov. 8, 2016, he was elected Vice President of the United States.
Grove City College (www.gcc.edu) is a highly ranked, nationally recognized private liberal arts and sciences college that equips students to pursue their unique callings through an academically excellent and Christ-centered learning and living experience distinguished by a commitment to affordability and promotion of the Christian worldview, the foundations of a free society and the love of neighbor.
Established in 1876, the College is a pioneer in independent private education and accepts no federal funds. It offers students degrees in 60 majors on a picturesque 180-acre campus north of Pittsburgh, Pa. Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Grove City College is routinely ranked as one of the country’s top colleges by U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review and others based on academic quality and superior outcomes.