Grinnell College leader to speak at University of Michigan winter commencement

Raynard S. Kington, president of Grinnell College in Iowa and a U-M alumnus, will give the keynote address to mid-year graduates on Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. in Crisler Center. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Kington received his undergraduate and medical degrees from U-M and a MBA and Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania.

After a career in health care that included service at Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kington became president of Grinnell in 2010. Grinnell is a small liberal arts college that was recently rated 22nd among liberal arts schools in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

Kington is the college's first black president and one of the first openly gay leaders in higher education.

Coleman earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Grinnell in 1965, before obtaining her doctorate in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina. She also received an honorary degree from the school in 2004.