Northern Kentucky University’s Chase College of Law has announced Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear will serve as commencement speaker for the spring commencement ceremony.
Chase College of Law will confer approximately 120 degrees to the Class of 2025, including the Juris Doctor and Master of Legal Studies degrees. Gov. Beshear will also be honored with an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree. The commencement ceremony will take place in Truist Arena on Friday, May 9, at 6 p.m.
“We are thrilled to welcome Gov. Beshear to the Chase community and honor the service he has delivered as a public servant and legal professional,” said Judith Daar, Dean of Chase College of Law. “As a law school graduate himself, our Governor understands how important this milestone is for our students and their families.”
Gov. Beshear has long supported the growth of the Northern Kentucky region and its communities through economic initiatives and grants. This past year, he signed legislation that appropriated $125 million for the design and construction of the Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence in Covington, the future location of Chase and the Northern Kentucky campus of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.
As a lawyer, Gov. Beshear practiced in private firms in Washington, D.C. and Kentucky prior to being elected attorney general in 2016. As attorney general, he filed nine lawsuits in late 2019 against pharmaceutical companies, alleging their involvement in Kentucky’s opioid crisis. As that crisis developed, Chase independently created the Center on Addiction Law and Policy to develop new approaches on how law and policy can help reduce the human toll of addiction.
Gov. Beshear was elected governor in 2019 and re-elected in 2023, becoming only the fourth governor in Kentucky’s history to serve two consecutive terms.
Northern Kentucky University