Former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt will serve as the graduation speaker at the 112th commencement ceremony at St. Andrews Presbyterian College on May 9.

"We are honored to have a nationally recognized leader in education as our speaker at this year's ceremony," said College President Paul Baldasare. "He has been a key player not only in educational reform in North Carolina, but also has been at the forefront of changes in education throughout the country."

Focused on early childhood development and the improvement of the quality of teaching in the United States, Hunt led the development of Smart Start, a nonprofit, public-private partnership that provides quality educational opportunities for children in each of the state's 100 counties. Early childhood leaders from every state and several foreign countries have studied the success of this educational program. Hunt's initiatives have also been recognized with the Innovations in American Government Award from the Ford Foundation and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Hunt was also key in developing the standards for National Board Certification for Professional Teaching Standards. He has served for the past 10 years as chairman of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future at Stanford University. He also serves as chairman of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education located in San Jose, Calif.

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Hunt also leads the board of directors of two institutes he founded at the University of North Carolina system -- the Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy in Chapel Hill and the Institute for Emerging Issues at N.C. State in Raleigh.

"In recognition of his service to the state and education, the college will present Gov. Hunt with its highest recognition -- an honorary doctorate of law," said Baldasare.

The college will also confer 137 baccalaureate degrees at the ceremony that begins at 9 a.m. on DeTamble Terrace. Recognition for special service to the community will also be bestowed upon the recipients of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award.

Admitted to the bar in 1966, Gov. Hunt is currently a member of the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC in Raleigh. He lives on a beef cattle farm in eastern North Carolina with his wife, Carolyn.

For more information about this event, call (910) 277-5240.?