NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

SPRING COMMENCEMENT

MAY 1, 2010

HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENT

AND

COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

MICHAEL PRUSI

STATE SENATOR, MICHIGAN’S 38^TH DISTRICT

Senator Michael Prusi will be the keynote speaker at Spring Commencement and will receive an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree.

Senator Prusi has represented Michigan’s 38^th District in the Michigan Senate since 2003.  He currently serves as the Senate Democratic Leader, and as the Democratic Vice-Chair of the Senate Government Operations Reforms and Restructuring, and Hunting, Fishing, and Outdoor Recreation Committees.  Mike is also a member of the Legislative Council and the Senate Fiscal Agency Governing Board.  He served three terms in the Michigan House of Representatives prior to his election to the Senate.   

Prior to his legislative career, Mike worked for over twenty years for Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company, now Cliffs Natural Resources, as a miner.  He was elected to three terms as President of Local Union 4950 of the United States Steelworkers of America.  He was a member of the International Union’s Wage Policy Committee and Upper Peninsula Delegate for the union’s Committee on Political Education.  Mike also served on the Executive Board of the Marquette County Labor Council and has been active in the United Way and with Bell Memorial Hospital as a Board member.