Marquette to Celebrate Mid-Year Graduation Dec. 18 Accomplished professor and human rights advocate to address graduates Released: Dec. 12, 2005 MILWAUKEE – Marquette University will celebrate its annual mid-year graduation ceremony on Sunday, December 18, 2005 at the U.S. Cellular Arena.  The program will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will feature a keynote address by Dr. H. Richard Friman, the Eliot Fitch Chair for International Studies and professor of political science at Marquette.  This year’s featured student speaker is Hector Sanchez. Marquette President Robert A. Wild, S.J., will also address the approximately 500 graduates, after which they will be individually recognized for their accomplishments.  Graduation events will also include a Baccalaureate Mass at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, at Gesu Church, 1145 W. Wisconsin Ave. Dr. H. Richard Friman, who will deliver the keynote speech, joined Marquette’s faculty in 1986.  In addition to serving as the Eliot Fitch Chair for International Studies and teaching courses in political science, he is the director of the Institute for Transnational Justice, which seeks to facilitate a greater understanding of the challenges and paths to achieving transnational justice.  Friman served as chair of the Department of Political Science from 2000 to 2003 and has served as coordinator of the interdisciplinary major in international affairs and interdisciplinary minor in peace and justice. Friman’s specializations include international relations and international political economy and his current research focuses on the dynamics of the illicit global economy; migrant smuggling and trafficking; immigration and drug control policy in Japan, Germany and the United States; and domestic bargaining in international economic relations. In 1998, Friman received the Rev. John P. Raynor, S.J., Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence from Marquette and the American Political Science Association and Pi Sigma Alpha Award for Outstanding Teaching in Political Science. The mid-year graduation student speaker is Hector Sanchez, a College of Engineering senior from Valencia, Venezuela.  While at Marquette, he has been actively involved on campus and the community working with Marquette’s Residence Hall Association, tutoring peers in statistics, physics, Spanish and French and serving as an interpreter at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.  He will be pursuing a Master’s of Science in engineering management at Marquette while working as a research assistant with Dr. Richard W. Marklin, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.   Sanchez’s father, Jay, received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and industrial engineering from Marquette in 1973. Media wishing to attend should contact Anne Broeker in the Office of Marketing and Communication at (414) 288-0286 (office) or (414) 313-1139 (cell). Event Information: Date:     Sunday, Dec. 18 Time:     9:30 a.m. Place:    U.S. Cellular Arena               500 W. Kilbourn Ave. Office of Marketing and Communication Contacts Anne Broeker Senior Media Relations Specialist Phone: (414) 288-0286 Send e-mail