Nobel Peace Prize winner to give Notre Dame's 2023 commencement address

SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame has invited a long list of presidents to speak in its spring commencement ceremonies.

This year, Juan Manuel Santos, a former president of Colombia, will address students in the university's 178th Commencement Ceremony on May 21 at Notre Dame Stadium. He will also be presented with an honorary degree.

Santos served as president from 2010 to 2018 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 2016 for his efforts to bring an end to Colombia's more than 50-year civil war.

The former president has a long history working with Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and delivered the 29th annual Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy last fall.

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Santos first began his relationship with Notre Dame's Kroc Institute in 2012 to seek guidance in exploring an end to Colombia's civil war, according to a university news release. Prior to his presidency, Santos worked as a foreign trade minister and as a journalist for his family's nationally distributed newspaper, El Tiempo.

"President Santos honored us with his presence on campus last fall as a distinguished policy fellow in our Keough School of Global Affairs, and we look forward to welcoming him back in May," Notre Dame President John Jenkins said in the release. "His courageous leadership and resolute commitment ended a half-century-long civil war and put his nation on a path to peace and prosperity."

The university's 2023 commencement will begin with an academic procession at 9 a.m. May 21. More information about Notre Dame's spring commencement weekend is available online at commencement.nd.edu.

Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at clanich@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @carleylanich.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Here's who will speak at Notre Dame's 2023 commencement ceremony