Huntsman's long public-service career includes being elected to two terms as governor of Utah. He was formerly deputy assistant secretary of commerce for Asia, ambassador to Singapore and deputy U.S. trade representative and is a founding director of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

In addition to announcing the commencement speaker, Penn also released the names of this year's honorary degree recipients: Sandra M. Faber, an observational astronomer and a pioneer in the study of the formation and evolution of galaxies and of the structure of the universe; Paul Farmer, a medical anthropologist and physician; Abdullah Ibrahim, a South African musician whose style fused jazz, traditional African songs and personal spirituality; Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey, the president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Greg Mortenson, co-founder and executive director of the Central Asia Institute; Peter C. Nowell, professor emeritus of pathology and laboratory medicine at Penn who is responsible for groundbreaking work in the genetics of cancer; and James S. Riepe, former vice chairman of T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and former chairman of Penn's Board of Trustees.

For more information, please see the University's news release:
http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1840