Apple executive, Field Museum CEO named UIC commencement speakers

Richard Lariviere, president and CEO, Field Museum

The University of Illinois at Chicago will celebrate the Class of 2016 at its December commencement ceremony at the UIC Pavilion on Dec. 11. Two ceremonies will honor UIC students who graduate after summer and fall semesters.

Field Museum president and CEO Richard Lariviere will deliver the Graduate College address in the afternoon, and Apple’s vice president of technology, Kevin Lynch, will speak at the evening ceremony to award undergraduate degrees.

The Graduate College commencement begins at 2 p.m. The undergraduate ceremony follows at 7:30 p.m. for the colleges of Applied Health Sciences; Architecture, Design, and the Arts; Business Administration; Liberal Arts and Sciences; Urban Planning and Public Affairs; Education; and Engineering.

About 1,200 undergraduates and 850 graduate students will receive degrees.

Lariviere has led the Field Museum since 2012. His career in academia and business is grounded in his expertise on India. Among the companies Lariviere has worked with are Deluxe Corporation, General Instrument Corporation (now part of Motorola), Cisco Systems, and others. An expert on the Indian legal system and an award-winning author of books and articles on Indian law and culture, Lariviere is fluent in French, Hindi and Sanskrit. He was formerly dean of liberal arts at the University of Texas at Austin, provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Kansas, and president of the University of Oregon. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kevin Lynch, vice president of technology, Apple

Lynch is currently the vice president of technology at Apple, focused on the innovative software of the Apple Watch and the company’s health software effort. Before he joined Apple in 2013, he was chief technology officer at Adobe. He joined Macromedia in 1996 and led its move to web publishing, including the creation of Dreamweaver. Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005. In 1984, Lynch helped establish one of the first Mac software startups, and later helped pioneer handheld personal communicators. He studied interactive computer graphics at UIC, working with artists and engineers in UIC’s famed Electronic Visualization Laboratory.

With 29,000 students, UIC is Chicago’s largest university and is home to the nation’s largest medical school. UIC has one of the most diverse student bodies in the U.S. and is among the nation’s leading universities in federal research funding.

More information is online.