Dicks to be UW commencement speaker

Congressman Norm Dicks will be the commencement speaker next month at the University of Washington.

Last week the university announced it had no commencement speaker, that an unnamed person had backed out, leaving the school with just weeks to pick a new speaker.

Today's announcement ended speculation about who the UW would pick to greet graduates at the ceremony June 9.

Dicks, 67, represents Washington's sixth congressional district and grew up in Bremerton. He has served in Congress since 1977. Today he serves on the Defense, Interior and Environment and Military Construction subcommittees and was recently elected chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.

In the late 1990s, Dicks was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Dicks graduated in political sciences from the UW in 1963 and received a law degree from the UW in 1968. He also played on the UW football team as a linebacker and guard and went to the Rose Bowl in 1961.