Penn’s public persona gained significantly with stint at the White House.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Actor Kal Penn will give the commencement address to the graduates of the class of 2014 at DePauw University on Sunday, May 18.
The address will be the 175th annual commencement address given at the esteemed institution. Founded in 1837, DePauw University is a private, liberal arts-oriented school in Greencastle, Indiana. The school has an academic staff of around 250, with roughly 2,400 undergraduate students currently in attendance.
Penn has no previous association with the school, however, having earned his degree in film and sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In recent years, Penn has stepped away from the entertainment industry, and become more notable for his work in the political sphere; in 2007, Penn began actively campaigning on behalf of then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid.
As a result of his support of Obama’s campaign, he was appointed to his post at the White House Office of Public Engagement. He also played a significant role during Obama’s 2012 re-election run, being appointed as the campaign’s co-chair. He also co-hosted the official coverage of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Penn was appointed by Obama as the Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement back in 2009, and earlier this year, was appointed by Obama to the Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
To the public, Penn is perhaps best known for his role as Kumar Patel in the “Harold and Kumar” film trilogy, which consists of 2004’s Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, 2007’s Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and 2011’s A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas. He also had roles in Mira Nair’s The Namesake, and 2006’s Superman Returns. His television credits include “24,” “How I Met Your Mother,” and the upcoming “Battle Creek,” the latest from “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan.
In a press release announcing that Penn would be the key speaker at this year’s commencement, DePauw University lauded Penn for taking an active role in politics, and for using his celebrity status to shed light on important social and political issues in the US. In particular, the school highlighted statements Penn made that he wanted to join politics because of friends he had in the Armed Forces, who inspired him to take a more active role in the political sphere.
“I had friends who were over in Iraq and Afghanistan,” DePauw University quoted Penn as saying. “I had buddies who had huge student debt, people who got kicked off their health insurance plans for one reason or another, and so that was my decision to get involved on a personal level.”
In addition to Penn, the DePauw University graduation ceremony will feature Oxford University Professor Emeritus Emilie Savage-Smith and Gjertrud C. Schnackenberg, who will be awarded honorary Doctor of Letters degrees. Both women have several publications to their name, and their work will be recognized at the graduation proceedings next month.