ANN ARBOR, MI - She may root for the green and white, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will deliver the spring commencement address for the University of Michigan.

The university announced Whitmer will deliver the address on May 4 inside Michigan Stadium. She is the sixth sitting governor to deliver a commencement address for UM in the past 40 years.

Whitmer was sworn in and officially inaugurated as the state’s 49th governor on Jan. 1 after defeating Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Schuette 53 to 44 percent in the general election.

Whitmer is a former state lawmaker, first elected in 2000, who rose through the ranks to become the Senate Minority Leader in the 2011-2015 Senate session. She comes from a political family - her mom worked for former Attorney General Frank Kelly, and her father for former Gov. William Milliken. She went into law, completing her undergraduate education and law school at Michigan State University.

Most recently, before hitting the campaign trail, she served as an interim prosecutor for Ingham County in 2016.

During her time as Senate Minority Leader she was a vocal advocate for liberal causes. She gained statewide attention for sharing the story of her own sexual assault on the House floor in 2013.

In addition to her legislative experience, Whitmer taught at both UM and MSU.

In 2011, former Gov. Rick Snyder delivered the address during his first year in office. Eight years before that, it was Gov. Jennifer Granholm delivering the commencement address.

While Whitmer will deliver the commencement address, Randy Schekman, a Nobel Prize winner and professor of cell and developmental biology at the University of California, Berkeley, will deliver the address for the for those receiving master’s or doctoral degrees through the Rackham Graduate School on May 3.

For a list of recent commencement speakers, visit UM’s website.