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Bill Nye will speak at the Rutgers-New Brunswick commencement ceremony on May 17. (Drew Angerer | Getty Images)

NEW BRUNSWICK — What do a rocker, a science guy and a foundation president have in common?

Each will speak at a Rutgers University commencement ceremony this spring.

The university's Board of Governors on Thursday unanimously approved Bill Nye as the speaker for Rutgers-New Brunswick on May 17, Jon Bon Jovi for Rutgers-Camden on May 21 and Mellon Foundation President Earl Lewis for Rutgers-Newark. Bryan Stevenson, executive director of Equal Justice Initiative, will also

speak at the Camden ceremony.

The Nye selection may please some students on the New Brunswick campus who started a twitter campaign earlier this school year with the #BowTie4BillNye hashtag.

Retweet this to have Bill Nye speak at this year's commencement!!! #BowTie4BillNye #Rutgers2015 pic.twitter.com/8wpLmbABcq — People of Rutgers (@PeopleOfRutgers) March 5, 2015

Nye, who hosted the popular "Bill Nye the Science Guy" television program, will receive a Doctor of Science degree. Rutgers will pay him a $35,000 speaking fee, though university officials said they do not know if he plans to keep the fee or donate it to the university, as some previous speakers have.

The other speakers will not be paid a fee, according to the university.

Lewis will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters, and Stevenson will get a Doctor of Laws. Bon Jovi, a New Jersey native, will receive a Doctor of Letters.

Additionally, Rutgers will award an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in New Brunswick to Frances Fox Piven, a distinguished professor of political science and sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Former Gov. Tom Kean spoke at last year's graduation after controversy over the university's initial choice.

Kean served as a last-minute replacement for former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who pulled out of giving the speech after weeks of protests from Rutgers students and faculty.

The protesters, who briefly staged a sit-in outside the president's office, objected to giving Rice an honorary degree, citing her involvement in the Iraq War, the use of waterboarding on prisoners and other Bush administration policies.

But the controversy didn't end there.

Eric LeGrand, a former Rutgers football player paralyzed during a 2010 game, revealed via Twitter that he had been asked to replace Rice as commencement speaker by campus officials the day she canceled. But LeGrand said he was told a few days later that president Robert Barchi gave the honor to Kean, the former Republican governor, for "political" reasons.

Barchi later said there had been a miscommunication and LeGrand, a graduating labor relations major, served as the ceremony's student speaker and received his degree on stage.

NJ Advance Media reporter Kelly Heyboer contributed to this report

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.