The Honorable Sherrod Brown
United States Senator
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown will deliver the commencement address to autumn Ohio State University graduates. When Senator Brown started his political career in 1975 at age 22, he was the youngest person ever elected to the Ohio House of Representative.
He was elected to Congress in 1992, representing Ohio's 13th district in the western and southern suburbs of Cleveland, and went on to be re-elected six times. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, and has been re-elected twice. After winning his third term in 2018, he was considered a potential candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, but ultimately decided that he would not run for president.
Senator Brown's biography describes him as a champion of the middle class, Congress' leading proponent of American manufacturing, and a longtime advocate for fair trade.
He is the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee and played an instrumental role in passing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He also serves on the Senate Committee on Finance.
Senator Brown is the first Ohio senator in 40 years to serve on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, where he has worked on strengthening the farm safety net and addressing childhood hunger. He is also a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, where he has advocated for veterans training programs to ensure returning service members have access to good-paying, high-demand jobs.
An Eagle Scout, Senator Brown is a native of Mansfield. He earned a B.A. at Yale University, and master's degrees in both education and public administration from Ohio State in 1979 and 1981.
Commencement speaker selection
Your help is needed to identify Commencement speakers who can inspire graduates, their families, our faculty, and other guests. The Office of Academic affairs explains the criteria and process for selecting a commencement speaker.
