A world of influence: Kenyan prime minister deliverers Commencement address

Raila Amolo Odinga, prime minister of the Republic of Kenya, deliverers UB Law School's 120th Commencement address

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When Dean Makau Mutua invited Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga to address the Law School's 2009 Commencement on May 23, he cited the tie between the school's tradition of teaching and scholarship in human rights law and Mr. Odinga's embodiment of the power of the rule of law to create and safeguard human rights.

"Prime Minister Odinga is one of Africa's celebrated human rights and prodemocracy leaders. He is certainly the most prominent and electrifying politician in Kenya, and is regarded as the center of gravity of that country's politics. He holds the distinction of having been Kenya's longest-serving political detainee because of his opposition to tyranny. He seemed a natural choice given our law school's tradition in human rights and his life's epic struggle to bring democracy, the rule of law and human rights in Kenya."

In the East African nation's 1997 general election for president, Mr. Odinga finished third out of 15 candidates as the candidate of the National Development Party. As the candidate of the new Orange Democratic Movement, he ran for president again in 2007.Following the disputed general election, a coalition government was formed, and Mr. Odinga became Kenya's second prime minister, with the authority to coordinate and supervise government functions.

Born in Maseno in Kenya's western Nyanza Province, Mr. Odinga attended high school in Kenya and then earned bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering in Germany. He then returned to Kenya, where he taught in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nairobi.

From 1975 to 1982, Mr. Odinga served as deputy director of the Kenya Bureau of Standards. He has studied at the British Standards Institution in London, the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., and the University of Denver. Honorary degrees for Khan, Davis The Law School conferred honorary degrees on two lawyers who are influential advocates for human and civil rights.

Irene Zubaida Khan joined Amnesty International as secretary-general in August 2001.Ms.Khan is the first woman, first Asian and first Muslim to head the world's largest human rights organization. She has led the organization through challenging developments in the wake of Sept.11, 2001, confronting the backlash against human rights, broadening the organization's work in economic, social and cultural rights, and initiating a process of internal reform and renewal to enable the organization to respond flexibly and rapidly to world events. She has also focused attention on women's human rights and violence against women.

Irene Zubaida Khan studied law at The Victoria University of Manchester, UK, and Harvard Law School, specializing in public international law and human rights.

J. Mason Davis Jr.'59 was the first African-American to practice as a senior partner of a major Alabama law firm, Sirote & Permutt. As the attorney for a number of students who participated in the Huntsville lunch counter sit-ins during 1961 and 1962, Mr. Davis played a key role in the desegregation of Alabama. He argued and won every matter at the Court of Appeals and as a result of those legal victories and others, the state of Alabama desegregated all public facilities, including its schools.

Mr. Davis was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Alabama Law School for 25 years. Active with the Alabama Democratic Party, he was selected by Gov. Bob Riley to serve on the state's Citizens' Constitution Commission.