Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge Ramirez to address 2015 IIT Chicago-Kent graduates

Jorge Ramirez, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor and a 1997 graduate of IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, will deliver the keynote address at the law school's 2015 Commencement on Sunday, May 17, at 2:30 p.m. The ceremony will be held at the UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Rd., in Chicago.

The Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL), the third-largest central labor council of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), represents half a million workers in Chicago and Cook County. Ramirez also serves as a vice president of the AFL-CIO, whose membership includes 13 million working men and women.

The son of Mexican immigrants, Ramirez earned his first union card in 1988 through the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union Local 1546 and worked his way up through the ranks, eventually serving as the local's executive director.

Ramirez has served as an officer of the CFL since July 2006. He was elected the union's first Latino president in July 2010. He was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council as a vice president in February of this year.

Ramirez completed his undergraduate education at the University of Texas at El Paso with a double major in marketing and computer information systems, and earned his law degree from IIT Chicago-Kent in 1997. He was recently honored by the law school as one of "125 Alumni of Distinction."

Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, also known as Illinois Tech, a private, technology-focused, research university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, architecture, business, design, human sciences, applied technology, and law.

Editors: Please note IIT Chicago-Kent's 2015 Commencement is being held at the UIC Forum, not the UIC Pavillion.