UN Ambassador Samantha Power announced as University of Pennsylvania commencement speaker

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The University of Pennsylvania says U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power will speak at its commencement.

Philadelphia's Ivy League school announced Power's selection Tuesday and says she and husband Cass Sunstein, an environmental lawyer, will be presented with honorary degrees at the May 18 ceremony.

The university says it'll also honor renowned neurology professor Arthur Asbury, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, actress Rita Moreno, astronaut and Johnson Space Center Director Ellen Ochoa and Philadelphia Dance Company founder Joan Myers Brown.

The 44-year-old Power is Penn's first female commencement speaker since actress Jodie Foster in 2006.

Singer and songwriter John Legend spoke last year.

Power was confirmed as U.N. Ambassador in August 2013. The Pulitzer Prize winner previously served on the National Security Council staff as a special assistant to the president.