Roger Ferguson Jr. — president and CEO of TIAA-CREF, a company that provides retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural sectors — will be the speaker at the advanced-degree graduation ceremony at 7 p.m. the same day.

“Technology plays a critical role in the education of our students, so it’s fitting that Steve Wozniak will send our graduates off to careers that have been influenced by his innovations,” said MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon in an MSU release.

Kendsie Hunter, a global and area studies senior, said she’s excited to hear Wozniak speak at the ceremony. Apple products have had a big impact on the way college students interact with each other, she said.

“(Apple’s) changing the way we use technology in our world,” Hunter said. “It’s going to have a huge impact on what our future careers are going to be like.”

Special education senior Alison Inwood said she does not use many Apple products and doesn’t know if the speech will address the students going into her future career.

“It’s nice because (Wozniak’s) somebody that’s prominent in the business world, but I’m an education major so it’s not really relevant to me,” she said.

MSU officials were not available for comment Wednesday.

Hunter also served on the commencement committee for Senior Class Council, which selected political science and pre-law senior David Zemon as the student commencement speaker Tuesday night, she said.

The committee received 18 applications from students to be speakers, a jump from six applications for the December 2010 commencement spot, Hunter said.

Zemon said speaking at commencement is something he has wanted to do since freshman year. When he first drafted the speech, he said it was terrible.

“I thought about if I was sitting there, what would I want to hear and what would I want to say — it all came together,” Zemon said.

Zemon said he’s not letting anyone hear his speech before the ceremony besides the commencement committee and his roommates who have heard him practicing a few times. The speech retraces some of his memories at MSU and goes on to thank the university for being a place that has given him “more than classes and grades.”

Zemon said giving the speech will be bittersweet since it means his time at MSU is over, but he’s excited to address the crowd.

The ceremony will be MSU’s second green commencement — using caps and gowns made from recycled plastic bottles and programs and diplomas printed on recycled paper.

In 2010, the recyclable gowns were created from more than 58,000 20-ounce plastic bottles, said Lauren Olson, project coordinator for the Office of Campus Sustainability.

Olson said she hopes green commencements become the standard, adding they help encourage graduates to continue to be environmental stewards once they leave East Lansing.

“It really shows MSU’s trying to complete the loop,” Olson said.