Booker, an attorney and Rhodes Scholar, was elected mayor of Newark at age 37, promising change in a city that had long struggled with crime, unemployment and corruption. Under his leadership, Newark has led the nation in crime reduction. Booker has invested in public parks and playgrounds and doubled affordable housing to further improve the quality of life in his adopted city.

His sometimes-unorthodox approach to engaging with Newark’s challenges has seen him living in a crumbling public housing project for eight years, frequenting street corners notorious for drug dealing, and engaging in a hunger strike to protest lawlessness.

His first, unsuccessful, run for mayor of Newark was chronicled in the Oscar-nominated documentary “Street Fight,” and Booker has appeared on national talk shows, including "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO.

Booker has been the commencement speaker at a number of colleges and universities, including Harvard Law School, New York University School for Continuing and Professional Studies, and Teachers College at Columbia University.

His civic efforts have been recognized in numerous publications, including Time, Esquire, the New Yorker, Black Enterprise and The New York Times Magazine.

He is a member of numerous boards and advisory committees, including Democrats for Education Reform, Columbia University Teachers’ College Board of Trustees and the Black Alliance for Educational Options.

Booker is a graduate of Stanford University, studied Modern History at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and completed his law degree at Yale University.

Suffolk University will award Booker an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at commencement.

Suffolk University graduate school commencement ceremonies will take place on Saturday, May 22, and undergraduate exercises will take place at 2 p.m. May 23.