FAIRBANKS -- The chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities has been tapped to give the commencement address this year at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Jim Leach's address to UAF graduates has been scheduled for 1 p.m. May 13 in the Carlson Center.

Leach, an Iowa Republican, served in the U.S. House of Representatives for three decades. President Obama nominated him in 2009 to lead the National Endowment for the Humanities.