St. Thomas University School of Law is pleased to announce that the Honorable Marcia G. Cooke of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida will deliver the commencement address at its commencement ceremony on May 14, 2016. The law school ceremony will take place at 9:00 am at the Fernandez Center for Leadership & Wellness on the campus of St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens.
“We are delighted that a distinguished jurist, a pathbreaker in the legal profession, and a life-long and committed public servant will be our commencement speaker,” stated St. Thomas Law’s Dean Alfredo Garcia. “Judge Cooke embodies the values that St. Thomas University strives to instill in all of its students.”
President George W. Bush nominated Judge Cooke to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on November 25, 2003, to the seat vacated by Wilkie D. Ferguson. Judge Cooke was confirmed by the Senate on May 18, 2004, and received her commission the same day. Judge Cooke is the first African-American female federal judge in Florida. Before her appointment as a federal judge, Cooke served as a magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan from 1984 to 1992. Judge Cooke also has years of experience in Florida, having served as an assistant county attorney in Miami-Dade County (2002-2004), chief inspector general for the Executive Office of the Governor of Florida under Governor Jeb Bush (1999-2002), Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida (1992-1994), and director of professional development and training at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (1992; 1994-1999).
Born in Sumter, South Carolina, Judge Cooke graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a B.S. in Foreign Service, and received her juris doctorate from Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan.
