Pending approval by the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents, Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley and Dave Coverly, EMU alumnus and creator of the nationally syndicated cartoon “Speed Bump,” are set to be commencement speakers at the April 29 graduation ceremony.

Before being elected as lieutenant governor, Calley served two terms in the Michigan Legislature as a state representative. In that role, he served as minority vice chair of the House Tax Policy Committee where he worked with lawmakers.

Prior to his time as a state lawmaker, Calley worked 10 years as a community banker and small business lender. Calley graduated from Michigan State University in 1998 with a B.A. in business administration and received his MBA from Grand Valley State University in 2000.

Coverly’s comic strip currently appears in more than 200 newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, USA Today and Esquire Magazine. Coverly also created a line of cards promoted by American Greetings and has composed two books.

During Coverly’s time as a student at EMU, he ran a comic strip, “Freen,” in The Eastern Echo and participated in two Undergraduate Symposiums.

Coverly graduated from EMU in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and imaginative writing and got his master’s in creative writing from Indiana University in 1992.

Coverly will give the address at the morning commencement and Calley will speak at the afternoon ceremony.