Former University of Massachusetts professor Sheila Bair, now the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., will be this year’s Undergraduate Commencement speaker.

Bair was named the second most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine last year. She was listed as number one in the Wall Street Journal’s “50 Women to Watch” list of 2008.

She is noted for her early warnings of the financial lending crisis, for which she won the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award, according to a UMass press release. In 2008, the FDIC took over 25 failed banks under her watch.

Bair is affiliated with the Isenberg School of Management, according to the release, which states that she is “currently on leave as the Dean’s Professor of Regulatory Policy.”

At UMass, Bair “examined the structure and policies of the financial regulatory environment” as well as the idea of “expanding access to financial services by low-income groups,” said the release.

The Undergraduate Commencement ceremony will honor the graduation of 4,200 students, said the release. The average attendance for the ceremony is around 20,000.

The ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. on May 15 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.

– Collegian Staff