(KAIR)--Atchison-based Benedictine College has announced the keynote speaker for the college's 2025 Commencement Exercises.

According to a release from the private, Catholic college, Sister Deirdre “Dede” Byrne, POSC, a Roman Catholic religious sister, missionary, surgeon and retired U.S. Army colonel, will be the featured keynote speaker for the Commencement Exercises, set for May 17.

The release calls her "a fearless advocate for the unborn and the chronically ill and disabled," who has "worked tirelessly to defend conscience protections for medical doctors."

Her story is told in the recently published biography, Sister, Soldier, Surgeon: The Life and Courage of Sister Deirdre Byrne, M.D. by Leisa Marie Carzon, Ph.D.

Sister Dede currently currently serves as the local superior of the Washington, D.C., house of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts as well as the institute's medical missions.

As keynote speaker, she will, along with three other women, receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree. The others, Denise Burke, Kellie Fiedorek and Erin Hawley, are staff members of the Alliance Defending Freedom and were involved in various ways with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case in Mississippi that eventually went to the Supreme Court and resulted in the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Due to limited seating, Commencement Exercises at Benedictine College are private events for family and friends of the graduates. Tickets are required for entry into the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium, where the ceremony takes place.