Dr. Randy Bertin, Head of School, has announced that Doreen Nanibaa (Hobson) McPaul '91, Attorney General of the Navajo Nation, will be Cushing Academy's 145th Commencement speaker. "Doreen McPaul is an outstanding leader in the Navajo Nation and in the legal community in Arizona and beyond," noted Dr. Bertin. "We are proud of her important contributions to her tribe and to her profession, and we are honored to welcome her back to share this special day with the Class of 2020 and the entire Cushing community." 
 
Following her graduation from Cushing in 1991, Ms. McPaul attended Princeton University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She then earned a Juris Doctorate from the Arizona State University College of Law and has practiced law for 19 years. In January 2019, Ms. McPaul was appointed as the Attorney General for the Navajo Nation, her own tribe.
 
As Attorney General, Ms. McPaul is the Navajo Nation’s Chief Legal Officer and oversees the Navajo Nation Department of Justice. She is active in the legal community, becoming one of the first American Indians appointed to serve on the State Bar of Arizona Board of Governors. She is also a founding board member and current president of the Tribal In-House Counsel Association (TICA), a growing national organization, and she also serves on the Board of the American Indian Law Center, Inc. as well as the Arizona Bar Foundation.  

 Ms. McPaul's Penguin roots run deep, as her siblings Andrew Keedah Hobson ’93 and Denise Yanibah (Hobson) Ryan '94 are also Cushing alumni, and her nephews have attended the summer session. She and her husband are the proud parents of three sons.

In recent years Cushing has been fortunate to have a number of alumni speakers for Commencement, including Nancy Chanover '87 (2018), Shiva Saboori '80 (2017), Will Day '89 (2016), John Cena '95 (2015), Meghan Duggan '06 (2014), Nate Berkus '90 (2013), Jay Massirman '76 (2012), and Pete Snyder '90 (2011).