President Barack Obama will return to Ohio State’s campus in May to give the Spring Commencement speech.

“This is a historic occasion for the university, the city of Columbus, and our graduates and their families,” said OSU President E. Gordon Gee in a press release. “We are honored to have President Obama address our graduates at the university’s largest commencement ever. To be sure, this is a signal moment in the life of one of the most vibrant and vital universities in our nation.”

In an email statement to The Lantern, OSU College Republicans spokesman and member of the Commencement Speaker Selection Committee Niraj Antani said he welcomes the president to campus as the commencement speaker.

“While the decision was made to invite him before my service on the committee began, it is an honor to have the sitting President of the United States speak at my commencement,” Antani said.

Spring Commencement is scheduled for noon on May 5 in Ohio Stadium. Obama will deliver the speech exactly one year after he kicked off his re-election campaign at the Schottenstein Center.

Since then, Obama has visited campus two other times: in August when he had lunch at Sloopy’s Diner in the Ohio Union, and in October when he delivered a speech on the Oval.

Obama also visited campus in October 2010 and last March.

According to a press release, there will be extra security measures in place during commencement. All guests must have a ticket, and graduates can receive up to four tickets for their guests.

This will be the third time a sitting president has given OSU’s commencement speech, according to the press release. George W. Bush spoke in 2002 and Gerald Ford spoke in 1974.

Obama will also be giving the commencement speech at the all-male Morehouse College in Atlanta this spring.

University spokeswoman Gayle Saunders said the White House made the announcement Wednesday.