Respected Lawyer and Former UC Board Chairman C. Francis Barrett to Receive University's Highest Honor

C. Francis Barrett, a longtime leader at the University of Cincinnati and an accomplished lawyer, will be given an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by UC at Spring Commencement on May 2.

An honorary doctorate is UC's most prestigious award. The special recognition will be bestowed upon Barrett and three other esteemed recipients during Commencement events held from May 1-2 in Fifth Third Arena. The tradition-rich celebration will be held from May 1-2 in Fifth Third Arena, and it includes multiple ceremonies: the Doctoral Hooding and Master’s Recognition Ceremony at 10 a.m. May 1, and Undergraduate Commencement Ceremonies (bachelor and associate degrees) will be presented at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. May 2.

Barrett is former chairman of the UC Board of Trustees, serving on the board from 2006 to 2015, and president and one of the founding members of the downtown Cincinnati law firm of Barrett & Weber. He also served as a director of the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati and was an inaugural officer and director of UC Health and UC Healthcare System.

Barrett is a lifelong resident of Cincinnati. He received his law degree from the University of Cincinnati (J.D., 1971), and he holds the highest ratings for legal ability and general ethical standards from Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. He received his undergraduate degree from Xavier University (B.S., 1968), and upon graduation was commissioned an officer in the United States Army Reserve, where he was promoted to the rank of captain before being honorably discharged.

Barrett is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Ohio, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States.  

Barrett is a member of the Cincinnati Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. For more than three decades, he has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Convalescent Hospital for Children, an affiliate of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and previously served tenures as president and chairman of the board. He is presently a member of the Board of Trustees of Mercy Health Partners Foundation, and as an officer and trustee of the Dan Beard Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Prior to serving on the Board of the University of Cincinnati, he served three terms as a member of the Ohio Building Authority, including as its vice chairman.  In 2013, Barrett received the “Outstanding Directors Award” by the Cincinnati Business Courier.

CEREMONY DETAILS

Information about the ceremony

– including when to arrive, where to park, how to take part via social media and more – is available online.

MORE TO LEARN

Further information is available

on the Commencement website.