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Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, the retired archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, will speak at graduation ceremonies at Gonzaga University in Spokane in May.

In writing the university to accept the invitation, Tutu said: “I am always inspired and awed by the idealism and altruism of young people. I was swept off my feet at the projects they described in One World,” the Gonzaga students’ magazine.

Tutu retired as archbishop of Cape Town in 1996, and in 2010, he announced he would limit his public appearances to spend more time with his family.

Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh, who wrote to Tutu to extend the invitation, described to the archbishop his own activism as a college student trying to fight apartheid in South Africa, and said he was overjoyed when Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Commencement will be held in the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena May 13. Admission is by invitation only.

During the ceremony, McCulloh will present Tutu with Gonzaga’s honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Gonzaga is a private Jesuit university.