JACKSON — An actor from the hit CBS series “CSI: NY,” Mississippi’s two U.S. senators and a CNN correspondent will be among the graduation speakers at the state’s colleges and universities.

Tougaloo College graduates and their families may recognize their speaker, whose face is known to millions of TV viewers. Hill Harper will speak on Mother’s Day, May 13.

Harper portrays Dr. Sheldon Hawkes, the reclusive coroner, on the CBS drama. The Brown University and Harvard Law School graduate also has been a guest on a host of other TV series, including HBO’s The Sopranos.

Other schools are turning to big names from the world of politics, the business community, the pulpit and the education arenas.

A frequent visitor on college campuses and an accomplished player on Capitol Hill, Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran will deliver speeches at two institutions. Mississippi’s senior senator will speak to the Mississippi College School of Law on May 11 at a Jackson church and a day later at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena.

Other politicians on the circuit include Democratic 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson on May 12 at Alcorn State University, Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck that same day at Mississippi College’s Clinton campus and U.S. Sen. Trent Lott at Mississippi University for Women on May 5.

At Mississippi State University, two alumni couples will offer their thoughts to thousands at Humphrey Coliseum.

Mississippi Development Authority Executive Director Gray Swoope and his wife, Mary, a Madison real estate agent, will speak together on May 4. She will speak first.

They have memories to share from their days as undergraduates on the Starkville campus. Swoope, a West Point native, and his wife, a Clinton native, are 1983 State graduates.

“This is flattering _ an honor for me, and my partner and wife,” Swoope said.

On May 5, MSU alumni couple Mark Keenum, who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and his wife, Rhonda, a White House staffer, get their turn before State graduates.

Some other schools will hear from well-known individuals from the media. CNN correspondent Kathleen Koch, a Bay St. Louis native and University of Southern Mississippi graduate, returns to her alma mater May 11 to make speeches in separate USM graduations. She’s done extensive reporting on Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Coast’s recovery.

Other speakers include:

_ State Sen. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, will make three commencement speeches at Hinds Community College on May 18.

_ Belle Wheelan, president of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, will speak to Delta State University grads on May 12.

_ FedEx CEO Fred Smith, a longtime University of Mississippi supporter, will speak to graduates on the Oxford campus on May 12.

_ The Rev. Ross Olivier, the senior pastor at Galloway United Methodist Church, will speak at Millsaps College on May 12.

_ Pete Hammond, senior staff member and vice president with InterVarsity Christian fellowship/USA, will speak to Belhaven College graduates at Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson on May 12.

_ Texas lawyer Renee Higginbotham-Brooks speaks to Jackson State University graduates at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium on May 12.