The university announced its choice for the 2016 spring commencement speaker Wednesday.  Admiral Michelle Howard, vice chief of naval operations, will deliver the address at 9 a.m. in PNC Arena May 7.  Howard, the second most senior officer in the U.S. Navy and the first African-American woman to command a U.S. Navy ship, has been deployed to Desert Storm, Desert Shield and tsunami relief efforts in Indonesia, among others. In 1999, she rose to command the naval ship USS Rushmore.  Howard is also the first woman in the U.S. Navy — and any branch of service — to be awarded a four-star rank when she earned the title of 38th vice chief of naval operations.  Some of her other awards and achievements include being named 2011 USO Military Woman of the year and receiving the 2013 NAACP Chairman’s Image Award and the 2014 Thurgood Marshall College Fund National Hero Award.