SOUTH KINGSTOWN — William J. Brennan, the former undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will address more than 650 students Saturday at the University of Rhode Island’s graduate commencement.

Brennan, who received a master of marine affairs degree from URI in 1985, was named undersecretary by President George W. Bush in June 2008.

About 657 students will receive graduate degrees — 487 of them from Rhode Island — in the 1 p.m. ceremonies in the Ryan Center.

Among them will be Kirsten Almeida of Providence, one of 392 women to earn advanced degrees. Almeida, who will earn a master’s degree in library and information studies, will head to Mauritius in the fall under a Fulbright Scholarship. The island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of southern Africa has a population of 1.3 million — slightly larger than Rhode Island’s.

As a student, Almeida studied at each of Rhode Island’s state schools. For 10 months, she plans to analyze the text and images of the island’s children’s books and compare their representations of multiculturalism with American children’s books, which are predominantly Eurocentric, she says.

This summer, Almeida will teach library science to incoming students in URI’s Talent Development Program.