FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kerry-Ann Hamilton
Media Relations Manager
k_hamilton@howard.edu
202.238.2332

Veteran Journalist Gwen Ifill 2009 Commencement Oratrix

WASHINGTON (April 3, 2009) - Renowned journalist and author Gwen Ifill will deliver the keynote address and receive a Doctor of Humane Letters at Howard University’s 141st Commencement Convocation on Saturday, May 9, at 10 a.m., on the upper quadrangle of the main campus.

Ifill is the moderator and managing editor of “Washington Week,” which is now in its 40th year is the longest-running prime-time news and public affairs program on television.

She is also the author of the bestseller The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, and moderated the vice presidential debates during the presidential elections in 2004 and 2008.

A veteran journalist, Ifill has covered national and local affairs for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Baltimore Evening Sun and Boston Herald.

A native of New York City and a graduate of Simmons College, Ifill has received more than a dozen honorary degrees and serves on the board of the Harvard University Institute of Politics, the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

WHAT: Howard University's 141st Commencement Convocation

WHEN: Saturday, May 9, 2009, 10 a.m.

WHERE: Howard University, Upper Quadrangle of Main Campus (6th and Howard Place, NW), Washington, D.C.

Note to the Media:

Please be advised that media coverage must be coordinated with Kerry-Ann Hamilton (contact information above) by COB Wednesday, May 6, 2009. Media should report to Gate #4, located at 4th and College Streets, NW, between 7:30 - 8 a.m. All broadcast media must be stationary by 8 a.m.