Judy Woodruff Named Commencement Speaker

One of America's preeminent broadcast journalists, Judy Woodruff has covered the most significant political and hard-news stories of her generation. Her career in national media has spanned more than three decades, including positions at CNN, NBC and PBS. She was named senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS in 2007, serving as editor of The NewsHour's 2008 political coverage. In December 2009, she became senior correspondent and co-anchor of The PBS NewsHour. She has covered every presidential election since 1976.

Woodruff was White House correspondent for NBC News from 1977 to 1982 before spending a year as chief Washington correspondent for the Today Show. She moved to PBS in 1983, working as chief Washington correspondent for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour for the next decade. She also anchored Frontline with Judy Woodruff on PBS from 1984 to 1990.

In 1993, Woodruff moved to CNN, where she anchored CNN's weekday political program, Inside Politics. She continues to host Conversations with Judy Woodruff, a monthly program on Bloomberg Television.

A graduate of Duke University, where she is a trustee emerita, Woodruff is a founding co-chair of the International Women's Media Foundation, a global network dedicated to strengthening the role of women in the news media. She serves as a member of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Freedom Forum, the Newseum and Global Rights: Partners for Justice.