The Story

Jim Lehrer Announced as 2012 Commencement Speaker

Feb. 24, 2012 | By Morgan Barker, DSJ Co-Editor in Chief

 

The College announced on Friday that Jim Lehrer, broadcast news icon, will be the commencement speaker this year. Lehrer has been the lead news anchor for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and served as moderator for many presidential debates.

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Lehrer attended Victoria College and University of Missouri. He also served in the Marine Corps before beginning an incredibly successful journalism career. Lehrer has worked as a journalist for over 52 years in both print and broadcast media. Lehrer has received two Emmys, the 1999 National Humanities Award, the 2011 Fourth Estate Award, and the Colonial Williamsburg’s Churchill Bell, the foundation’s highest honor.

In addition, Lehrer is the author of twenty novels, two memoirs and three plays. Just last September, Lehrer’s most recent book, �"Tension City: Inside the Presidential Debates, from Kennedy-Nixon to Obama-McCain” was published.

While Lehrer is a nationally recognized face, he’s also a friend of the Williamsburg community. Lehrer served for several years as a trustee of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. And Lehrer will receive an honorary degree from the College during the commencement ceremony on May 13, 2012.

President Reveley is excited about the upcoming festivities. �"Mr. Lehrer will be a marvelous Commencement speaker. We are also delighted to bring back to campus two extremely distinguished alumni. Jon Jarvis, the director of the National Park Service, is chief protector of many of our country’s most wonderful landscapes. Biddy Martin is one of the preeminent educators in the United States. The first woman to be president of Amherst College, she previously served as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin- Madison and provost of Cornell.

�"Our recently inaugurated 24th Chancellor, Bob Gates, will also be back with us for words of commencement welcome,” added Reveley. �"All in all, it will be quite a ceremony.”

Honorary degrees will also be awarded to two other alumni, Jonathan Jarvis ’75 and Carolyn ‘Biddy’ Martin ’73. Jonathan Jarvis is the 18th director of the National Park Service. Jarvis has served in the park service for over three decades and was appointed director by President Obama. Jarvis graduated from the College in 1975 with a degree in biology.

Caroline ‘Biddy’ Martin graduated from the College in 1973 and after years of work in higher education was appointed President of Amherst College this past June. Martin was an English Major at the College and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She also played on the women’s basketball team during her senior year. She then attended Middlebury-College earning a master’s degree in German literature and received her Ph.D from UW-Madison.

Commencement 2012 is sure to be a successful affair with this stellar lineup of guests.

Do you have thoughts on the choice of commencement speaker? Email us at dogstreetjournal@gmail.com. We’ll answer your question in our next issue.