Commencement: Tom Brokaw

Tom Brokaw, the award-winning NBC Nightly News anchor, will be Penn's Commencement speaker on Tuesday, May 21, when the University celebrates its 240th Commencement.

"We are delighted that Tom Brokaw has accepted our invitation," President Judith Rodin said. "He is a respected journalist and seasoned commentator on American politics and world events. We are very much looking forward to hearing his insights."

Mr. Brokaw has covered every U.S. presidential debate since 1968 and was the NBC News' White House correspondent during the Watergate era. He also has a history of "firsts" with world leaders and world events. He conducted the first exclusive one-on-one interview with Mikhail Gorbachev which won the Alfred I. duPont Award. Mr. Brokaw was the only anchor on the scene the night the Berlin Wall fell. He was the first American to report on human rights abuses in Tibet and to conduct an exclusive interview with the Dalai Lama.

He has received numerous awards for his work, including an Emmy for the NBC News special, "China in Crisis," and NBC News' coverage of the mid-west floods in 1992. In 1980, he was the recipient of the National Headliner Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews for advancing the understanding of religion race and ethnicity. Last year, he was awarded the Dennis Kauff Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism from Boston University, and the prestigious Lowell Thomas Award from Marist College.


Almanac

March 5, 1996
Volume 42 Number 23


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