Baldwin City — Cokie Roberts, an ABC News political commentator and a senior news analyst for National Public Radio, will deliver the keynote address at Baker University's 150th Convocation at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Rice Auditorium.
"She seemed like a perfect fit for Baker's convocation because of her journalism background, and Baker has an award-winning journalism program," said Steve Rottinghaus, public relations director at the university.
Rottinghaus said Roberts is a great choice because she can talk about many different topics, including women's issues, health and politics.
"She should appeal to a wide audience," he said.
Roberts also is speaking as part of the Loreine Collins Dietrich Distinguished Lecture Series.
"There's money set aside to bring in distinguished speakers," Rottinghaus said.
Past speakers brought to campus as part of the lecture series include President Gerald Ford, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Vice President Dick Cheney, United Nations Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick and newspaper columnists William J. Buckley Jr. and George Will.
Tuesday's event is free and open to the public.
From 1996 to 2002, Roberts was co-anchor of "This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts" on ABC News. She reported for "World News Tonight" and other ABC News broadcasts covering politics, Congress and public policy.
Roberts has been in broadcasting for more than 30 years and has won numerous honors and awards, including two Emmy Awards. She is in the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting. She won the William Allen White Foundation's national citation at Kansas University in 2002.
She and her husband, Steven V. Roberts, write a weekly newspaper column and are contributing editors to USA Magazine. Their book, "From This Day Forward," is a New York Times bestseller that discusses their more than 35-year marriage and other marriages in American history. She is also the author of the bestseller "We Are Our Mothers' Daughters" and "Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised the Nation."
Roberts spoke at the commencement of her alma mater, Wellesley College, in 1994.
Comments
toefungus 9 years ago
Very left wing reporter.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 9 years ago
Cokie Roberts couldn't be more "middle of the road." She's a typical inside-the-beltway reporter-- she'll rarely say anything that might offend anyone in power and lose the access that makes her a "star" reporter.
But toefungus labeling her a "left-winger" shows how skewed his/her perspective is. She's just as much a toadie to right-wing politicians as those on the left.
toefungus 9 years ago
The article confirms she is a political commentator, not a reporter. Her comments are not the news itself but designed to create interest through interpretation. I do not find fault in her comments. However, I realize that she is commenting, and thus I take her remarks as comments and not news. She leans to the left and her comments reflect this.
erod0723 9 years ago
Ag, Unless I'm terribly wrong (in which case, in my defense it is a Monday), convocation isn't a graduation thing. If I remember correctly, it's just kind of a state of the university type thingy. Am I way off on this one or what?
WilburM 9 years ago
Cokie Roberts is both a reporter and commentator. Especially early in her career, she was a top-flight congressional correspondent, and won major awards for her coverage of Capitol Hill; she's very much an insider, as the daughter of Hale Boggs and Lindy Boggs, both of whom served in the House from Louisiana. When she talks about the Congress, it is with real authority, somewhat less so on other political subjects. She;s down to earth, and a truly decent person, highly dedicated to her family.
All in all, Baker paid her a fair amount to come, and she did. She'll give a reasonable talk, will be gracious, funny, and probably not all that insightful. Life will go on.
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