photo by: Courtesy: Dole Institute of Politics

Bill Kurtis

A native Kansan who went on to become a renowned national broadcaster and television journalist will be a featured speaker at the Dole Institute of Politics next month.

Bill Kurtis — a KU alumnus, journalist, network news anchor, producer and rancher — will deliver the Dole Lecture at 7 p.m. April 16 at the Dole Institute on the University of Kansas’ West Campus.

Kurtis started his career as a journalist with WIBW television in Topeka, and went on to have a national anchor role as co-host of CBS Morning News in the 1980s. He also gained acclaim as an investigative reporter, including pieces that were among the first to report the dangerous effects of the Agent Orange chemical that was used in the Vietnam war.

Kurtis, who later gained pop-culture fame as the narrator for Will Ferrell’s “Anchorman” films, will participate in an interview with Dole Institute Director Audrey Coleman. The institute said the discussion would focus on Kurtis’ Kansas roots — he grew up in Independence — and the various news events that “have shaped the nation over the course of his seven decades in journalism.”

Kurtis will participate in the event in person at the Dole Institute, 2350 Petefish Drive. The event is free and open to the public, but also can be viewed on the Dole Institute’s YouTube channel.

The institute hosts the Dole Lecture each spring to commemorate the date on which Sen. Bob Dole was critically wounded in Italy while serving in World War II. The institute invites speakers who embody the “commitments that Dole held throughout his career in public service,” the institute said via a press release.