The anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News” is the parent of an Elon senior.
Brian Williams P’13, the news anchor for the most-watched American television network newscast, will deliver Elon University’s 123rd Commencement address on May 25, 2013.
The ceremony is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. in the historic campus area known as “Under the Oaks” in front of West Residence Hall.
Williams has been a strong advocate for Elon and a key figure at the university in recent years. He chairs the School of Communications Advisory Board, mentoring students on their academic and career opportunities.
In 2011, Williams moderated a special Convocation for Honors featuring a panel of distinguished guests who explored choices that must be made in our nation to respond to threats to democracy, the economy, public education, the environment and civil stability around the world.
Prior to the Convocation, Williams held an open forum with Elon students who quizzed the network anchor on his views of the future of TV news while seeking advice on finding success in practicing journalism.
He is the father of Douglas Williams ’13 in the School of Communications.
Williams was named anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News in 2004 and has become the most highly decorated evening news anchor of the current era. In 2006, Time magazine named him one of the world’s 100 most influential people.
Williams has received 11 Edward R. Murrow Awards, 12 Emmy Awards, the duPont-Columbia University Award, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism and the industry’s highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award. He joined NBC News in 1993 and became NBC’s chief White House correspondent and later anchor and managing editor of The News With Brian Williams on MSNBC and CNBC.
Williams is a native of Middletown, N.J., where he was a firefighter for several years. He attended Brookdale Community College, Catholic University and George Washington University, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation.