One of the nation’s most respected commentators on U.S. elections visits Elon University on May 23, 2015, to share with graduating seniors his wisdom and insights learned from a career covering politics in Washington, D.C.
The ceremony is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. on May 23 in the historic campus area known as “Under the Oaks” in front of West Residence Hall. For more information about Commencement week activities, visit www.elon.edu/commencement, which will be updated throughout the spring as events and programs are finalized.
Considered one of the nation’s leading authorities on American politics and U.S. elections, Cook was a co-recipient in 2010 of the American Political Science Association’s prestigious Carey McWilliams award to honor “a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics.” In the spring of 2013, he served as a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Cook founded the Cook Political Report in 1984 and became a columnist for Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, in 1986. In 1998 he moved his column to National Journal. He has served as a political analyst or election night analyst for CBS, CNN and NBC News and has been a frequent political analyst for all three major broadcast news networks. He also has appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and ABC’s “This Week.”
The father of current Elon senior strategic communications major Jeffrey Cook, Charlie Cook’s relationship with the university dates to his first visit in 2003. Since then, he has forged relationships with faculty and made regular appearances on campus during election years to offer perspective on prevailing political attitudes of the day.