Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault to address Class of 2005

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the former award-winning national correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and current bureau chief and correspondent for CNN in Johannesburg, will address the Class of 2005 at Wheaton's 170th Commencement on May 21, 2005.

Joining Hunter-Gault on the dais will be honorary degree recipients Jean Jones Beard and Alexandra Marshall, both members of the Class of 1965. Beard is a clinical social worker and one of the authors of Nothing to Hide, a book and exhibit that highlights how families deal with mental illness. Marshall is the author of The Court of Common Pleas, which recently appeared in paperback. She has published four other novels and has written for many other publications, including the Boston Globe and the New York Times.

''Charlayne Hunter-Gault is one of the world's most respected journalists,'' Wheaton President Ronald A. Crutcher said. ''Her personal story and her professional experiences define 'courage' in ways I believe will resonate with Wheaton students. We are so fortunate to share this glorious day with her, and with alumnae Jean Beard and Alex Marshall, who have made such exemplary contributions to the arts and to Wheaton.''

Hunter-Gault made civil rights history as the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Georgia in 1962, and has gone on to establish herself as one of television's premier journalists. In 1968 Hunter-Gault joined the New York Times as a metropolitan reporter specializing in coverage of the urban African American community. Her work was honored with many awards, including the National Urban Coalition Award for Distinguished Urban Reporting.

She joined The MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1978 as a correspondent, and became The NewsHour's national correspondent in 1983. During her association with The NewsHour, Hunter-Gault has won additional awards: two Emmys, and a Peabody for excellence in broadcast journalism for her work on Apartheid's People, a NewsHour series on South Africa. She also received the 1986 Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists; the 1990 Sidney Hillman Award; the Good Housekeeping Broadcast Personality of the Year Award; the American Women in Radio and Television Award; and two awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for excellence in local programming. She is author of In My Place, a memoir about her experiences at the University of Georgia.