Broadcast-news legend Dan Rather, who has covered most of the world’s major news events over the past six decades, will be the keynote graduation speaker for the School of Media and Communication at Temple University.

“Dan Rather is one of the best-known and most accomplished journalists in the world,” said SMC Dean David Boardman. “For many Americans, he is the voice of the last half of the 20th century. We’re thrilled that our new graduates and their families will have the opportunity to hear from him directly and to benefit from the lessons—in communications and in life—he has learned along the way.”

Rather will speak to graduates and their invited guests at the school’s ceremony Thursday, May 15, at 12:30 p.m. in McGonigle Hall.

In his 64-year career in journalism, most of that at CBS News, Rather earned a reputation as a hardworking and courageous reporter and anchor. He had a front-row seat for events that have changed the world, including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; the bombing of a Birmingham church during the U.S. civil-rights movement; wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq; and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He has interviewed every U.S. president since Dwight Eisenhower, and virtually every major international leader of the past 30 years, including Saddam Hussein.

Rather served as anchor of The CBS Evening News from 1981 to 2005, the longest anchor tenure in broadcast-network history. His journalism career began in 1950 as an Associated Press reporter in Huntsville, Texas, and included reporting positions at CBS Reports, 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes II and 48 Hours. As a young CBS reporter in Dallas, he was the first to report that President Kennedy had died.

Since his departure from CBS in 2005, the 82-year-old Rather has embraced new media and continues to produce investigative journalism, international reporting and in-depth interviews for Dan Rather Reports on AXS TV. Additionally, he hosts The Big Interview, a series that features in-depth conversations with pop-culture icons.

Rather’s lifelong dedication to high-quality journalism continues in his current ventures, which have earned four Emmy awards for war and investigative reporting and four Front Page awards from the Newswomen’s Club of New York for stories concerning the plight of women abroad.

“Dan Rather has been in the vanguard of electronic journalism for more than six decades, traveling around the globe and across America to uncover the extraordinary stories that shape and change our lives. Often, he did it at great personal risk,” said Paul Gluck, SMC ’76, associate professor of media studies, and production and general manager of TUTV. “Today, Dan Rather’s reporting still brings clarity and context to a complex world.”

- Jeff Cronin