OREM, UT -- Wolf Blitzer, CNN's award-winning lead political anchor and host of the network's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" and "Wolf," will give the keynote address at Utah Valley University's 77th commencement exercises, May 3, 2018, at the UCCU Center on the main Orem Campus. Convocations for the University's individual colleges and schools will be held the next day, Friday, May 4, 2018.

Honorary degrees will be conferred upon Blitzer, Doctorate of Humane Letters; the Reverend France Davis, Calvary Baptist Church, Doctorate of Education; Stephanie Nielson, author and speaker, Doctorate of Humane Letters; and Jeffrey L. Sermon, CEO, Utah Community Credit Union, Doctorate of Business.

"By academic training and vast world experience Wolf Blitzer has developed an understanding of international events like few others in the nation. In doing so, he stands as a remarkable example of what can be achieved by 'engaged learning,' which remains a hallmark of a UVU education," said Matthew S. Holland, president of Utah Valley University.

Blitzer's extensive, 40-plus-year reporting career covering domestic and international politics and breaking news will provide fascinating context to his remarks. He has interviewed U.S. presidents and world leaders including former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and former South African President Nelson Mandela. He has moderated multiple Republican and Democratic presidential debates, and he anchored CNN's coverage during the presidential inaugurations of Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

His career began in 1972 where he reported for the Reuters News Agency in Tel Aviv, Israel. As his reputation grew, The Jerusalem Post hired him as its Washington, D.C., correspondent, after which he joined CNN in 1990. He became the network's lead White House correspondent and eventually began anchoring news programs.

His reporting assignments have taken him across the world, where he was among the first Western reporters invited to visit KGB headquarters in Moscow, Russia, and was granted rare access to North Korea with former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. He reported from a host of countries, including Lebanon, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and many in Southeast Asia.

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About Utah Valley University
At 37,282 students and growing, Utah Valley University is the largest public university in the state of Utah and one of a few higher education institutions in the nation offering a dual-mission model that combines the rigor and richness of a first-rate teaching university with the openness and vocational programs of a community college.
UVU's unique model—which focuses on student success, engaged learning, rigorous academic programs, and faculty-mentored research—is transforming higher education by making it more affordable and accessible to students of all backgrounds.