Delivering the address at the graduate Commencement will be Ari Shapiro, an award-winning journalist who has hosted National Public Radio’s flagship “All Things Considered” news program since 2015.
Before joining “All Things Considered,” Mr. Shapiro spent two years as NPR’s international correspondent based in London, traveling the world to cover a wide range of topics. He was NPR’s White House Correspondent for four years during the Obama Administration and was the Justice Correspondent during the George W. Bush Administration, covering debates around surveillance, detention, and interrogation in the years after Sept. 11.
Mr. Shapiro’s work has won three national Edward R. Murrow awards: one for a global series that connected the dots between climate change, migration, and far-right political leaders; another for his reporting on Breonna Taylor’s life and death; and a third for his coverage of the Trump Administration’s asylum policies on the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2023, he was named Journalist of the Year by NLGJA, the association of LGBTQ+ journalists.
Other honors include a laurel from the Columbia Journalism Review for his investigation into disability benefits for injured American veterans; a Silver Gavel from the American Bar Association for exposing the failures of Louisiana’s detention system after Hurricane Katrina; the first-ever American Gavel Award from the American Judges Association’ for his work on U.S. courts and the American justice system; and the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize from WBUR and Boston University for an investigation of methamphetamine use and HIV transmission.
Mr. Shapiro is also a singer and has performed in venues from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl — and across the U.S. in “Och and Oy: A Considered Cabaret” with Tony Award winner Alan Cumming. He also makes frequent guest appearances with the “little orchestra” Pink Martini. His debut memoir, “The Best Strangers in the World,” was an instant New York Times bestseller. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale University, Mr. Shapiro began his journalism career as an intern for NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg.
Professor Eduard Arriaga-Arango will present Ari Shapiro for the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.