Date: Sep 21, 2010

Ted Koppel to be guest speaker at 75th Anniversary Convocation

Award-winning broadcaster and longest-running daily news anchor to kick-off Diamond Celebration Weekend

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY - Ted Koppel, the award-winning broadcast journalist best known for his 25 years anchoring Nightline, will be the guest speaker at Hofstra University's 75th Anniversary Convocation on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010 at 12:45 p.m. in the John Cranford Adams Playhouse, South Campus.

Koppel, now a regular contributor to National Public Radio's midday news and talk show Talk of the Nation, has won every major broadcasting industry honor, including 41 Emmy Awards, eight George Foster Peabody Awards, ten DuPont-Columbia Awards, ten Overseas Press Club Awards, two George Polk Awards, and two Sigma Delta Chi Awards.

In 1985, Koppel was honored with the first Gold Baton in the history of the duPont-Columbia Awards for Nightline's week-long series originating from South Africa. Koppel and Nightline were cited for "the most extraordinary television of the year."

In his half-century as a journalist, Koppel has covered stories across the globe, spanning a wide range of subjects from national security to the Mideast, Iran and Iraq. As a young correspondent for ABC Radio News, Koppel covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. After moving to ABC television, Koppel was chief diplomatic correspondent, a Vietnam War correspondent and Hong Kong bureau chief before becoming managing editor and anchor of Nightline in 1980. When he left Nightline in 2005, he was the nation's longest-running network daily news anchor.

Most recently, Koppel was managing editor of the Discovery Channel, where he anchored and produced long-form programs on global news events, including a four-hour, four-part documentary on China. He has covered every presidential election since 1964.

He has received more than 20 honorary degrees from U.S. universities and was a recipient of France's Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, which recognizes significant contributions to arts and literature.
Born in England, Koppel moved to the U.S. with his parents when he was 13-years-old and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1963. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Syracuse University in New York, and a master's degree in communications research and political science from Stanford University.

The convocation, which coincides with the university's first day of classes in 1935, serves as the official launch of Hofstra's year-long celebration of its 75th anniversary. The ceremony begins a four-day Diamond Celebration Weekend that will include a concert, festival and appearance by comedian and talk show host Jimmy Fallon. For more information about the 75th anniversary or the Diamond Celebration Weekend schedule of events, go to www.hofstra.edu/75.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from about 150 undergraduate and more than 160 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business; engineering; communication; education, health and human services; and honors studies, as well as a School of Law. The University also provides excellent facilities with state-of-the-art technology, extensive library resources and internship programs that match students' interests and abilities with appropriate companies and organizations. The Hofstra community is driven, dynamic and energetic, helping students find and focus their strengths to prepare them for a successful future.