The U.S. surgeon general and one of the first two women to co-anchor a national news broadcast will be the official speakers at Arizona State University’s spring 2023 commencement.

Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff will speak at the graduate ceremony on Monday, May 8, at Desert Financial Arena. That evening, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy will deliver the keynote at the undergraduate ceremony at Sun Devil Stadium, where both will receive honorary degrees from ASU.

More than 19,000 students — a 5% increase from spring 2022 — will graduate that day, earning more than 20,000 degrees. Of the overall total of students, more than 13,000 are undergraduates and over 6,000 are graduate students.

“Judy Woodruff and Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy are pioneers in their respective fields and dedicated leaders whose lives and work mirror our institutional ideals,” ASU President Michael M. Crow said. “We are excited to welcome them to Arizona and to honor their important contributions to the health, education and awareness of our nation.”

Veteran journalist to speak at graduate ceremony

Woodruff is the senior correspondent for “PBS NewsHour,” after serving for 11 years as its anchor and managing editor. During 2023 and 2024, she is undertaking a reporting project, “America at a Crossroads,” to better understand the country’s political divide.

She has covered politics and other news for more than four decades at CNN, NBC and PBS.

“This New American University, as President Crow has described it, is an engine of creativity and innovation in this modern era, sending tens of thousands of students into the world every year, ready to tackle the hardest problems facing this generation, and generations to come,” Woodruff said.

She recently gave a shout-out to Sun Devils on Twitter.

The recipient of numerous awards — including the Peabody Journalistic Integrity Award, the Poynter Medal, an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement and the Radcliffe Medal — she and the late Gwen Ifill were together awarded ASU’s Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism after Woodruff and Ifill were named co-anchors of “PBS NewsHour” in 2013, marking the first time an American national news broadcast would be co-anchored by two women.

Woodruff has covered politics and other news for more than four decades, including multiple stints as White House correspondent for several news organizations.

U.S. surgeon general to speak at undergraduate event

Dr. Murthy has served in his current role for two administrations — first as the 19th surgeon general of the United States under President Barack Obama and currently as the 21st, under President Joe Biden. And as the vice admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Murthy commands a uniformed service of over 6,000 dedicated public health officers, serving the most underserved and vulnerable populations domestically and abroad. 

Vice Admiral Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, who has served as U.S. surgeon general under two presidents, is the first person of Indian descent to hold that role and the youngest active-duty flag officer in federal uniformed service.

While serving as the 21st surgeon general, Murthy is focused on drawing attention to and working across government to address a number of critical public health issues, including the growing proliferation of health misinformation, the ongoing youth mental health crisis, well-being and burnout in the health worker community, and social isolation and loneliness. Additionally, he serves as a key advisor to Biden’s COVID-19 pandemic response operation. 

During his previous tenure under Obama, Murthy — the first surgeon general of Indian descent and the youngest active-duty flag officer in federal uniformed service — helped lead the national response to a range of health challenges, including the Ebola and Zika viruses, the opioid crisis, and the growing threat of stress and loneliness to Americans’ physical and mental well-being. In 2016, he issued the first Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health, in which he challenged the nation to expand access to prevention and treatment, and to recognize addiction as a chronic illness, not a character flaw.  

The undergraduate and graduate ceremonies are part of a weeklong celebration of ASU’s newest graduates, running May 6–12. Find the schedule, including individual college and special-interest convocations, at graduation.asu.edu.

About ASU
Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it.