Award-winning CBS journalist Scott Pelley to deliver 2025 commencement address
Baccalaureate speaker will be Reverend Emma Jordan-Simpson
Award-winning “60 Minutes” journalist Scott Pelley will deliver Wake Forest University’s commencement address on Monday, May 19. The ceremony will take place on Hearn Plaza and begins at 9 a.m.
Pelley has been reporting for the CBS News program “60 Minutes” for more than 20 years. During this time, half of the major awards won by the program have been for stories he has reported. He was the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 2011 to 2017 and the chief White House correspondent of CBS News from 1997 to 1999. He joined CBS News as a reporter based in New York in 1989.
Pelley has interviewed five U.S. presidents, from George H.W. Bush to Joe Biden, as well as numerous high-ranking government officials, including Secretaries of State and Defense and Federal Reserve Chairs. He has also interviewed prominent figures advocating for social change, including Pope Francis, conservationist Jane Goodall, and girls’ and women’s rights activist Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Among other major events, Pelley reported on the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the destruction from Hurricane Katrina. He has covered the human cost in war zones worldwide.
Over his career, Pelley has won more than 50 Emmy Awards, four Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Silver Batons, three George Foster Peabody Awards and the Walter Cronkite Award.
“Whether interviewing political figures, economists, activists or international leaders, Scott Pelley has a unique ability to find the human story within major events.”
Wake Forest President Susan R. Wente
“His ability to turn complex issues into compelling narratives will inspire our graduates as they prepare to engage with the world. We look forward to welcoming Scott to Wake Forest.”
Pelley is the author of “Truth Worth Telling: A Reporter’s Search for Meaning in the Stories of Our Times” (Hanover Square Press, 2019), in which he profiles people, both famous and not, who discovered the meaning of their lives during historic events of our times.
Baccalaureate speaker selected
Also joining Wake Forest for the commencement weekend will be baccalaureate speaker Reverend Emma Jordan-Simpson, president of Auburn Theological Seminary. With her appointment as President in 2021, Jordan-Simpson became the first Black woman and non-Presbyterian to lead Auburn Theological Seminary. She is a spiritual and educational force for cultivating a multiracial, multifaith, multigenerational and multiethnic democracy.
Baccalaureate will be held on Sunday, May 18, at 11 a.m. in Wait Chapel.
About commencement events
- Commencement and Baccalaureate are ticketed events reserved for graduates, their families and guests and are not open to the public.
- Media credentials are required to attend commencement events. Parking passes will be required to enter campus. All members of the media are also asked to carry their own media credentials. Email media@wfu.edu to request credentials and parking passes no later than Monday, May 13.
- Livestream webcasts of the commencement ceremony and baccalaureate will be available on the University’s commencement website and recordings of each will be posted after the event.
Additional information about Wake Forest’s commencement weekend is available at commencement.wfu.edu.
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