Arianna Huffington to Speak at USC Baccalaureate Ceremony

LOS ANGELES, CA — Entrepreneur Arianna Huffington will speak at USC's 2025 baccalaureate ceremony on May 14, part of a series of events leading up to USC's 142nd commencement, the school announced Tuesday.

Born in Greece, the 74-year-old Huffington moved to England at age 16 and earned a master's degree in economics from Cambridge University. She has been recognized on Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people and Forbes' Most Powerful Women list.

Huffington was married to Michael Huffington Jr., a banker and one- term California congressman who ran unsuccessfully for a California Senate seat in 1994, in what was then the most expensive non-presidential campaign in U.S. history.

The couple divorced in 1997.

Arianna Huffington was a candidate for governor in the 2003 recall election of Gov. Gray Davis, losing along with dozens of other candidates to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

These days she is known for founding The Huffington Post online news and opinion site, now known as HuffPost, in 2005. She also launched Thrive Global, a "behavior change technology company dedicated to improving health outcomes and productivity," according to USC.

Huffington has written 15 books.

The event will be held at Bovard Auditorium at 5 p.m. on May 14, and will also feature several university dignitaries and religious leaders.

This year's main stage USC commencement ceremony will take place in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum at 7 p.m. on May 15. More than 60,000 people are expected to attend. Individual school ceremonies will be held from Wednesday, May 14, through Saturday, May 17.

Earlier this month, USC announced that Academy Award-winning actor Jane Fonda will deliver USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism commencement speech as its 2025 keynote speaker on May 16.

City News Service