'Law & Order' Actress to Give Commencement Address at Montclair State

Award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson will deliver the Commencement address to the more than 4,000 graduating students at Montclair State University Friday.

MSU will send-off the largest graduating class in the school’s 105-year history. The school will award 4,320 degrees at the 2013 Commencement to be held at the Izod Center in East Rutherford.

Merkerson, who will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters, has a distinguished career in film, television and theater and is best known for playing Lt. Anita Van Buren for 16 years on Law & Order, a role which has earned her multiple NAACP Image Awards.  

She is also the winner of Emmy and Golden Globe awards for her work in the 2005 HBO film Lackawanna Blues and was nominated for the Tony Award for Come Back, Little Sheba in 2008 and The Piano Lesson in 2001. Her film credits include Lincoln and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. She directed the 2012 award-wining documentary The Contradictions of Fair Hope.

The actress is an advocate for lung cancer prevention and works with children to bring awareness to the dangers of smoking.