NBC News Anchor Lester Holt Tapped For Villanova 2023 Commencement

VILLANOVA, PA — Award-winning journalist and NBC News anchor Lester Holt will address the Class of 2023 as Villanova University’s commencement speaker.

Holt will also receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, Villanova president, announced.

The university’s 180th commencement will be held at 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 19 in Villanova Stadium.

In the event of severe weather, the ceremony will be held indoors in the Finneran Pavilion.

For four decades, Holt has reported and anchored breaking news events across the globe.

One of Holt’s trademarks is his on-the-ground reporting and his deep commitment to providing viewers with first-person accounts when disaster and tragedy strike.

Holt has conducted numerous exclusive and headline-making interviews with world leaders and newsmakers from around the globe.

Holt is the anchor and managing editor of the network’s flagship broadcast "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt," which won a 2022 Edward Murrow Award.

He also anchors “Dateline NBC” and was named the “most-trusted television news personality in America” by The Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult poll.

During the early days of the pandemic in 2020, Holt launched “Nightly News: Kids Edition,” a digital newscast aimed at informing and educating children, which he still anchors weekly.

While at NBC, Holt has covered every Olympics from the ground since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He marked his 10th Olympics at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Holt served as a primary anchor for MSNBC's coverage of major news events, including Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war in Afghanistan, and he was the lead daytime anchor for MSNBC's coverage of Decision 2000. Holt started at NBC News in 2000, anchoring “Newsfront.”

Award winner

Holt was recently inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

He has been recognized with numerous honors, including multiple Emmy Awards and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the National Press Club Fourth Estate Award, the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.

In April 2016, Holt received several notable designations: he was featured on TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” list and was named “Journalist of the Year” by the National Association of Black Journalists.

Note: For the live stream of Commencement is available here.