Comedian Stephen Colbert to deliver WFU’s 2015 commencement address
Comedian, political satirist and late night television host Stephen Colbert will deliver Wake Forest University’s commencement address on Monday, May 18, 2015.
Stephen Colbert is a best-selling author, writer, comedian, former presidential candidate and television personality. He is most widely known as the host and executive producer of Comedy Central’s acclaimed series, “The Colbert Report,” which audiences and critics alike hailed as one of the top comedy shows on television.
“We are thrilled Stephen Colbert has accepted the invitation to speak at Wake Forest’s commencement ceremony,” said President Nathan O. Hatch. “I’m not sure what our graduates will enjoy more – how his creative genius reflects the exaggerated extremes of politics and contemporary life or how so many of us at Wake Forest will find ourselves on the receiving end of his jokes.”
Also joining Wake Forest for the commencement weekend will be baccalaureate speaker Jonathan L. Walton, the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University and Pusey Minister in Harvard’s Memorial Church. He is also a professor of religion and society on the faculty of divinity.
“As a social ethicist and scholar of American religions, Jonathan Walton asks us to commit ourselves to building a country where all people feel valued,” Hatch said. “His work is a call to action that demands we look honestly at ourselves and our country to both recognize injustice and stand up against it.”