Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward to give McDaniel College undergraduate commencement speech

McDaniel College in Westminster announced Thursday that investigative journalist Bob Woodward and One Love Foundation founder Sharon Love will be speakers at the school’s 153rd Commencement on May 20.

Love, a McDaniel alumna, will provide remarks to graduate students at 10 a.m. and Woodward will address the undergraduate ceremony at 2 p.m. Both ceremonies take place at the college’s Gill Center and will be streamed online.

“We look for speakers who have made distinguished and notable contributions to society and exemplify the mission and values of the college and expect that both Bob Woodward and Sharon Love will offer inspirational and aspirational remarks that would be meaningful to our graduating students and their families and friends in the audience,” McDaniel Director of Public Relations Cheryl Knauer said in an email.

The college plans to award nearly 600 undergraduate and graduate degrees in May.

McDaniel announced its 2023 commencement speakers. Bob Woodward, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and associate editor at The Washington Post, will speak at the undergraduate ceremony. (Courtesy Photo)

Woodward is an associate editor at the Washington Post, where he has worked since 1971. He has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes, one in 1973 for his and colleague Carl Bernstein’s reporting on the Nixon administration’s Watergate scandal. The other came in 2002 for his reporting on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He has authored or co-authored 21 bestselling books, including books on each of the past 10 U.S. presidents.

Love is a retired teacher who earned a master’s degree in deaf education from McDaniel in 1976. She co-founded One Love Foundation, a national nonprofit seeking to end relationship abuse through educating and empowering young people, in honor of her daughter Yeardley Love, a University of Virginia lacrosse player who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2010.

McDaniel announced its 2023 commencement speakers. Sharon Love, a McDaniel alumna and co-founder of the One Love Foundation, a national nonprofit organization whose goal is to end relationship abuse, in honor of her daughter, Yeardley Love (also pictured) who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend weeks before her college graduation, will be the graduate speaker. (Courtesy Photo)

The campus community is given the opportunity to nominate commencement speakers each year via an online form. After submissions closed Dec. 15, a committee of faculty and staff reviewed all nominees and made recommendations to President Julia Jasken, who sent out invitations to speakers.

Retired WBAL-TV journalist and news anchor Stan Stovall will be presented with an honorary Doctor of Journalism degree at the undergraduate ceremony. Winners of a number of special undergraduate, graduate and faculty awards will be announced at commencement.

To learn more about McDaniel’s 2023 commencement, visit: https://www.mcdaniel.edu/academics/2023-commencement.