Emmy Award-Winning Alumna to Deliver Commencement Address
Anne Holt Blackburn, a veteran journalist and member of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees, will address more than 300 graduates this Friday at the College of Communication and Information Spring/Summer 2008 Commencement Ceremony.
The event will be held at 2 p.m. in Exhibit Hall A of the Knoxville Convention Center. A reception for graduates and their guests will follow.
"Having Anne Holt Blackburn deliver this year's commencement address is truly exciting. Her outstanding professional accomplishments, coupled with her dedication to community service and strong personal integrity, make her the ideal individual to provide our graduates with an inspirational send off," said Mike Wirth, dean of the College of Communication and Information.
Blackburn, a news anchor with WKRN-TV News 2 in Nashville, earned a bachelor's degree in communications from UT Knoxville in 1973. She is a four-time Emmy Award-winner and a recipient of the George Foster Peabody Award for the investigative documentary "Under the Influence."
Blackburn began her journalism career at Knoxville's WATE-TV during her senior year at UT. In 1976, she moved to Nashville to take a reporter and weekend anchor job at WKRN-TV News 2. Just four years later, she became the station's primary anchor.
In 2007, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored Blackburn with the Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement. Her other honors include the Donald G. Hileman Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Communication and Information, the Jerry Thompson Communicator's "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Nashville Association for Community and Justice, and the Distinguished Service Award from the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters.
Blackburn also serves as spokesperson for WKRN-TV News 2's "Food to Families" campaign. A sorting room at the Second Harvest Food Bank in Nashville is named in her honor, reflecting her years of dedication to helping feed hungry families in Middle Tennessee.
For more information about the College of Communication and Information Commencement Ceremony, visit www.cci.utk.edu/commenecement.
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Contact: April Moore, (865) 974-0463, amoore9(at)utk.edu.
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