By Leslie Hassanein, news staff
World-renowned journalist Christiane Amanpour and the co-CEOs of the eyeglasses and sunglasses company Warby Parker will deliver commencement addresses to Northeastern University graduates this May.
Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent, will address graduating seniors on May 5 at the undergraduate ceremony at TD Garden. Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal, co-founders of the philanthropic New York-based eyewear brand Warby Parker, will deliver the commencement address at the graduate student ceremony at Matthews Arena on the same day.
“I’m super excited,” Ellie Williams, a graduating senior journalism major, said of seeing Amanpour. “She’s a fantastic reporter who made a name for herself covering conflicts—what I aim to do.”
Amanpour has reported from a number of conflict zones and on humanitarian crises, according to her CNN staff biography. She won every major television journalism award, was recently inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame and holds nine honorary degrees. Northeastern will be presenting her with her 10th, according to a university statement.
Despite Amanpour’s acclaim within her field, many students on campus did not recognize Amanpour’s name and knew little about her accomplishments. Guesses about who she was ranged from “soccer player” to “co-op coordinator.” However, some Northeastern community members—especially those in the School of Journalism—were excited to learn that Amanpour will be the undergraduate commencement speaker.
Charles Fountain, a Northeastern journalism professor, said Amanpour’s speech will be characterized by her profession.
“As a journalist, she knows the value of brevity,” Fountain said. “Her speech should be short and pithy.”
Elizabeth Flavin, a sophomore business administration major, said she was happy to hear that such a “crazy good journalist” would be speaking to Northeastern graduates.
“I think having her as a commencement speaker would give the graduating class a proper send off in our politically-charged society,” Flavin said. “She asks a lot of critical questions on her show and brings life to a variety of issues facing the world today. I wouldn’t be surprised if she gave the graduating class a chance to think what they can do with the skills they’ve acquired to face a multitude of world problems.”
Unlike Amanpour, Warby Parker is relatively new to the spotlight. The company started in 2010 after one of the CEOs, then a graduate student, lost his glasses on a backpacking trip, according to the Warby Parker history page. The cost of a replacement pair was so expensive that he spent the rest of the first semester of graduate school “squinting and complaining,” according to the company’s website.
The eyeglasses and sunglasses company was founded to create an alternative to the high-priced eyewear industry. The company believes that everyone has the right to see, so it partnered with the nonprofit VisionSpring to ensure that for every pair of glasses sold, a pair would be distributed to someone in need.
“Their story serves as an inspiration to our students as they imagine their own entrepreneurial endeavours,” President Joseph E. Aoun said in a statement about Gilboa and Blumenthal. “We are happy that they will join us at commencement to celebrate our graduate students.”
