Alumna on CNN News Desk to Address Commencement

Posted on Jan. 13, 2017

Brooke Baldwin ’01, a CNN news anchor, will deliver the University’s Commencement address on May 14 in Kenan Stadium.

Baldwin, who anchors the 2 to 4 p.m. weekday edition of CNN Newsroom, joined the network in 2008 as a reporter, contributed to the CNN’s Peabody Award-winning coverage of the 2008 presidential election and took over the anchor position in 2010. Most recently, Baldwin played an integral role in CNN’s coverage of the presidential election.

In addition to covering the election, Baldwin traveled to the Persian Gulf last spring for an embedded opportunity with the Navy. She also traveled to Kenya ahead of President Barack Obama’s historic visit and conducted an exclusive interview with Obama’s half-sister and their grandmother.

Her live anchoring includes Obama’s second inauguration, coverage of the Boston marathon bombings and the elementary school shootings in Newtown, Conn. She also covered the 2012 presidential election, anchoring from the Republican convention and participating in CNN’s coverage of the GOP primaries.

Baldwin’s experience covering breaking news includes the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the death of Osama bin Laden. She also was part of a Peabody-Award winning team at CNN covering the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Baldwin worked with the network’s special investigations unit to complete a documentary titled “To Catch a Killer,” which won a Silver World Medal for Best Investigative Report at the New York Festivals International Television & Film Award in 2012.

Baldwin began her broadcasting career at WVIR in Charlottesville, Va., and was a lead reporter at WTTG in Washington before joining CNN.

Chancellor Carol L. Folt chose Baldwin in consultation with faculty and staff on the University’s Commencement Speaker Selection Committee.

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