Oberlin announced this year’s commencement speaker to be Connie Schultz, recipient of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary.

Schultz has been working for the Plain Dealer since 1993 and has been awarded numerous other awards for her journalism, including the work James Batten Medal in 2004. Her series, “The Burden of Innocence,” also won her numerous awards such as the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Social Justice Reporting and the National Headliner Award’s Best of Show. Schultz was nominated to be Oberlin’s commencement speaker by the faculty, staff and senior class.

According to Bob Haslun, secretary of the College, “The Honorary Degrees Committee of the General Faculty, including the three senior class officers, met and discussed nominees for honorary degrees and commencement speaker. She was selected by that committee as the speaker and the President approved the recommendation.”