Alexandra Wallace Creed, CC ’88, is this year’s Class Day speaker
She’ll be the first female Class Day speaker since 1999.
Below, an excerpt from senior class president Sean Udell’s email to the class of 2011:
I am absolutely thrilled to announce that our first choice for Class Day speaker has agreed to join us on May 17, 2011. ALEXANDRA WALLACE CREED, CC ’88, executive producer of the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and vice president of NBC News, will be this year’s Class Day Speaker. A renegade in her field, she is part of a small group of women who have shattered the glass ceiling of television network news in order to serve as the chief executive for the United States’ largest nightly network news broadcast. Moreover, she has been honored with six News and Documentary Emmy awards and a John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement. We were particularly impressed that in addition to this incredible professional responsibility, Ms. Wallace is also the mother of young children and an extraordinarily active alumnae who hosts several Columbia College events every year and serves on the Columbia College Board of Visitors.
Sean’s full email after the jump.
Dearest Twenty Eleven,
It is hard to believe that we are already rounding out our final Fall semester in Columbia College. It seems like only yesterday when we thought that the FroSci and LitHum exams were totally the scariest things ever. What’s crazier is that this time next semester we will be upon the brink of our graduation, which — as you likely know — is divided into two parts: Columbia College Class Day (5/17/2011) and University Commencement (5/18/2011).
We are writing to you today about Class Day, a tradition specifically for Columbia College where we welcome a beloved alumnus to deliver the College’s official farewell to CC seniors. Columbia College is unique in its requirement that the Class Day speaker be a Columbia affiliate, and we personally celebrate this tradition, as it helps to ensure that our speaker be particularly able to speak to the experiences of Columbia College graduates. When determining who to invite to speak at Class Day, your senior class council was particularly interested in the following qualities for a speaker: 1) passion for Columbia College, 2) success in personal and professional life, and 3) positive spirit and attitude capable for the inspiration of students. Moreover, in consideration of the comments that you contributed as we moved through this selection process, we agreed that it was additionally important to chose a speaker who reflected the relatively new gender balance that Columbia College has finally attained since this school became open to women in 1983. Since then, only the 1999 Class Day speaker has been a woman: Claire Shipman, CC ’86.
Therefore, I am absolutely thrilled to announce that our first choice for Class Day speaker has agreed to join us on May 17, 2011. ALEXANDRA WALLACE CREED, CC ’88, executive producer of the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and vice president of NBC News, will be this year’s Class Day Speaker. A renegade in her field, she is part of a small group of women who have shattered the glass ceiling of television network news in order to serve as the chief executive for the United States’ largest nightly network news broadcast. Moreover, she has been honored with six News and Documentary Emmy awards and a John Jay Award for distinguished professional achievement. We were particularly impressed that in addition to this incredible professional responsibility, Ms. Wallace is also the mother of young children and an extraordinarily active alumnae who hosts several Columbia College events every year and serves on the Columbia College Board of Visitors.
Class Day is a time for Columbia College seniors to celebrate their incredible achievement and to be inspired by the distinguished Columbians who have come before them. Alexandra Wallace Creed is someone that all Columbians can be proud of and admire as a role model, and we look forward to welcoming her to campus next semester as our Class Day speaker.
Below our signatures you will find blurbs for Give and Go Green and a job opportunity at Epic Software Development.
Good luck this week with papers and exams, and please enjoy a very safe and happy winter holiday. It has been an incredible semester, and we are already excited for the spring semester of 2011!
Yours,
Sean Manning Udell
President, Columbia College Class of 2011
smu2106@columbia.eduAlexandra Coromilas
Vice President, Columbia College Class of 2011
ajc2154@columbia.eduTom Amegadzie, Sonya Chandra, & Andy Kim
Class Representatives for Columbia College Class of 2011
underwhelmed
that is a HUGE position. not star quality but very impressive!
also how can we not have had a female for 12 years, that is actually upsetting
wouldn’t it have to do with the rule that the speaker has to be a columbia grad? Since women weren’t admitted until ’83, there are fewer females to choose from, and they are just beginning to achieve things within the past several years. But yes, upsetting.
If this was Bwog, that comment would have about 100 thumbs up.
win
maybe we could put a wig on obama for a third female class day speaker
big time
huge failure. udell’s bullshit false exuberance makes it worse. “first choice,” are you serious? there are plenty of more interesting CC graduates/affiliates than this unknown media executive who happens to live and work down the street. this is only marginally better than julia stiles.
udell owes the class an apology.
Apparently, NBC News VP Alexandra Wallace Creed’s father, Don Wallace Jr., is formally affiliated with a Republican Party-linked organization of lawyers and, coincidentally, apparently has an expertise in representing the special interests of Defense Industry clients. See following link:
http://www.rnla.org/bio/BioDetail.asp?MemberID=36
So that clearly means that she’s involved. Come on—it’s possible that people have different interests (even this dramatic) than their parents.
this would be interesting and relevant if her father were speaking on class day.
Hey Bob,
Totally immaterial. If you can find something about her political affliation, post it.
Otherwise, you sound desperate.
No, I am not republican.
happened to obama?
potus was trying to get obama for commencement, not class day. normally on commencement, prezbo speaks, but he was going to step aside this year if they could get obama.
by potus i mean the potus project
very disappointing
Tops in her field. I am betting she will be a pretty inspiring speaker.