Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns will be among the distinguished speakers at Penn State’s commencement ceremonies this weekend.
Burns is scheduled to speak at noon Saturday at the College of Communications graduation in the Bryce Jordan Center. The university will present him with an honorary degree, spokeswoman Jill Shockey said. The event will be free and open to the public; doors are expected to open an hour before it begins.
Just today, Burns announced the details of his new documentary film, ‘The Tenth Inning,’ which will be a follow-up to his 1994 series ‘Baseball.’ The new piece will air on PBS on Sept. 28 and 29, and focus on baseball since the 1990s, according to a New York Times report.
One of the most prolific and influential documentary filmmakers in the U.S., Burns has developed famous series on the Civil War, Lewis and Clark, Frank Lloyd Wright, the American west, World War II and the national parks, among other subjects.
Other Penn State commencement speakers to receive honorary degrees this weekend include author and journalist Ron Suskind, who will speak at the College of the Liberal Arts graduation, and Nobel Prize winner Peter Agre, who will speak at the Eberly College of Science graduation. StateCollege.com has posted a more complete list of commencement events and details on this page.
Shockey said Penn State plans to confer about 9,750 degrees overall this weekend at University Park. They include roughly 8,600 bachelor’s degrees, 900 master’s degrees and 250 doctoral degrees.
