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May 1, 2014 – Approximately 500 students will graduate from Allegheny College at Commencement on Saturday, May 10, at 2 p.m. The ceremony takes place in the college’s 199th year.

In addition, Allegheny will award honorary degrees to three distinguished individuals: journalist Judy Woodruff, who will give the Commencement address; mental health advocate Kitty Dukakis; and philosopher Lucius T. Outlaw Jr.

Judy Woodruff is the co-anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour with Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff. She has covered politics and other news for more than three decades at CNN, NBC and PBS.

She served as anchor and senior correspondent for CNN, where her duties included anchoring the weekday program “Inside Politics”; was the Chief Washington Correspondent for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour on PBS; and also anchored PBS’ award-winning weekly documentary series “Frontline with Judy Woodruff.” At NBC News, she was White House correspondent.

Woodruff is a founding co-chair of the International Women’s Media Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting and encouraging women in communication industries worldwide. She is the recent recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcast Journalism/Television and the University of Southern California Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.

Former Massachusetts First Lady Kitty Dukakis is the author of two books, “Now You Know,” in which she talks about her public life as the wife of presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and about her personal struggle to overcome drug and alcohol abuse, and, with Larry Tye, “Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy,” a first-person account of how ECT has helped her deal with debilitating depression. Among her many public service activities, she has served on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the President’s Commission on the Holocaust, the Refugee Policy Group and the Task Force on Cambodian Children.

Lucius Outlaw is professor of philosophy and of Africana and diaspora studies at Vanderbilt University, where he also serves as associate provost for undergraduate education. He focuses his research and teaching on Africana Philosophy, European Continental Philosophy, History of Western Philosophy, and Social and Political Philosophy. He is the author of two books: “On Race and Philosophy” and “Critical Social Theory in the Interests of Black Folks.” In addition, he is a member of the editorial boards of the journals “Philosophy and Social Criticism” and “Speculative Philosophy.”

The Commencement ceremony will take place on Bentley Hall lawn, weather permitting. Tickets are required for admission only if the ceremony is held indoors in the Wise Center.