Award-winning TV personality, media mogul and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey will deliver the 2009 commencement address Sunday.
Winfrey often declines offers to speak at commencement exercises but she made an exception for Duke because of her connection to the University, said Will Bumpus, a graduating senior and Winfrey's godson.
After hearing Winfrey deliver the 2008 commencement address at Stanford University when his sister graduated, Bumpus said he wanted Winfrey to speak at his own graduation.
"At the end of that speech, she said to me, 'I can't wait to speak at your graduation next year,'" he said, adding that he is quite close to his godmother. "She expressed interest in speaking at my graduation so it's been an understanding for a while that she would be the commencement speaker."
When President Richard Brodhead formally extended an invitation in the Fall, Winfrey accepted, said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations.
"It's wonderful to have interesting and thoughtful and prominent individuals speaking at our graduation and giving the charge to our new students," Schoenfeld said. "Speaking at Duke is a great honor and the people who come here take it very seriously."
Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Miss., but also spent parts of her childhood in Wisconsin and Tennessee.
While still attending East Nashville High School as a senior, Winfrey began her career in broadcasting by reading the news at a local black radio station.
She later joined WLAC-TV in Nashville as the station's first black female news anchor.
In 1983, Winfrey moved to Chicago to host "AM Chicago" on WLS-TV. Within months, the show became the top-rated talk show in the city. Three years later, the show was renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and began national syndication.
In addition to her TV show's success, Winfrey has starred in and produced acclaimed films and plays. She also publishes a women's magazine, owns a satellite radio station and helped to found the cable TV network Oxygen.
Winfrey is also known as a global philanthropist. In 1997, she began the Oprah's Angel Network, a charitable foundation that raises money to encourage civic engagement. She opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007. Its mission is to empower young South African girls through education and leadership, according to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation's Web site.
Winfrey is the only person to be named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world every year since the list began.
"Oprah Winfrey has established herself as one of the most compelling figures of this time," President Richard Brodhead said in an Oct. 2008 statement. "A media pioneer, she is a vivid example of the power of individual initiative. Through her work as a philanthropist, she has become a force for literacy and education around the world."
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