Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent for CNN, will deliver the commencement address at Dickinson College Sunday, May 17, and will accept an honorary doctorate in journalism degree on behalf of the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), where she serves on the board of directors.

Commencement is scheduled for 10 a.m. on the John Dickinson Campus, in front of Old West, West High Street between West and North College streets.

Other honorary degrees will be awarded to Marjorie Osterlund Rendell, a federal judge and Pennsylvania's First Lady; John J. Curley, retired Gannett Company, Inc., chairman, president and CEO and 1960 graduate of Dickinson College; and Julius Wesley Becton Jr., retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former director of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA).

IWMF/Christiane Amanpour

Dickinson is taking the unusual step of awarding an honorary degree to an organization. The IWMF, launched in 1990, includes more than 4,000 women and men in the news media in more than 130 countries. Foundation programs are designed to move women into key positions in the news media. The IWMF's groundbreaking projects, innovative research and support of women in the media help women develop their talents and advance in the profession. Foundation programs have been held in nearly 30 countries and on the Internet, reaching women in the news media worldwide.

"It is an honor to be recognized for what has been a labor of love and a true collaboration among women whose professional lives have been dedicated to furthering the role of women journalists as leaders and as beacons of press freedom," said Liza Gross, IWMF interim executive director and former IWMF board co-chair. "We believe that by joining forces our impact is greater than what it would be individually. It has been a privilege to work with our vibrant, growing international network of women leaders to create programs that change lives and honor the courage of women who risk their lives around the world to report the news. We look forward to continuing our mission through our existing programs as well as through future initiatives."

The IWMF nomination celebrates not only the work the International Women's Media Foundation does to advance career opportunities for women in journalism, but also honors the significant global dimensions of their work. The experience of IWMF board members as citizens of the world and the organization's contributions to the informed dialogue of an engaged citizenry are a strong match for Dickinson's mission and core academic values.

Amanpour's fellow board members on the IWMF include leaders in the international media: Eleanor Clift of Newsweek magazine, Campbell Brown of CNN, Deborah Howell of The Washington Post, Judy Woodruff of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Akwe Amosu of the Open Society Institute and Ann Curry of NBC News.

Dickinson President William G. Durden said the IWMF's contributions to the informed dialogue of an engaged citizenry match the college's mission and core academic values.

"We are recognizing an organization whose dedication, bravery and commitment to the truth and its discovery we admire and wish to commend," Durden said. "The IWMF exhibits virtues that correspond strongly to the ambitions we have for our students and the larger community."

Amanpour, based in London, has reported from war zones in Iraq, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia. She has secured exclusive interviews with world leaders and has received numerous accolades, including being named by Time magazine as the most influential foreign correspondent since Edward R. Murrow.

Amanpour graduated summa cum laude from the University of Rhode Island in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. While a student, she interned and then was employed at the Rhode Island NBC affiliate, WJAR. After graduation, she joined CNN as an entry-level assistant on the network's international assignment desk in Atlanta. In 1986, she transferred to CNN New York as a correspondent. Amanpour was promoted to foreign correspondent in 1990, where she first received widespread acclaim for her coverage of the Persian Gulf War, followed by award-winning reporting on the conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda.

Judge Marjorie O. Rendell

Rendell, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the first lady of Pennsylvania, will receive an honorary doctorate in law and public service.

A cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Rendell received her doctorate from Villanova University School of Law in 1973. She joined the law firm of Duane, Morris & Heckscher, where she subsequently became the firm's second woman partner. Over the course of her 20-year career as a practicing attorney, she specialized in bankruptcy law and commercial litigation, served as a mediator for the United States District Court, and was a frequent speaker at law-related seminars and panels.

Inducted as a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1994, Rendell was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1997. She is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, an inaugural member and master of the Villanova University School of Law J. Willard O'Brien Inn of Court, an elected member of the American Law Institute, a member of the American College of Bankruptcy, Federal Judges Association, the American Judicature Society and the National Association of Women Judges.

Rendell received the Philadelphia Bar Association's Sandra Day O'Connor Award in 2004 for her superior legal talent and significant achievements within the legal community; her advocacy for the advancement and equal treatment of women in the profession and in the community at large; and her mentoring of other women in the legal profession.

Rendell is a former vice chair of the board of trustees of the Visiting Nurse Association of Greater Philadelphia and has served on the boards of many charitable and civic organizations. She is a member of the board of overseers of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, the Trustees Council of Penn Women., the board of directors of Avenue of the Arts, Inc. and the board of directors of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

She became the 43^rd first lady of Pennsylvania when her husband, Gov. Edward G. Rendell, took office in 2003. Her primary initiative as first lady involves imparting civic responsibility to Pennsylvania children through citizenship and civic learning.

John J. Curley

Curley, who will receive an honorary doctorate in journalism, joined Gannett Company, Inc., the company that owns USA Today, in 1969. Gannett is an international news and information company with a number of daily newspapers in the United States and Great Britain, television stations around the country and many Internet sites. In 1982, he was named as the first editor of USA Today. He became president and chief operating officer of Gannett in 1984; CEO in 1986; and CEO, president and chairman in 1989. He retired from Gannett in 2001. His stewardship of Gannett brought the company to new heights of respect and financial success, but may be best known to many in the profession as a "reporters' editor" who nurtured young journalists and encouraged community investigative and explanatory reporting.

After graduating from Dickinson, Curley worked for the Easton Express-Times in the summer of 1960 and reported for service in the Army that fall. In January 1961, while in the Army, he began working nights at the Associated Press in New York. He remained with the AP through 1966 and earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1963.

As an undergraduate at Dickinson College, he worked as a reporter and editor for the college's student newspaper, The Dickinsonian. At his college commencement, Curley received one of the William F. Hufstader Senior Prizes for leadership, which recognizes the two students (one man and one woman) who have contributed the most to the good of the college.

Curley has served as a visiting faculty member in international studies, business and management at Dickinson and as a professor of communications and distinguished professional-in-residence at The Pennsylvania State University's College of Communications.

Curley majored in political science at Dickinson where he was an active campus leader. He continued to serve the college in multiple ways, including as a member of the alumni council, a participant in the Metzger-Conway Program, which brings distinguished graduates back to Dickinson for a short residency and as national chair of the Dickinson Fund. He became a member of the college's board of trustees in 1978 and served as its chair from 1998 to 2008. Curley also serves on the board of the John A. Hartford Foundation in New York.

Curley's honorary degree recognizes his many accomplishments in his profession and his outstanding record of service and leadership for his alma mater. The combination of achievement in the field of journalism and support of the college remain as defining characteristics of Curley from his undergraduate days to today.

Lt. Gen. Julius Wesley Becton Jr. (ret.)

Becton, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director and former education administrator, will receive an honorary doctorate in public service.

Becton joined the Army Air Corps in July 1944 and graduated from the Infantry Officer Candidate School in 1945. During his Army career, he served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant general. Among his decorations were the Distinguished Service Medal, two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merit medals and two Purple Hearts. He retired from the U.S. Army after nearly 40 years of service.

Following his retirement in 1983, Becton continued to serve his country. From 1984 to 1985, he served as the director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance in the United States Agency for International Development. He then served as the director of FEMA from 1985 to 1989.

A native of Bryn Mawr, Pa., Becton graduated as a non-traditional student from Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College with a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1960. He went on to receive a master's degree in economics in 1966 from the University of Maryland. He also graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the Armed Forces Staff College and the National War College.

In his mid-60s, Becton began a new career as an education administrator when, in 1989, he returned to his alma mater in Texas as president of Prairie View A&M University, where he served as its fifth president from 1989 to 1994.

From 1996 to 1998, as CEO and superintendent of the Washington, D.C., public school system, he closed underutilized schools, made long-term plans to improve infrastructure and raised academic standards.

Becton serves on a number of boards and committees. He is a member of the board of trustees for the American Public University System as well as the Association of the United States Army's (AUSA) council of trustees, and he is a director of The Source for Learning, Inc.

His many honors include being named several times by Ebony magazine as "One of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in America." He holds honorary doctoral degrees from Huston-Tillotson College in Texas, Muhlenberg College in Pa., Prairie View A&M University and The Citadel in South Carolina. In 2007, he was selected to receive the George Catlett Marshall Medal, the highest award presented by AUSA for being a "soldier, combat commander, administrator, educator, public servant, government leader and role model."

Becton's book, "Becton: Autobiography of a Soldier and a Public Servant," was published last year by the Naval Institute Press.