Ann Compton to deliver CNU commencement address
News Release - April 12, 2006
Media contact:
Carolyn Cuthrell
Office of Communications and Public Relations
(757) 594-7331
 ABC News White House Correspondent Ann Compton will deliver the 2006 Spring Commencement address on May 13. |
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — ABC News White House Correspondent Ann Compton will deliver the 2006 Spring Commencement address to Christopher Newport University's estimated 580 graduates. Commencement exercises will begin at 10 a.m. on May 13 at POMOCO Stadium on the CNU campus, where the graduating class is expected to comprise about 512 undergraduate students and 68 graduate students. Compton is now covering a sixth president for ABC News in a career that has taken her to the White House, Capitol Hill, and through seven presidential campaigns. She is the national correspondent for ABC News Radio, based Washington, D.C. Recently she also was elected president of the White House Correspondents Association. "From her post at ABC News, Ann Compton has covered innumerable life-changing and world-changing events – from the end of the Cold War to the stories that made headlines only yesterday – and we are honored to have this trusted Virginian bring her unique perspective to our graduating seniors," said CNU President Paul Trible. On September 11, 2001, Compton was the only broadcast reporter allowed to remain onboard Air Force One during the dramatic hours when President Bush was unable to return to Washington. |
Weeks after the Watergate scandal came to an end, Compton became the first woman assigned to cover the White House on a full-time basis by a network television news organization, and she was one of the youngest to receive the assignment.
Reporting for all ABC News broadcasts, Compton has traveled around the globe and through all 50 states with presidents, vice presidents and first ladies. Twice during campaigns, Compton was invited to serve as a panelist for presidential debates (1988 and 1992), and she was assigned as a floor reporter at the 1976 Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
Compton began her broadcasting career in Virginia where an internship at Hollins College (now University) led to a full-time job reporting for WDBJ TV, a CBS affiliate in Roanoke. She established a State Capitol Bureau in Richmond for the station. In 1973, ABC News hired Compton, and she reported from New York until December 1974 when she was assigned to the White House.
Hosts for Compton's visit are WM Jordan Construction Company and TowneBank.
Please visit www.cnu.edu/commencement/events.html for the complete schedule of CNU commencement activities.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Luter School of Business and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.