Oprah Winfrey, Jill Biden Announce 2012 Commencement Speeches

Media leader Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice-President Joe Biden, are each speaking to graduates this spring as commencement speakers.

Oprah is heading to the Georgia International Convention Center on May 20 to speak Spelman College's commencement ceremony. Spelman is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, and one of the nation's oldest historically black colleges for women.

"We are thrilled to welcome Oprah Winfrey back to our campus to receive this well deserved award. I know her address to the Class of 2012 will undoubtedly leave an indelible mark on the graduates, as it did in 1993," said Spelman College President Beverly Daniel Tatum in a release.

First Lady Michelle Obama delivered Spelman's 2011 commencement address.

The office of the vice president announced Friday that Dr. Biden will speak at Broward College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa.

Biden has taught English in community colleges for the past 18 years and currently teaches at a community college in Virginia.

An EF2 tornado hit SWCC's campus on April 14, the AP notes.

Also on HuffPost:

Check out some of the other notable 2012 commencement speakers this spring:

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• Walter Isaacson

  Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson will speak at<a href="http://cooper.edu/about/news/2012-commencement-speakers-announced" target="_hplink"> Cooper Union's </a> commencement.

• Ira Glass

  The producer and host of This American Life will be the commencement speaker at <a href="http://towson.patch.com/articles/radio-host-baltimore-native-ira-glass-to-deliver-goucher-commencement" target="_hplink">Goucher College</a>.

• Steve Carell

  Steve Carell will speak at <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/commencement/" target="_hplink">Princeton University</a>'s commencement. We're really hoping he'll say "<a href="http://www.theofficequotes.com/season-3/business-school" target="_hplink">May your hats fly</a> as high as your dreams." I don't know if you can tell we are excited about this.

• Condoleezza Rice

  Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will speak at<a href="http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/03/condoleezza-rice-will-speak-at.html" target="_hplink"> Southern Methodist University</a>, where the George W. Bush library is being built.

• Cory Booker

  Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, will give commencement addresses at both Hampton University in Hampton, Virg. (May 13) and Stanford University, in Palo Alto, Calif. (June 16-17).

• Soledad O'Brien

  CNN's Soledad O'Brien will speak at the <a href="http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/mar/Commencement031312.html" target="_hplink">University of Delaware</a>.

• Geoffrey Canada

  Geoffrey Canada will speak at the <a href="http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2012/03/geoffrey_canada_chosen_as_commencement_speaker" target="_hplink">University of Pennsylvania</a>. Canada is the founder of the Harlem Children's Zone, a comprehensive education and health program that aims to end the cycle of poverty for families in Central Harlem.

• Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)

  U.S. Sen. Mark Warner will speak at <a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/first-lady-michelle-obama-address-2012-graduating-seniors" target="_hplink">Virginia Tech University</a>.

• Barbara Walters

  TV personality and journalist Barbara Walters will speak at <a href="http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/apr/02/barbara-walters-speak-class-day/" target="_hplink">Yale University.</a>

• Lisa Jackson

  Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson will speak at <a href="http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2012/03/epa_administrator_lisa_jackson.html" target="_hplink">Tulane University</a> and the <a href="http://www.washington.edu/graduation/" target="_hplink">University of Washington</a>.

• Jamaica Kincaid

  Novelist Jamaica Kincaid will speak at <a href="http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/confops/commencement/speaker" target="_hplink">Grinnell College</a>.

• Athol Fugard

  Playwright Athol Fugard will receive an honorary degree at <a href="http://www.juilliard.edu/newsroom/releases/current/2012-May_Commencement.php" target="_hplink">The Juilliard School's commencement</a>.

• James Earl Jones

  James Earl Jones will also receive an honorary degree at <a href="http://www.juilliard.edu/newsroom/releases/current/2012-May_Commencement.php" target="_hplink">The Juilliard School's commencement.</a>

• Adam Savage

  Mythbuster Adam Savage will speak at <a href="http://www.slc.edu/news-events/news/2012-03-14-commencement-speaker-adam-savage-nr.html" target="_hplink">Sarah Lawrence College.</a>

• Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)

  U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal will speak at the <a href="http://www.hartford.edu/arts-events/commencement/" target="_hplink">University of Hartford.</a>

• Soledad O'Brien

  CNN's Starting Point anchor will speak at the University of Delaware.

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Comments

[Joseph Schmoe]

07:10 AM on 04/25/2012

So, a TV star or a woman who really married up. Why have a speaker at all? So few say anything of value delivered in a way that helps the listener to remember. "Pomp and circumstance" indeed.

[Intisar Zakariya]

08:03 AM on 04/24/2012

i do recommend

[rewith85man]

05:10 PM on 04/23/2012

I would rather go to that graduation instead of mines back in May 2010.

[ricchh]

08:39 AM on 04/23/2012

Oprah's time has long passed.

[baje1944]

10:09 AM on 04/23/2012

That is your opinion

[rewith85man]

05:07 PM on 04/23/2012

Nope, she is not going anywhere whether you like it or not.

[wkingsolomon77]

05:38 PM on 04/23/2012

God is in control of her life,so she will keep on winning

[ennui the third]

06:22 AM on 04/23/2012

Winfrey should discuss how she parlayed her weight into a media empire and how she fooled people into thinking she is saying anything useful...maybe she is a genius after all.

oh yeah, her network is about ready to crash, but that is another topic for another day.

[gorgol]

06:50 AM on 04/23/2012

"network about ready to crash"...I think that's the bigger topic. How an insatiable ego and lust for more riches and power can destroy you.

[Theatrixnyc]

08:58 AM on 04/24/2012

Sure. Whatever you say. When was the last time you saw Geraldo or Sally Jesse heading Radio City Music Hall, with a packed audience, broadcast around the World?

Oprah did that last night....on her way out?

You should write comedy.

[ennui the third]

10:17 AM on 04/24/2012

Are you this phony's publicist, or just a besotted fan?

She has made a career off of her weight.....thankfully people are sick of it.

The fact that she "packs" Radio City means nothing. Many untalented phonies can pack a hall.

Her ego has fostered a network that is falling on it's face.

The only "comedy" here is the joke she is playing on people like you.

[Elijah]

03:45 AM on 04/23/2012

that's cool

[usagicookies]

03:33 AM on 04/23/2012

I wish a famous person spoke at my graduation. I don't even remember who spoke at mine

[gorgol]

06:53 AM on 04/23/2012

Join the club. I didn't even go to mine. I picked up my diploma early and left town for a new job.

[Greenblue]

02:09 PM on 04/23/2012

..but you got to leave them in the dust ;)

[rewith85man]

05:09 PM on 04/23/2012

I did not want to go to my college graduation either. But, my parents forced me to go and plus I needed to improve my reputation.

The graduation turned out to be boring and somewhat annoying. It was hearing some strangers talking about themselves and then forward to the ceremony when everyone received his/her associate's degree.