HUNTINGDON COLLEGE
NEWS RELEASE
January 25, 2017
For more information, contact:
Su Ofe
(334) 833-4515; news@hawks.huntingdon.edu
Kristen Soltis Anderson to speak for Huntingdon College Commencement
Montgomery, Ala.—Huntingdon College President J. Cameron West announced today that political commentator and pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson will offer the Commencement Address at the College’s 2017 Commencement Exercises for traditional day students, Saturday, May 6, at 9:00 a.m. on the College Green. The title of her address will be “Civic Engagement: Millennial Power in a Boomer Nation.” She will appear under the auspices of the College’s annual Stallworth Lectureship in the Liberal Arts, for the first time coinciding with Commencement Exercises.
“Kristen Soltis Anderson is a rising young star in political polling and in the analysis of the values and culture of the millennial generation,” said West. “She speaks all over the United States, and we are thrilled that she will be coming to address the millennials of the Huntingdon Class of 2017. In the words of the Huntingdon motto, our graduates ‘go forth to apply wisdom in service’. No one is better equipped than Ms. Anderson to speak in words which millennials understand about the wider world they are entering.”
Anderson, who authored the book, The Selfie Vote: Where Millennials are Leading America, is considered an expert on the millennial generation, blending observations from focus groups, personal stories, and polling results in her remarks and providing key insights into the changing nature of American society and politics. Anderson earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in government from the Johns Hopkins University. A former vice president for the Winston Group, where she spent eight years studying emerging trends in politics and society, her research on millennial attitudes has been featured in The New York Times Magazine and she appears frequently on programs such as NBC’s Meet the Press, MS-NBC’s Morning Joe, ABC’s This Week, CNN’s State of the Union, Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, and HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. She served as a Resident Fellow at Harvard University’s Institute for Politics in 2014 and has been named one of TIME magazine’s “30 Under 30 Changing the World,” National Journal‘s “25 Most Influential Women in Washington Under 35,” one of Marie Claire‘s “New Guard” of the 50 most connected rising female leaders, and was featured among ELLE‘s 2016 “Most Compelling Women in Washington.”
About 150 Huntingdon College traditional day program graduates are expected to participate in Commencement Exercises in May. The College holds a separate graduation ceremony for its Evening Bachelor’s Degree program. Commencement Exercises are open to the public but seating is limited to guests of the graduates and other special College guests.
Huntingdon College, grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition of the United Methodist Church, is committed to nurturing growth in faith, wisdom, and service and to graduating individuals prepared to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Founded in 1854, Huntingdon is a coeducational liberal arts college recognized among “The Fastest Growing Colleges in America” by The Chronicle of Higher Education; among the top 10 regional colleges and top 10 best regional values by U.S. News and World Report; among the top tier of regional colleges by the Princeton Review; among “Colleges that Contribute to the Public Good,” by Washington Monthly; and on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. The Huntingdon campus, a Tree Campus USA, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Suellen (Su) Ofe
Associate Vice President
for Marketing and Communications
Huntingdon College
1500 E. Fairview Ave., Montgomery, AL 36106
(334) 833-4515; Cell (334) 324-6591
