PBS NewsHour's Alcindor to deliver Cronkite School spring 2021 convocation address

Yamiche Alcindor, the White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour and a political contributor to NBC News and MSNBC, will give the keynote address at the spring 2021 convocation of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

The Cronkite School will host the virtual ceremony at 6 p.m. May 3.

As White House correspondent, Alcindor has covered both the Biden and Trump administrations, reporting extensively on immigration and the COVID-19 pandemic. She frequently reports on the intersection between race and politics, including protests following the death of George Floyd and the disproportionate impact that the coronavirus has had on Black people and communities of color.

Alcindor said she is thrilled to be selected as Cronkite’s convocation speaker.

"I'm incredibly honored and excited to address the graduates of Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, one of the nation's top journalism schools and home to Arizona PBS and PBS NewsHour West. In such historic and critical times, I look forward to speaking to this next generation of journalists about the importance of holding the powerful accountable, addressing discrimination in all forms, and staying strong as we continue to live and work amid the COVID-19 pandemic."

Before joining PBS in 2017, Alcindor worked as a national political reporter for The New York Times, covering Congress and the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. Before joining The Times, she was a national breaking news reporter for USA Today, covering stories such as the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut; the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida; and police-related protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland.

In 2020, Alcindor was named the recipient of the Radio Television Digital News Association's John F. Hogan Distinguished Service Award, the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Gwen Ifill Award, and the White House Correspondents Association's Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House Coverage. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and was named the organization's 2020 Journalist of the Year.

Alcindor, the daughter of Haitian immigrants and a native of Miami, Florida, earned a master's degree in broadcast news and documentary filmmaking from New York University and a bachelor's degree in English, government and African American studies from Georgetown University.

“In choosing a graduation speaker, we wanted someone who could speak to our students about what it means – and what it takes – to be a journalist covering the most important news of our time. Yamiche is the perfect choice,” said Interim Dean Kristin Gilger. “She is the kind of journalist we hope our students will become one day.”