David Muir, anchor and managing editor of “ABC World News Tonight with David Muir,” the most-watched newscast in the U.S., will deliver Syracuse University’s 2022 Commencement address Sunday, May 15, in the stadium. The ceremony will begin at 9:30 a.m.
David Muir
“David Muir is a highly respected journalist who shares powerful stories of the most consequential events of our time. His experiences, insights and worldview will make for a compelling Commencement address for our students, their families and all Commencement participants,” Chancellor Kent Syverud says. “We are privileged to have David speak at Commencement 2022 and look forward to welcoming him back to Central New York.”
An Emmy Award-winning journalist, with a career of headlining, exclusive interviews and on the scene reporting from global hotspots, Muir, who is a Syracuse native, delivers national and international news to millions of people each night as the anchor of “ABC World News Tonight with David Muir.” Muir is also co-anchor of ABC’s “20/20.”
“It is a true honor to come home to celebrate the Class of 2022 at Syracuse University. They are the next generation of thinkers, changemakers and leaders who will guide us through the challenges and triumphs that lie ahead,” Muir says. “These graduates have already proven their strength, and their ability to persevere even in these times.”
Muir, who joined ABC in 2003, became anchor and managing editor of its daily evening news program in 2014, first traveling the globe to cover conflict, humanitarian crises and natural disasters as a correspondent for the network. His dispatches from all over the world for years built a connection with the American audience back here at home. Muir has reported from war zones and disasters, including Afghanistan, Iraq, the Ukraine border, Tahrir Square, Mogadishu, Gaza, Guantanamo, Fukushima, Beirut and the Syrian border.
Muir has landed exclusive interviews with world leaders pursuing answers from those in power, often generating global headlines.
With the world focused on the war in Ukraine, Muir was the first network anchor to interview Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early March. In December 2021, Muir questioned President Joseph Biden L’68 about the state of preparedness in the U.S. in the face of another COVID-19 surge. Muir was the first to interview former President Donald Trump in the White House on Inauguration Day, and landed the first network interview with President Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Muir traveled to Afghanistan to interview the top U.S. commander amid talks with the Taliban, to Iraq to interview American military leaders in the fight against ISIS and to Cuba where Muir spoke with then-President Barack Obama during the president’s historic trip. Muir also moderated a town hall with President Obama, “The President and the People,” a conversation about race, policing and bridging the divide, earning an Emmy for his work. Muir also moderated the first-ever Vatican town hall with Pope Francis, conducting the town hall entirely in Spanish.
Muir has reported numerous in-depth ABC News specials, including most recently, “The Children of Climate Change” from Southern Madagascar—generating nearly $4 million for the World Food Programme, the most ever generated for the organization after a news report. Muir earned the prestigious George Polk Award for his reporting on climate.
Muir documented the return of Auschwitz survivors back to Poland, 75 years after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp, and profiled America’s World War II veterans who returned to Normandy 75 years after they stormed the beaches in France.
Further showcasing the depth of his reporting, Muir has covered the heroin crisis in America; he was the first American journalist to anchor from the scene of Europe’s refugee crisis on the Hungarian/Serbian border; and Muir was granted rare access to Guantanamo prison.
His skillful, detailed reporting and analysis have been honored with multiple Emmy awards and Edward R. Murrow awards, along with the Polk Award, and the Society of Professional Journalists has honored Muir for his reporting overseas.
Muir’s “Made In America” and “America Strong” reports are hallmarks of the broadcast, celebrating Americans across the country working to keep jobs here in the U.S., and who are making an impact on their local communities. Muir returned to Syracuse for his “Going Home” series, spotlighting efforts to save jobs and celebrate small businesses.
A magna cum laude graduate of Ithaca College, Muir also attended the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University and studied at the University of Salamanca in Spain. Before joining ABC News, Muir distinguished himself as an award-winning anchor and reporter at WCVB-TV in Boston, and at WTVH-TV in Syracuse where he first began interning at the station at just 14. Muir often points to his Syracuse roots, and to those who welcomed him to that TV station, for helping him to build a foundation for his career in journalism.
