NBC News' Top Political Analyst and "Meet the Press" Moderator Tim Russert To Receive an Honorary Degree from UMass Boston

(Boston, MA) Tim Russert, widely regarded as the dean of American television news journalists, will deliver the main address and receive an honorary degree at the commencement exercises for the University of Massachusetts Boston on June 1. Russert is the moderator of "Meet the Press" and chief political analyst for NBC's "Nightly News with Tom Brokaw" and "The Today Show." In addition, he serves as senior vice president and Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News.

Since taking over the helm in 1991, "Meet the Press" has become the top-rated Sunday morning interview program in America. Russert is one of the best-known political commentators in the nation and has interviewed every major figure on the American political scene. During his tenure at NBC, he negotiated and arranged an unprecedented appearance by Pope John Paul II on American television; has led weeklong broadcasts from South America, Australia, and China; and covered eight U.S./Russia summits throughout the world.

After recently celebrating his ten-year anniversary as "Meet the Press" moderator, Russert signed a record contract to work with NBC News until 2012.

In 2001, The Washingtonian magazine named Russert the best and most influential journalist in Washington, D.C. His "Decision 2000" on "Meet the Press" with George W. Bush and Al Gore won the Radio and Television Correspondent's Association's highest honor, the Joan S. Barone Award for excellence in journalism, and the USC Annenberg Center's Walter Conkrite Award. He has also received the John Peter Zenger Award, the American Legion Journalism Award, and the Allen H. Neuharth Award for Excellence in Journalism.

Russert has received 22 honorary doctorate degrees from American colleges and universities and has lectured at the John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Ronald Reagan Presidential Libraries.

Russert is a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Washington Boys and Girls Club and America's Promise-Alliance for Youth. In 1995, the National Father's Day Committee named Russert "Father of the Year."

Before joining NBC News, Russert worked as counselor in the New York Governor's office in the New York Governor's office in Albany from 1983- 1984, and as a special counsel in the U.S. Senate for U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1977 - 1982.

Russert was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. He is a graduate of John Carroll University and graduated with honors from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He is admitted to the bar in New York and the District of Columbia. He is married to journalist Maureen Orth who works for Vanity Fair magazine and lives in Washington, D.C. with their son, Luke.

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