Nicholas D. Kristof
Nicholas D. Kristof, holder of two PulitzerPrizes, New York Times columnist, and regular CNN contributor, will be the keynote speaker at Oregon State University's 156th Commencement Ceremony.
Kristof has been a columnist for The New York Times since 2001, is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who writes op-ed columns that appear twice a week.
He grew up on a sheep and cherry farm near Yamhill, Oregon. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and then studied law at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, graduating with first class honors. He later studied Arabic in Cairo and Chinese in Taipei. While working in France after high school, he caught the travel bug and began backpacking around Africa and Asia. Mr. Kristof has lived on four continents, reported on six, and traveled to more than 160 countries. During his travels, he has had unpleasant experiences with malaria, mobs and an African airplane crash.
After joining The New York Times in 1984, initially covering economics, he served as a Times correspondent in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo. He also covered presidential politics and later was Associate Managing Editor of The Times, responsible for Sunday editions.
In 1990 Mr. Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, then also a Times journalist, won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of China's Tiananmen Square democracy movement. They were the first married couple to win a Pulitzer for journalism. Mr. Kristof won a second Pulitzer in 2006, for commentary for what the judges called "his graphic, deeply reported columns that, at personal risk, focused attention on genocide in Darfur and that gave voice to the voiceless in other parts of the world." He has won numerous other prizes including the George Polk Award, the Overseas Press Club award, the Michael Kelly award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Anne Frank Award.
Mr. Kristof was the first blogger on The New York Times Web site and the first to contribute a video to The Times site. A documentary about him, "Reporter," executive produced by Ben Affleck, aired on HBO. He left The Times in 2021 to run for governor of Oregon, but returned a year later after being barred from the ballot.
Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn are authors of five best-selling books: "China Wakes,"
"Thunder from the East," "Half the Sky," "A Path Appears" and “Tightrope.” His memoir, “Chasing Hope,” will be published in 2024.
Mr. Kristof has been a member of the boards of Harvard University and The American Association of Rhodes Scholars. He and Ms. WuDunn are the parents of Gregory, Geoffrey and Caroline. Mr. Kristof enjoys running, backpacking, and having his Chinese and Japanese corrected by his children.
OSU is honored that Nicholas Kristof will give the 2025 commencement address, inspiring and motivating graduates as they begin their lives beyond Oregon State.