Today show star Craig Melvin will be the commencement speaker at Villanova University’s 2026 graduation ceremony.
Craig teased his plans for his commencement speech in an Instagram post ahead of the event.
Villanova University President Rev. Peter M. Donohue spoke about why Craig was chosen.
Craig Melvin is on a mission to inspire others.
Fans know the Today show star for appearing on their screens every weekday to deliver the latest pop culture and world news. And recently, Villanova University announced that Craig would be the commencement speaker at its 2026 ceremony on May 19. He’ll also receive a degree of Doctor of Humane Letters during the event.
Ahead of Craig’s speech, he shared his excitement about the opportunity on Instagram.
“Honored and excited to deliver this year’s commencement address at Villanova University on Tuesday,” he captioned the May 17 post. “No better way to spend a Sunday than putting the finishing touches on my remarks. Wildcats, alumni, and the entire Villanova community: what advice should I pass along to the Class of 2026?”
As soon as fans saw Craig’s post, they became emotional.
“Nova Nation 💙 @craigmelvinnbc you are awesome 🙌🙌🙌,” one person wrote in the comments. “Villanova is lucky to have you!!!” another exclaimed. “Wow! Congratulations! Lucky graduates,” a different follower added.
Rev. Peter M. Donohue, Villanova’s current president, told The Villanovan that he had a good reason for choosing Craig for the honor.
“I think it’s important that we depend so much on information these days and receiving information,” Fr. Peter told the outlet. “I think journalists, whether they be print journalists, television journalists, whatever they might be, however we receive the news from them, they have an important vocation, career in life to bring facts and bring the public information. They do that every day on the Today Show. They capture the essence of world news that happened the day before, at the beginning of that broadcast every day.”
“I think it’s important that as we look at how we go forward as a University, and particularly as we send our graduates off, the importance that each one of them have of telling the truth,” he added. “We believe so much in truth here. And I think that there’s no better example of it than people that share the news with us.”
Congrats!
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.goodhousekeeping.com ’
