Celebrating Our Honorees | Montgomery College, Maryland

Honorary Degree Recipients 1996–2019

2015 Commencement Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipients

Mr. Steven V. Roberts
Professor, Columnist, Best-Selling Author

Mr. Steven V. Roberts

Mr. Steven V. Roberts has been a journalist for more than 50 years, covering some of the major events of his time, from the antiwar movement and student revolts of the 1960s and 1970s to President Reagan’s historic trip to Moscow in 1988—and 12 presidential election campaigns.

He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1964 and joined the New York Times as research assistant to James “Scotty” Reston, then the paper’s Washington bureau chief. His 25-year career with the Times included assignments as bureau chief in Los Angeles and Athens and as Congressional and White House correspondent. He was a senior writer at U.S. News for seven years, specializing in national politics and foreign policy.

Mr. Roberts and his wife, Cokie, often collaborate on writing projects. Together they write a nationally syndicated newspaper column and in February of 2000, they published From This Day Forward, an account of their interfaith marriage, as well as other marriages in American history. The New York Times called the book “inspiring and instructive” and it spent seven weeks on the best-seller list.

He also writes a bimonthly column, Hometown, for Bethesda Magazine and reviews sports books for the Washington Post. His childhood memoir, My Fathers’ Houses, published in 2005, was featured at the National Book Festival in Washington. His latest book, From Every End of This Earth, chronicles the stories of 13 immigrant families. The Washington Post called it “compassionate and engaging.”

As a broadcaster, Mr. Roberts appears regularly as a political analyst on the ABC radio network and as a substitute host on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show. As a teacher, he lectures widely on American politics and the role of the news media. Since 1997, he has been the Shapiro Professor of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.

His many honors include the Bender prize as one of GW’s top undergraduate teachers and four honorary doctorates. His favorite assignment is coaching first base for his grandson’s Little League baseball team.