Sheryl WuDunn, best-selling author and journalist, will be the University’s 164th Commencement keynote speaker for the Class of 2014.

Commencement will occur on May 18 at 10 a.m. WuDunn, a business executive and philanthropist, was recommended by the Class of 2014.

WuDunn’s previous work as a journalist and as an executive at The New York Times led her to become the Times’ first anchor of an evening news program. In her best-selling book, “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” WuDunn discusses income disparity and women’s worldwide oppression. WuDunn has received several honors, including a Pulitzer Prize for her work on China’s initiative towards democracy. “Half the Sky” has been featured on the The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Colbert Report, and WuDunn also explored topics in her book in her 2010 TEDGlobal talk.

Additionally, the book inspired a 2012 PBS documentary series with the same title. The film follows WuDunn, her co-author Nicholas Kristof, and several celebrity activists in their travels to 10 countries to discover how health care, education, and the economy affect women and girls worldwide.

As a journalist for The New York Times, WuDunn was a foreign correspondent in Tokyo and Beijing. She also received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Lifetime Achievement, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize, the George Polk Award, and the Pearl S. Buck Woman of the Year Award. WuDunn now works on media and technology with entrepreneurs in the field of investment banking.