He hosts his own show at prime time on CNN, his book topped The New York Times bestseller list, and he has received an Emmy Award four times.
And now, Anderson Cooper, a member of the "best political team on TV" will follow the footsteps of his fellow - if less serious - newsman, Stephen Colbert, all the way to Penn.
Cooper will be the SPEC Connaissance Fall Keynote speaker. He will speak on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 8 p.m. in Irvine Auditorium.
Best known for anchoring the TV show, Anderson Cooper 360ø, which airs on weekdays on CNN, Cooper has been an integral part of CNN's America Votes 2008 coverage of the U.S. presidential election season. He also moderated the CNN/YouTube debates for the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries.
SPEC sees Cooper as a relevant and exciting choice.
"He has covered many national and international major news events and will bring a lot to not only the election but also world issues in general," said SPEC chairwoman and College senior Michelle Jacobson.
"We felt that his experience and the work that he has done will contribute to the University and to Penn students," she said.
Since the launch of his show in September 2003, he has covered most major events across the world, ranging from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
In addition to reporting for CNN, he also contributes to CBS' 60 minutes.
Before joining CNN, Cooper was an ABC News correspondent and hosted the reality TV show, The Mole. Cooper also anchored ABC's news program, World News Now, and provided reports for World News Tonight, 20/20 and 20/20 Downtown.
Tickets will be available for the event via a lottery system on SPEC's Web site, www.specevents.net, starting today and ending on Sept. 27.
The tickets will cost $5 for PennCard holders and will be distributed to lottery winners during the week of the event on a first-come, first-served basis. Lottery winners will be allowed to pick up a maximum of two tickets for the event.
Cooper's memoirs, Dispatches from the Edge, topped the NYT bestseller list, covering the South Asian tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina and other major news events.
Cooper has won three Emmys for his reporting on Anderson Cooper 360ø, another Emmy for his work at ABC, a National Headliners award, a Silver Plaque, a Bronze Telly, a Bronze Award from the National Educational Film and Video Festival and a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism.
"For many in our generation, Mr. Cooper has been the voice of the news, and he is an exceptionally fitting choice for this event," remarked SPEC Connaissance co-director and CollProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0
e senior Michael Zorger in a press release.
Penn students seem pleased with the selection, too.
"I am looking forward to this intriguing opportunity to hear the opinions of a world renowned reporter," said Wharton and College sophomore Aleksandar Rasevski.
Cooper graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a B.A. in Political Science.
Recent Connaissance speakers have included Karl Rove, Whoopi Goldberg and Henry Kissinger.
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