Veteran broadcast journalist and author Ray Suarez will deliver the keynote address at Salve Regina University’s commencement ceremony next month, the Newport school announced today.
Suarez will speak at the university’s 76th commencement on Sunday, May 17, and will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters as a member of the Class of 2026. The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. on the lawn of McAuley Hall.
Over a career spanning decades, Suarez has hosted NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” “The PBS NewsHour,” Al Jazeera America’s “Inside Story” and, since its 2025 launch, the PBS series “Wisdom Keepers.” His journalism has earned two duPont-Columbia Awards, an Overseas Press Club Award and two Webby Awards, among other honors.
As an author, Suarez’s books include his most recent, “We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century,” as well as “Latino Americans: The 500-year Legacy That Shaped a Nation” and “The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America.” He has also served as a visiting professor at NYU Shanghai and Amherst College.
Salve will also award honorary degrees to two others at this year’s ceremony.
Dr. James J. O’Connell, president of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. O’Connell founded the program in 1985 as its first physician and established the nation’s first medical respite program for people experiencing homelessness. His work is the subject of the New York Times bestseller “Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People.”
Helen Ryan, Ed.D., a Salve alumna and former university trustee, will also receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Ryan played a leading role in establishing the John Paul II Catholic School in 2013 and, in 2023, created a foundational endowment to support Salve’s Compass program, a four-year initiative that helps undergraduate students develop skills and experience for careers and life beyond college.
More information about commencement is available at salve.edu/commencement.
