MSNBC host and former Biden administration official, Symone D. Sanders-Townsend, will headline Tennessee State University’s (TSU) fall 2022 commencement on Saturday, December 3rd.
Sanders-Townsend will give the keynote address for nearly 600 undergraduate and graduate students in the Gentry Center Complex beginning at 9 a.m., the university announced in a press release.
Sanders-Townsend, a political strategist and former senior advisor and chief spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris, hosts the new MSNBC program Symone that airs on the weekends.
Before serving in the Biden administration, Sanders-Townsend served as the national press secretary for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign and as a political commentator for CNN.
TSU touts in its press release that in 2016, Rolling Stone magazine recognized Sanders-Townsend as one of 16 Young Americans Shaping the 2016 Election and, a year earlier, Fusion magazine listed her as one of 30 women under 30 who would shape the 2016 election.
She is also the author of No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Creighton University.
“At the fall commencement, Sanders is expected to inspire graduates about the story of her humble beginning in Omaha, Nebraska, where she was born, and how she climbed into the limelight in the nation’s capital as a political strategist,” TSU noted in its press release.
Sanders-Townsend’s former boss, Vice President Kamala Harris, headlined TSU’s 2022 Spring Commencement earlier this year as the ceremony’s keynote speaker, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star. During her speech, Harris made several divisive partisan statements, including Democrat talking points on voting issues, abortion, and the free exchange of information.
TSU urges those planning on attending the upcoming commencement ceremony to wear masks as a “precaution against the COVID-19, flu and RSV viruses going around.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Symone Sanders” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
