Leslie Odom, Jr. To Deliver Carnegie Mellon Commencement Address

Leslie Odom, Jr., the Tony and Grammy Award-winning actor and singer best known for his role in the Broadway musical "Hamilton," will deliver the keynote address at Carnegie Mellon University's 122nd Commencement at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 19, in the university's Pittsburgh campus.

Odom, Jr. is a Carnegie Mellon alumnus. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree during the ceremony.

CMU's other honorary degree recipients are:

• Darlene Clark Hine - honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Hine is a leading historian of the African-American experience who helped found the field of black women's history and has been one of its most prolific scholars. Hine is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• David M. Kelley - honorary Doctor of Science and Technology. Kelley is a 1973 alumnus of CMU's College of Engineering and founded the global design and innovation company IDEO and Stanford University's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design - commonly referred to as the d.school.
• John Shaffner and Joe Stewart - honorary Doctors of Fine Arts. Shaffner and Stewart (1976 and 1977 alumni, respectively) are two of the most prolific production designers in television, working on shows such as "The Big Bang Theory," "Friends" and "Two and a Half Men." They have earned 39 Emmy Award nominations and won six Emmys.