NBC Today anchor Al Roker will be the featured speaker at the Siena College 2025 undergraduate Commencement ceremony.
Roker, who anchors weather and feature reports for Today and serves as co-host of the program’s third hour, will also receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.
The ceremony will be held the morning of Sunday, May 18 at the MVP Arena in Albany. More than 850 undergrads will receive their diplomas.
Siena College’s student TV station SCTV made the announcement to the Siena community in a special breaking news broadcast.
In the video, inviting Al Roker to speak at Siena is Tom Mazzarelli, co-executive producer of NBC Today and a member of Siena College’s Class of 1993.
“Al Roker is well-known throughout America for his heartfelt and humorous weather reports, and we are thrilled to welcome him as our Commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient,” Siena President Charles “Chuck” Seifert, Ph.D. “His talents extend to a variety of journalistic platforms – interviewer, co-anchor, podcaster and YouTube host – that showcase his impressive range and a commitment to excellence in both communications and in connecting with his loyal audience to share stories of personal growth and change. As a further inspiration to our graduates, Al Roker’s passion to give back to others by raising funds for charities across the country demonstrates Siena’s Franciscan mission of service to others.”
Roker, who joined Today in 1996, is a recipient of the American Meteorological Society’s prestigious Seal of Approval and has been a pioneer in the use of computer graphics for weathercasting. He has won three Daytime Emmy Awards as part of the show’s recognition as the best morning newscast (2007, 2009, 2010).
From 2001 to 2010, and in 2017, Roker’s “Lend a Hand Today” initiative took him across the country and raised millions to help small charities work toward improving conditions in their communities.
He also co-hosts Sirius XM’s “Off the Rails” with Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones and hosts “Cold Cuts with Al Roker” on TODAY.com and YouTube. He made his Broadway stage debut in “Waitress” in October 2018 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City, playing the part of Old Joe.
In November 2014, Roker made history on Today for “Rokerthon,” in which he broke the Guinness World Record for the Longest Uninterrupted Live Weather Report Broadcast by providing 34 hours of continuous weather coverage. The following year in October 2015, “Rokerthon 2” broke the Guinness World Record for the Fastest Time to Report a Weather Forecast from All 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, which he completed in one week. In March 2017 for “Rokerthon 3,” Roker visited five colleges across the country in five days and helped college students break additional Guinness World Records.
A separate Siena master’s degree ceremony will be held on the Siena campus at the UHY Center on Saturday, May 17 at 9:30AM.