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Christiane M.H. Amanpour — CNN’s chief international anchor and host of the nightly global affairs program “Amanpour” — will deliver the Harvard Kennedy School’s 2025 graduation address on May 28, the school announced Thursday.

Amanpour, an award-winning broadcast journalist, is well known for her on-the-ground coverage of conflict zones and hard-hitting interviews with world leaders.

In a statement in Thursday’s press release, Amanpour alluded to the historic timing of her address amid recent upheaval in Washington.

“What a time to address graduates from the John F. Kennedy School of Government as the very idea of government changes in the United States, as does the challenge to defend democracy and human rights, in the midst of a dramatic realignment of America on the world stage,” Amanpour said.

Kennedy School Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein also nodded to the “change and uncertainty” of the present moment, writing in the press release that Amanpour is “the perfect person to address the next generation of public servants as they graduate from Harvard Kennedy School.”

Amanpour currently anchors “Amanpour” nightly on CNN and PBS and hosts “The Amanpour Hour” — a Saturday show analyzing the week’s leading stories.

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Amanpour, who joined CNN in 1983, rose quickly from an entry-level desk assistant to a full-fledged correspondent, documenting the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf Wars.

But she gained international recognition for her coverage of the Bosnia War, when, in a notable exchange with Bill Clinton, she called out his administration for their “constant flip-flops” on the issue. Her questioning of the president has been credited with ramping up public pressure for a shift in U.S. policy and a NATO intervention in Bosnia.

At the time, Amanpour received criticism from other journalists and government leaders for perceived bias. But Amanpour has said that covering the humanitarian crisis was clarifying for her, confirming her mantra that reporters should “be truthful, not neutral.”

In the decades since her back-and-forth with Clinton, Amanpour has racked up exclusive interviews with world leaders, confronting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, and then-head of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat.

Weinstein spoke to Amanpour’s track record of scrutinizing elected officials in the Thursday announcement.

“From reporting in war zones to covering international crises, Christiane has long set a powerful example of public service by holding leaders accountable in the moments that matter most,” he said.

But in recent years, Amanpour has criticized U.S. coverage — including at her own network — for what she said amounted to jumping to false moral equivalencies in order to present a facade of balance.

In 2023, she publicly rebuked CNN’s decision to host a town hall with Donald Trump, saying it was counterproductive to give the candidate a live platform to spread misinformation.

Amanpour has said in interviews that U.S. journalists should cover threats to American democracy with the same rigor they would apply to any other part of the world, rather than getting caught up in the electoral horse race or sacrificing critical coverage for access.

Amanpour was born in London to a British-Iranian family, but spent her childhood in Tehran. When the Iranian Revolution broke out in 1979, Amanpour’s family moved to the United States and she started at the University of Rhode Island, studying journalism.

During her career, Amanpour has reported for CNN, PBS, ABC News and CBS’s “60 Minutes” — and she has received nearly every television journalism award along the way, including 16 Emmy Awards and two George Polk Awards.

Amanpour, who spoke at Harvard College’s 2010 Class Day, is the first journalist to deliver the Kennedy School’s Class Day address in more than a decade. The school’s Commencement speakers are most often political leaders or diplomats.

Last year’s graduation speaker was Nicholas Burns, then-U.S. Ambassador to China. Burns is set to rejoin HKS as a professor in April. In recent years, the Kennedy School has also hosted former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at elise.spenner@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @EliseSpenner.