Emmy award-winning journalist and nationally recognized documentary producer Bill Kurtis will provide the commencement address for the DePaul College of Law at 2:30 p.m. June 11 at Navy Pier, Festival Hall A, 600 E. Grand Ave. Kurtis, who is an attorney, also will be awarded an honorary law degree at the graduation.

     Kurtis currently heads the Chicago-based Kurtis Productions and hosts the A&E cable network series "American Justice," "Investigative Reports," and "The New Explorers." Before embarking on his documentary career, Kurtis was a news anchor for "CBS Morning News" and WBBM-TV.

     A former marine and Navy Reserve officer, Kurtis received a journalism degree from the University of Kansas in 1963 before earning a law degree from Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kan. in 1966.

     He was set to begin work at a Wichita law firm upon completing law school but his career took a turn when a tornado struck Topeka while Kurtis was still studying for the bar exam. Kurtis, who had been working as a reporter for WIBW-TV while in law school, took to the airwaves to cover the disaster.

     He made his CBS network debut the next day and that appearance earned him a job at WBBM-TV in Chicago. He remained at WBBM his entire broadcast news career, leaving only for a short time in the early 1980s to anchor the "CBS Morning News." In 1996, he left the newsroom to devote his full attention to his production company.

     The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Kurtis has won more than 20 Emmys from the Chicago Chapter of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The Museum of Broadcast Communications honored him in 1999.

     Founded in 1912, the DePaul University College of Law has approximately 750 full-time and 350 part-time students. Graduate degrees are offered in taxation and health law.

     The College of Law is also the home of the Center for Church/State Studies, the Health Law Institute, the International Human Rights Law Institute and the Center for Law and Science.

     The College of Law commencement is one of five graduation ceremonies for students from DePaul's eight schools and colleges that will be held June 10 and 11. Other speakers are anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson.

Note to Editors: Reporters interested in covering Kurtis' address should contact Valerie Phillips at 312/362-5039.