Garrison Keillor, the Minnesota writer and humorist whose name is synonymous with public radio and casual Midwestern charm, will address this year’s graduating class at the 113th Commencement, to be held on Sunday, May 19, on the lawn outside Old Main.

Keillor, host of Minnesota Public Radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” began his now famous weekly broadcast on a Saturday afternoon in July 1974. That show was performed in front of 12 people at the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center Music Hall at Macalester.

Today, “A Prairie Home Companion” is the most popular program on public radio, reaching some three million listeners around the world.

In addition to selecting Keillor as the keynote speaker, the college will also award honorary degrees to National Public Radio Correspondent Juan Williams and Carleton President Stephen Lewis.

But in a departure from the ceremony’s traditional format, neither Lewis nor Williams will address the graduating class. Last year there were three honorary degree recipients, each of whom delivered a speech.

Provost Dan Hornbach said that the decision to move to a one speaker format was in part a response to criticism from students and their families, many of whom felt that the sheer number of speakers made the ceremony unnecessarily long and choppy.

“We had heard concerns from students and families about the number of speakers,” Hornbach said. “I think now we’re moving toward a model of having one main speaker and other honorary degree recipients. Plus, with Garrison Keillor, would you want to be the person to follow him?”

According to Provost Dan Hornbach, Keillor opted not to receive an honorary degree.

The student speaker will be announced later this month.

The commencement ceremonies will include an academic procession led by the Macalester Pipe Band, flag bearers representing the 38 countries of the 61 international graduating seniors plus the U.S. and United Nations flags, faculty in academic robes, members of the class of 1952 and 394 graduating seniors.

About 1,000 alumni and friends from around the country and around the world are expected to attend reunion, which coincides with commencement and senior week activities. The reunion begins Friday, May 17, and features a series of lectures by retiring faculty, alumni panels, an alumni awards convocation, “Mac Hack” golf tournament, a service project at the Ordway Nature Center, dances with live bands and a fun run to the river. Senior week activities will take place from Tuesday, May 14, through Sunday, May 19.

Garrison Keillor graduated from Anoka High School and the University of Minnesota. He started his career at Minnesota Public Radio in 1969. It was “my last job interview, I trust,” he writes in his biography on the MPR Web site.

“Along with the show, I carry on a parallel life as a writer,” he continues. “I write an occasional essay for Time magazine. I’ve produced some story collections, a couple novels, a couple kids’ books. … I’d like to be a man of letters, capable of fiction, poetry, drama, and criticism, and I have a long way to go. If I could ever write a full-length play, I’d be a happy man. But meanwhile I’ve managed to support myself by writing, which was my big goal as a student at the U, impossible as it seemed at the time, and that gives me a certain satisfaction. Writing is pure entrepreneurship and a great way of life. And then, if you do a radio show every Saturday, you have a built-in social life. So it’s a pretty good deal.”

In addition to hosting “A Prairie Home Companion,” Keillor also hosts a daily five-minute radio program, “The Writer’s Almanac.” That show highlights a different set of writers every day and excerpts from their work.

Keillor has authored 11 books. His most recent book, a thinly-veiled satire of Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura is titled Me: By Jimmy “Big Boy” Valente As told to Garrison Keillor.

Keillor’s recording of Lake Wobegon Days received a Grammy Award; he received two ACE Awards for cable television and a George Foster Peabody Award. In 1994, he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame at Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications.

This coming May, Garrison Keillor will make his opera debut as author and narrator of a new Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra production titled Mr. and Mrs. Olson.

“A Prairie Home Companion” centers on the goings on of a fictitious town in rural Minnesota called Lake Wobegon. The program often includes comedy sketches, political satire and performances by musicians. The show is broadcast from The Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.

Juan Williams

Juan Williams, former host of NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” is a senior correspondent for NPR and provides commentary on politics and other subjects.

Williams joined Fox News in 1997 as a political contributor. He is a regular panelist on the Sunday morning public affairs program, “Fox News Sunday,” where he offers expert commentary on breaking political news. In addition, Williams is a regular panelist on “Special Report with Brit Hume,” which airs weeknights on the Fox News Channel.

Before coming to Fox, Williams spent 23 years at The Washington Post, where he served as an editorial writer, op-ed columnist and White House correspondent. The recipient of an Emmy Award for television documentary writing, Williams also won widespread critical acclaim for a series of documentaries including, “Politics-The New Black Power,” and “A. Philip Randolph: For Jobs and Freedom.” He is the author the non-fiction bestseller, Eyes on The Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 and

Thurgood Marshall- American Revolution. Williams has also written numerous articles for national magazines including Fortune, The Atlantic Monthly,

Ebony, GQ and The New Republic, in addition to appearing on numerous television programs including ABC’s “Nightline,” PBS’ “Washington Week inReview” and “Oprah.”

Williams is a graduate of Haverford College. His son, Antonio Williams ‘02, is graduating from Macalester this spring.

Stephen Lewis

Lewis became Carleton’s ninth president in 1987 after 21 years at Williams College, where he taught economics and served twice as provost. He also taught economics at Stanford, Harvard and the University of Nairobi in Kenya. A specialist in economic policy and planning in developing countries, Lewis has served since 1975 as economic consultant to the government of Botswana, which awarded him the Presidential Order of Meritorious Service in 1982.

Lewis graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams in 1960 and received his Ph.D. in economics from Stanford in 1963. He has written numerous articles and several books including The Economics of Apartheid and Policy Choice and Development Performance in Botswana.

He also served as a mentor to President McPherson while both men served at Williams. “Steve combines high ideals with fine political instincts and a razor-sharp mind. I’m very happy we’re honoring him,” President McPherson said.