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Press Release Contact: Macalester Alum Peter Berg to Deliver Commencement Address St. Paul, Minn. - Peter Berg ’84, the Hollywood director, writer, producer and actor will be the keynote speaker at Macalester College’s 119th Commencement at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17, 2008, on the lawn outside Old Main.
As an actor, Berg starred for three years in the television series Chicago Hope, for which he also wrote and directed episodes. He played the role of Dr. Billy Kronk, the cocky hockey-playing surgeon. He starred in such films as The Last Seduction, Collateral, Cop Land, The Great White Hype, Girl 6, Late for Dinner, A Midnight Clear and Fire in the Sky. Berg works as a producer through his Film 44, a Universal-based development and production company whose projects include The Kingdom andthe television drama Friday Night Lights, for which Berg was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding director of the pilot. “We are very pleased to have one of our own return to campus to help send our senior class on their next journey,” said Macalester President Brian Rosenberg. “Peter has had an outstanding film career and is a great example of the importance of theater and arts education at a liberal arts college.” Berg was a dramatic arts major at Macalester and appeared in several college productions. His interest in performing was inspired as a child attending Broadway plays twice a month with his parents. A native of New York City, he now lives in Los Angeles. Receiving an honorary degree at Commencement will be retiring Philosophy Professor Henry West, who has taught at the college for 40 years. Bruce B. Dayton, local corporate leader, philanthropist, arts benefactor and Macalester supporter, will receive an honorary degree at a special ceremony on May 15. Zachary Devlin-Foltz ’08, an economics and political science major from Silver Spring, Maryland, will be the senior class speaker. Commencement ceremonies will include an academic procession led by the Macalester Pipe Band, flag bearers representing the 47 countries of the 66 graduating international seniors plus the U.S. and U.N. flags, faculty in academic robes and the 453 seniors. Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,889 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism and civic engagement. |
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As a director, Berg is known for a number of films including The Rundown, Very Bad Things, the critically acclaimed Friday Night Lights (based on the book by H.G. Bissinger and now a television series) and his most recent feature The Kingdom, set in Saudi Arabia and starring Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper and Jennifer Garner. His latest film, to be released this summer, is Hancock, starring Will Smith as a superhero in an existential crisis, and Charlize Theron.