By Emmanuel Freeman
Symone D. Sanders-Townsend, political strategist and former senior advisor and chief spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris, will headline TSU’s fall 2022 commencement on Saturday, Dec. 3. Sanders, host of the new MSNBC program Symone, will give the keynote address for nearly 600 undergraduate and graduate students in the Gentry Center Complex. The ceremony starts at 9 a.m.
People attending the commencement program are encouraged to wear masks as precaution against the COVID-19, flu and RSV viruses going around.
Sanders has held several high-level positions with national campaigns. In 2016, Rolling Stone magazine recognized her as one of 16 Young Americans Shaping the 2016 Election. A year earlier, Fusion magazine listed her as one of 30 women under 30 who would shape the 2016 election. Sanders is the author of No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Creighton University. She is married to Shawn Townsend.
At the fall commencement, Sanders is expected to inspire graduates about the story of her humble beginning in Omaha, Nebraska, where she was born, and how she climbed into the limelight in the nation’s capital as a political strategist.
