Margaret Brennan, CBS foreign policy reporter and Convent of the Sacred Heart graduate, will deliver the commencement address at Convent of the Sacred Heart’s 166th graduation exercises on Friday, June 5.
The Sacred Heart class of 2015 includes 82 seniors who will matriculate to four-year colleges and universities next fall. The ceremonies will take place at the all-girls’ independent school, in Greenwich, Connecticut, beginning at 2 p.m. with a baccalaureate Mass, followed by the awarding of diplomas and Ms. Brennan’s address.
Ms. Brennan graduated from Sacred Heart in 1998, and developed an early interest in reporting on the news. She was Foreign Affairs and Middle East Studies double major at the University of Virginia, where she earned a Bachelor's degree with a minor in Arabic language. As a Fulbright-Hays Scholar, she studied Arabic at Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan.
Since joining CBS News in July 2012, Ms. Brennan's foreign policy reporting has taken her around the world. Primarily assigned to the State Department, she has traveled with Secretary of State John Kerry and Hillary Clinton to cover national security and diplomatic issues. She was among the first reporters to interview Mr. Kerry on the landmark agreement with Iran to freeze its nuclear program, and covered the diplomatic breakthrough deal to have the Syria transfer control of its chemical weapons. Brennan was one of the first reporters to interview Hillary Clinton about the fatal attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. She also traveled with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in Afghanistan and interviewed him about the U.S. decision to withdraw forces from America's longest war.
Before joining CBS News, Ms. Brennan spent a decade covering the global financial markets. She anchored Bloomberg Television's "InBusiness with Margaret Brennan," a weekday program broadcast live from the New York Stock Exchange that covered top political, economic and financial news.
Previously, Ms. Brennan was a correspondent at CNBC. From 2002-2009, she reported on corporate malfeasance, the expansion of the global markets, and the 2008 financial crisis. With a focus on the consumer and retail spending during the recession, she also contributed to various NBC News programs. She began her financial news career as a researcher for financial news legend Louis Rukeyser.
Founded in 1848, Convent of the Sacred Heart is an all-girls’ independent day school from kindergarten through grade 12, with a coed early childhood program. The school’s outstanding faculty and its rigorous curriculum in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) prepare students to become leaders with strong values. The school is located at 1177 King Street in Greenwich.
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