WS Chronicle

CNN anchor Don Lemon will speak at North Carolina Central University in Durham on Monday, Sept. 17 in the B.N. Duke Auditorium. He  is the first speaker in the university’s Lyceum series for the 2012-13 academic year. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the program will start at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Lemon joined CNN in September 2006. He anchors the weekend news program “CNN Newsroom” and also serves as a national CNN correspondent. He previously worked as a co-anchor for NBC5 News in Chicago and as a correspondent for NBC News in New York, “The Today Show” and “NBC Nightly News.”

In 2008, while working at CNN, Lemon scored an interview with then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel on the day he accepted the position of chief of staff for president-elect Barack Obama. He also served as anchor on the scene during the inauguration of President Obama, Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana in 2008 and the Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007.

Last year, Ebony magazine named Lemon as one of the most influential blacks in America in their Ebony Power 150.

Lemon made news last year with the release of his book “Transparent,” in which he talks about his life and sexuality, revealing that he is gay. By coming out, Lemon becomes one of a small number of openly gay anchors on television.

Lemon’s broadcast career has taken him from a weekend anchor and general assignment reporter with WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, an anchor and investigative reporter for KTVI-TV in St. Louis and an anchor for WBRC-TV in Birmingham. He began his career at WNYW in New York City as a news assistant while still in college.

Lemon’s work in broadcast journalism has been recognized with several awards, including the Edward R. Murrow Award  and several Emmys.

He serves as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College, the college at which he earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism.

The NCCU Lyceum series will also include a concert with gospel great Marvin Sapp on Oct. 29 and a performance by the Philadelphia-based modern dance company PHILADANCO on Nov. 29.