Scott Van Pelt, an ESPN SportsCenter anchor who called Madison America's best college sports town,"" will be speaking to UW-Madison's December graduates on Dec. 16 at the Kohl Center.
The decision, which was announced Thursday, came after UW-Madison's four senior class officers submitted a list of possible speakers, which included Van Pelt, to Secretary of the Faculty David Musolf.
""He was the one that the students had at the top of the list,"" Musolf said.
According to Samantha Ziesemer, vice president of the senior class, the officers aim to choose speakers that will be ""interesting and fun"" for students to listen to, and said she is looking forward to hosting Van Pelt.
""We were all pretty ecstatic about it just because he's someone who I think that students are going to enjoy listening to and he's someone that shares a love for Madison that I think we all have,"" she said. Ziesemer also said Van Pelt is very flattered and excited about the opportunity.
Van Pelt told his audience during an ESPN radio show that Madison is ""as good as it gets"" after he visited the city in July.
""This town has everything,"" Van Pelt said. ""So the teams are relevant. Venues are unbelievable. The setting is gorgeous. Those teams mean everything to the town.""
One limitation on selecting commencment speakers the class officers face Musolf mentioned is that the speakers don't get paid. Years ago, he said, one class wanted to invite Oprah in order to have some name recognition.
""Those folks have huge speaking fees,"" Musolf said. ""They can be [up to] $100,000.""
Musolf said speakers usually chosen for graduation are often alumni or have connections to the state of Wisconsin.
Past speakers include UW alumni Andre De Shields, a Broadway actor and singer who appeared in the first production of the musical ""Hair"", and Jerry Zucker, the producer of the movie ""Airplane!"".
""Scott doesn't have that kind of a direct connect, [but] he's said wonderful things about Madison and the university, so I think that was probably what heightened the interest of the officers,"" Musolf said.
