PULLMAN, Wash. – David Ensor, director of Voice of America, will speak at the 8 a.m. Washington State University commencement ceremony for graduates of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, the College of Business and the College of Education on May 4 in Beasley Coliseum.
Ceremonies for other colleges will be at 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Find more information about spring commencement at http://www.commencement.wsu.edu/Commencement/Apps/HomePage.ASP?CurrPage=7
“I believe David brings perspectives relevant to each of our colleges” said Lawrence Pintak, founding dean of the Murrow College. “Voice of America (VOA) is a vital tool for educating the world about the U.S.”
VOA produces about 1,500 hours of news and programming each week for an estimated global audience of 123 million people, “to promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding through multimedia communication about America and the world.”
Ensor joined VOA after an extensive career in journalism and communication that included serving as director of communications and public diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
WSU President Elson S. Floyd will confer degrees at the May ceremony, which is free to the public.
The ceremonies also will be videostreamed for live viewing online at http://www.experience.wsu.edu/ and on local television channel Cable 8.
Ensor was sworn in as the 28th director of Voice of America in June 2011. He oversees worldwide multimedia operation broadcasting in 43 languages, reaching an estimated 134 million people each week via radio, television, mobile and the Internet.
From 1975 to 1980, he reported for National Public Radio, where he covered the White House, foreign policy and defense. From 1980 to 1998, he was a television correspondent for ABC News. From 1998 to 2006, he was CNN’s national security correspondent.
During this period, Ensor reported on these major international stories: martial law and the re-emergence of Lech Walesa and Solidarity, from Warsaw; Middle Eastern terrorism and the travels of Pope John Paul II, from Rome; and the breakup of the Soviet Union, the end of Communism, two coup attempts and the first Chechen War, from Moscow. He has reported on armed conflicts in Bosnia, El Salvador and Afghanistan and traveled by Soviet tank from Jalalabad to Kabul as the Russians began their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
From 2006 through 2009, Ensor was executive vice president for communications and strategy at the Mercuria Energy Group, an international energy trading and investment group. He advised the company’s CEO and board on strategic issues and planned and executed a global communications strategy.
He is a member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations and is fluent in French, with a basic knowledge of Polish, Russian and Italian.
Ensor is married and has two children.