Buffalo's Bishop; Best-Selling Author, Journalist Serve as Commencement Speakers

April 23, 2013

Best-selling author, journalist and television host Laura M. Pedersen will come home to Buffalo on Wednesday, May 15 to deliver the keynote address at graduate commencement ceremonies, scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in the Koessler Athletic Center

Pedersen was just 18-years old when she landed an entry-level job on the trading floor of the American Stock Exchange.  Within four years, she became the youngest person in history to get a seat on the Stock Exchange and was a partner in a Wall Street firm.  Pedersen left Wall Street at age 23 to make history again, becoming the youngest columnist for The New York Times. She later went on to host “Your Money and Your Life” on the Oxygen Network.  Today, Pedersen is the author of several books, including two about her native Buffalo. 

Bishop Malone will address the undergraduate class of 2013 at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 18 in U.B.’s Alumni Arena. Installed in August 2012, Bishop Malone is shepherd to more than 700,000 Western New York Catholics.  Prior to Buffalo, Bishop Malone served eight years as bishop of Portland, ME.  During that time, his faith, courage, compassion and leadership saw the diocese through an ambitious consolidation of the state’s parishes and the challenges of declining Mass attendance, which proved essential to improve the functioning of the diocese in a rural state such as Maine.

Bishop Malone and Laura Pedersen will receive honorary degrees during commencement ceremonies, as will Walter Sharrow, PhD, emeritus professor of history at Canisius University and Donald L. Trump, MD, president/CEO of Roswell Park Cancer Institute.