Nina Tassler Is Boston University’s 2016 Commencement Speaker

Photo by Jason W on Flickr/Creative Commons

Former CBS Entertainment chairwoman Nina Tassler will address graduates at Boston University’s commencement ceremony, the school announced Monday morning.

BU President Robert A. Brown broke the news at the school’s annual senior breakfast. Tassler, who received a degree in theater from the school’s College of Fine Arts in 1979, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

Tassler’s tenure at CBS includes hit-shows The Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife, Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, and Madam Secretary, as well as the station’s late-night transition to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Late Late Show with James Corden. (BU awarded Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik an honorary doctorate at its 2014 commencement.) Prior to joining CBS, Tassler helped develop ER for Warner Bros. Television.

Other honorary degree recipients include Peace Corps director Carrie Hessler-Radelet (who graduated from BU the same year as Tassler), U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, and former BU hockey player and inspirational speaker Travis Roy.

Emmy-winning journalist and television host Meredith Vieria gave last year’s commencement address, and made headlines for being accompanied by Left Shark, of Super Bowl XLIX fame.

BU will hold this year’s commencement on Nickerson Field on May 15.