Good Morning America Anchor Robin Roberts to speak at April 7 SMU Tate Lecture

Robin Roberts, co-anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America, will be the featured speaker at the Ebby Halliday Companies Lecture of the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series at SMU on April 7.

DALLAS (SMU) – Robin Roberts, co-anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America, will be the featured speaker at the Ebby Halliday Companies Lecture of the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series at SMU April 7.  The lecture was rescheduled after inclement weather postponed Roberts’ planned appearance in January.

Roberts will answer questions at the Turner Construction/Wells Fargo Tate Student Forum at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday in Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballroom, 3140 Dyer St. The student forum is a lively question-and-answer session with Tate speakers for area high school students, SMU students, faculty and staff.

The Ebby Halliday Companies Lecture will begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday at SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium, 6405 Boaz Lane.  The event is sold-out.

Robin Roberts is the co-anchor of ABC’s Emmy Award-winning “Good Morning America.” She has conducted interviews with countless entertainers, authors, athletes, celebrities and political figures. Her high-profile interviews have included President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and NBA superstar LeBron James. Roberts has traveled around the globe with former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former First Lady Laura Bush to report on breaking news and bring awareness to world issues.

Roberts fought a courageous battle with breast cancer after being diagnosed in 2007. Five years later she was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome and underwent a bone marrow transplant. Her story triggered a 1,800-percent spike in donors joining the Be The Match registry. Roberts wrote From the Heart: Seven Rules to Live By following her battle with breast cancer. Her recent memoir, Everybody’s Got Something, tells the story of her battle against the life-threatening illness of myelodysplastic syndrome and her inspiring return to the GMA anchor desk.

Roberts graduated cum laude from Southeastern Louisiana University with a B.A. in communications. She was the school’s all-time leading scorer on the women’s basketball team (1,446 points). Roberts began her professional career as a sports anchor for television and radio and was a sportscaster at ESPN for 15 years. In October, she was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame.