Apr 23, 2014 11:05 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Emerson College has announced for night show host Jay Leno will lead the group of honorary degree recipients this spring, as he will also deliver the undergraduate address.

The school made the official announcement Tuesday on their website and also included the commencement ceremony will be streamed live on their site here. Leno graduated from Emerson in 1973, where he received a bachelor's degree in speech therapy.

He eventually became host of the Tonight Show on NBC from 1992 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2014. Feb. 6 marked his last episode and Leno has maintained this retirement from late night television will be for good, making way for Jimmy Fallon to take his place.

This year Leno was part of the 23rd induction class of the Television Hall of Fame, joining names like Walt Disney, Bill Cosby, Lorne Michaels, Bob Barker and Katie Couric.

Also receiving honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters are Scott Simon, host of NPR's Weekend Edition; Don Lemon, anchor of CNN Newsroom; and Catherine D'Amato, president and CEO of The Greater Boston Food Bank. Simon will deliver the graduate address.

The 134th undergraduate ceremony will be held at the Agganis Arena at Boston University, a first for Emerson, and it will begin at 10 a.m. on May 11. The graduate ceremony will follow at 3 p.m.

Despite his retirement from late night TV, Leno has continued to perform at small nightclubs and stadiums alike. He has also uses his talents to serve as master of ceremony at several benefit events for tragedies like the 9/11 terrorist attack, the tsunami in Thailand, hurricanes in the Gulf and the severe economic downturn in Detroit.

Simon has extensive journalistic work and the school noted he has reported from all 50 states and every continent on Earth. He has covered any kind of event imaginable and has written essays, reports and Op-Eds for many of the most venerable publications in the country, as well as novels and non-fiction books.

Lemon's TV reporting resume includes extensive on-the-scene coverage of breaking news. He covered the George Zimmerman trial, the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary and the Colorado movie theatre and the deaths of Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.

D'Amato has been the president and CEO of the Greater Boston Food Bank since 1995, but has been an advocate in the field for more than 30 years. The GBFB is a $65 million charity that services more than 550 hunger-relief agencies and feeds hundreds of thousands of area residents.

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