Norah O’Donnell, chief Washington correspondent for MSNBC, and an entry in Irish America’s magazine 2000 "Top 100 Irish Americans" list, will be the keynote speaker at Marywood University's commencement this May 10, the university said Monday.

Marywood University is a Catholic liberal arts university in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

O'Donnell was the White House correspondent for NBC News from September 2003 to May 2005, reporting for NBC News broadcasts, including the Nightly News, Today, and MSNBC cable network. Prior to being named White House correspondent, she had been NBC News' congressional correspondent. 

She has covered a number of major breaking news stories for both NBC and MSNBC, including the September 11 terrorist attacks. She received the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Breaking News Coverage for a Dateline NBC story titled, "D.C. in Crisis," on the night of September 11, 2001.

She then covered the Pentagon following the terrorist attacks and traveled extensively with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, reporting on the war in Afghanistan and the war on terrorism.

A native of San Antonio, Texas, O'Donnell is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and a master's degree in international affairs. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, and children.