Karen Adams, a news anchor for Channel 12 Eyewitness News, will deliver the commencement address at the Community College of Rhode Island’s 43rd graduation exercises.

The commencement is scheduled for May 16 in the Vincent A. Cullen Field House, on the Knight Campus in Warwick. The procession will begin at 4:30 p.m. and the ceremony is expected to last until 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

More than 1,200 students will be awarded associate degrees and certificates, according to CCRI. At the commencement, only the diploma covers will be presented to the graduates. Diplomas and honor certificates will be mailed about four to six weeks after grades have been certified, CCRI said. Summer graduates will be mailed diplomas and honor certificates about eight weeks after grades have been posted at the end of August.

CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale said that the college is honored to have Adams as its commencement speaker. “In addition to being at the top of her profession in television journalism, Karen is a role model for community involvement. She is widely known for her volunteer efforts supporting numerous causes throughout the state, including her active involvement in several college fundraising events.”

Adams, a native of Nevada, Mo., previously worked as a reporter, anchor and news director for television stations in Missouri, Maryland and North Carolina. She is a graduate of Southwest Missouri State University with a degree in speech and theater and minor in journalism. She lives in Lincoln with her husband.

More information on commencement is available at CCRI’s Web site: www.ccri.edu/web/commencement/2008/info.shtml.