SOUTH KINGSTOWN — A Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist will deliver the University of Rhode Island’s 112nd commencement address May 18, and five prominent Rhode Islanders will receive honorary degrees at the undergraduate ceremony on the Kingston campus.

Clarence Page, a syndicated columnist and member of the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune, who won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1989, will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Page serves as a regular contributor on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, News and Notes with Ed Gordon on National Public Radio, ABC’s This Week and Black Entertainment Television’s weekly Lead Story news panel.

In 1972, Page contributed to a Tribune series on voter fraud that won the Pulitzer, and in 1976, he won the Edward Scott Beck Award for overseas reporting, for work on the changing politics of South Africa. His investigative series “The Black Tax” won the 1980 Illinois UPI Award for community service. He also received the American Civil Liberties Union James P. McGuire Award in 1987 for columns on constitutional rights.

URI will also confer honorary degrees on five well-known Rhode Island residents:

•Agnes Doody, a communications professor called “Hurricane Agnes” for her rhetorical skills and ability to effect change, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Doody, 78, retired in 2003 after 45 years at URI.

•Douglas Durand, a native of Pawtucket who climbed the ladder in the pharmaceutical industry before becoming a corporate whistleblower when he realized his company was using bribes and kickbacks, will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

•Michael Fascitelli, a first-generation college student who grew up in North Providence and recently gave his alma mater $1 million to build a new Student Wellness Center, will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

•Christopher Hill, a former ambassador to Poland and Macedonia who is now assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Hill, who maintains a home in Little Compton, is head of the U.S. delegation involved in talks with North Korea regarding its nuclear arms program.

•William D. Warner, an architect from Exeter who helped revitalize Providence and who designed the new Iway Bridge on Route 195, will receive an honorary Doctor of Arts degree.