Levar Burton, Former Host Of 'Reading Rainbow,' To Deliver UMass-Lowell Commencement Addresses

Actor, director, producer and children's education advocate LeVar Burton will deliver not one, but two speeches at University of Massachusetts-Lowell commencement exercises next month.

Burton is scheduled to address graduates of the university's college of fine arts, humanities and social sciences; college of health sciences; and the graduate school of education in the morning of May 16. He will then then address graduates of the university's engineering, sciences and business schools in the afternoon.

Degrees will be conferred on a record-high 3,800 students.

Burton made his name as Kunta Kinte in the groundbreaking 1970s TV miniseries "Roots," and also starred in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" TV series and films. He was also host and executive producer of "Reading Rainbow," which inspired generations of children to read.