ESPN SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt will deliver the charge to the University of Wisconsin's graduates in the winter 2007 commencement ceremonies.

Van Pelt has covered all major golf tournaments, including the Masters, PGA championship, U.S. Open, and the British Open, and currently co-hosts "The Mike Tirico Show" on ESPN Radio.

In an interview with The Badger Herald, he said he never imagined he would be coming back to UW only a few months after his July visit, after which he told his ESPN audience Madison is "as good as it gets."

"I'm thrilled to be coming back. I'm honored that [UW] asked, it's difficult to express adequately enough," he said. "It's very, very humbling to be asked. There's no reason for them to ask me, I don't have any ties to the school. I came there and thought it was great."

Van Pelt has already thought about his speech and reluctantly disclosed parts of it to The Badger Herald.

"You get 10 or 12 minutes and it's very difficult to really impart anything that I think is transcendent or any really original thought," Van Pelt said. "The essence of what my message will be is what I've learned between where [graduates] are and where I am now."

The question is how you are prepared to use your time, he added, to become what it is that you hope to become, because it "doesn't feel like too long ago that I was where UW graduates are."

David Musolf, UW secretary of the faculty, said the selection process is the responsibility of senior class officers who name a few potential candidates. Musolf meets with the officers, and after prospective candidates are identified, he calls the individuals and tries to get them to come to UW.

"I have a name I'm working on for May commencement," Musolf said. "I'd love to tell people, but we don't want to have it be news way before commencement."

Van Pelt will be speaking at the 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ceremonies in the Kohl Center Dec. 16.

At 10 a.m., doctorate, Master of Fine Arts, master's and professional degrees will be granted, as well as bachelor's degrees from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the schools of Education, Human Ecology, Medicine and Public Health, Nursing and Pharmacy.

During the 2 p.m. ceremony, bachelor's degrees from the School of Business, the College of Engineering and the College of Letters and Science will be granted.

Nearly 2,000 are eligible to receive degrees at the winter commencement ceremony.