(Burbank, CA ­ April 3, 2003) Acclaimed author Ray Bradbury will deliver the keynote address and receive an honorary doctor of literature during Woodbury University's commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 10.

The graduation ceremony is open to the public and will begin at 9 a.m. at the Burbank campus at 7500 Glenoaks Blvd. More than 265 students will receive graduate and undergraduate degrees.

Bradbury has been associated with Woodbury for many years through the university's Library Associates Ray Bradbury Creativity Award. This award is presented annually at a Library Associate's event to an individual or organization judged by Bradbury and his committee to have contributed significantly to the universe of creative excellence.

Bradbury has published more than 600 short stories over a 60-year period and has written novels, screenplays, plays and poetry. His best known works include The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Fahrenheit 451. In 2000, Bradbury was awarded the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

He is also known for writing the screenplay for the film Moby Dick, along with television programs for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone and his own Ray Bradbury Theater. New films based on his stories The Martian Chronicles, A Sound of Thunder and Fahrenheit 451 will be released in late 2003 and the summer of 2004. Bradbury has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won an Emmy Award.

Founded in 1884, Woodbury University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Southern California. An accredited, nonprofit university, Woodbury is located on a 22-acre residential campus in Burbank and offers bachelor's degrees from the School of Architecture and Design, Business and Management, and Arts and Sciences. Woodbury also offers a master of business administration as well as weekend and evening study for working adults. A San Diego campus was established in 1998 to offer bachelor of architecture degrees.