He has some large and decidedly controversial shoes to fill, but NBC’s anchorman probably won’t encounter anything like the heat that greeted President Obama when he addressed graduates last year.

Notre Dame made the announcement last week:

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News,” will be the principal speaker and recipient of an honorary degree at the University of Notre Dame’s 165th University Commencement Ceremony on May 16 (Sunday) at Notre Dame Stadium.

“Mr. Williams is one of this country’s most respected and trusted journalists, and we are absolutely delighted that he has accepted our invitation,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president. “He has tremendous insight into the current state of our world, and I know his perspectives will be of great interest to our graduating Class of 2010.”

Williams became the seventh anchor and managing editor of the “Nightly News” in December 2004. Since then, he has reported from the field in New Orleans before and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; in Rome for the funeral of Pope John Paul II; in Iraq for war and elections coverage; in Africa to focus on issues such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, disease and debt; and in Indonesia after the devastating tsunami of 2004.

He has received numerous awards for his work as both an anchor and reporter for NBC, including four Edward R. Murrow awards, five Emmy Awards, the duPont-Columbia University Award, the 2009 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the industry’s highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award.

Of course, it also helps that he’s Catholic, and attended (but did not graduate from) Catholic University.