Giving the commencement address at the historically Black university, Winfrey recalled that she was living with her father in East Nashville while attending college, helping out in his store, and presenting the weekend news at a Black radio station. That's where the lead anchor of the local CBS television affiliate heard her voice. He called her at school to ask if she wanted a job.
She then went back to class and related the conversation to her scene design professor who "looked at me as if I didn't have the brains that God gave lettuce," Winfrey said. By the end of her senior year in 1975, Winfrey's career was in full swing. So she wasn't terribly distressed to learn that she was one credit short and would not be able to graduate. But her father would not let go of the topic, asking her for years, "'When you going to get that degree?'" she said."So I got my degree from Tennessee State, right around the time I got my third Emmy," Winfrey said.