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Commencement Speakers

For more information on past speakers, visit the Commencement Archives.
| Year | Speaker |
|
2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994
1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978
1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966
1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956
1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1906 1905 1904 1903 1902 1901 1900 1899 1898 1897 1896 1895 1894 1893 1892 1891 1890 1889 1888 1887 1886 1885 1884 1883 1882 1881 1880 1879 |
Melissa Harris-Perry, Professor Jane Condon '73, Comedian Lynn Sherr '63, ABC News Journalist Kimberly Dozier '87, CBS News Correspondent Cathie Black, President, Hearst Magazines Madeleine Korbel Albright ’59, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Ophelia Dahl '94, Executive Director of Partners in Health Patricia J. Williams '73, Professor at Columbia School of Law Toni Morrison, award-winning author Linda Wertheimer '65, National Public Radio Senior Correspondent Whoopi Goldberg, actress, comedian and humanitarian Jehan Sadat, human rights activist Pamela Daniels '59, class of 2000 dean Lynn Sherr '63, journalist and author, correspondent for ABC News Pamela Melroy '83, astronaut, International Space Station 2000 Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, actress, producer, philanthropist and business leader Nora Ephron ’62, writer, film director and producer Madeleine Korbel Albright ’59, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Cokie Boggs Roberts ’64, ABC News Congressional Correspondent and NPR Senior News Analyst Gloria Steinem, feminist Hillary Rodham Clinton ’69, attorney Madeleine L’Engle, author Barbara Bush, First Lady, United States of America Susan Estrich ’74, law professor and manager of Dukakis Presidential campaign Gloria Steinem, feminist Elizabeth Hanford Dole, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Diane Sawyer ’67, journalist Geraldine Ferraro, former Congresswoman and 1984 Vice Presidential candidate Carol Gilligan, educator, psychologist and author Susan Sontag, essayist, film director and novelist Maya Angelou, poet, author and actress Ellen Goodman, columnist Garry Trudeau, creator of Doonsbury cartoon strip Nora Ephron ’62, author and journalist Jill Wine-Volner, General Counsel to the Army (formerly Assistant Watergate Special Prosecutor) Elizabeth Brenner Drew ’57, writer and television commentator Rosemary Murray, Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University, Cambridge, England Patricia Carbine, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Ms Magazine John Kenneth Galbraith, Professor of Economics, Harvard University Shirley Chisholm, Congresswoman from New York Eleanor Holmes Norton, Chairwoman, New York City Commission on Human Rights Kate Millett, feminist George Wald, Professor of Biology, Harvard University Edward W. Brooke, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Howard W. Johnson, President of MIT Sol M. Linowitz, U.S. Representative to the Organization of American States Eugene R. Black, Former Pres. of the World Bank, Special Advisor to Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Erwin Dain Canham, Editor of The Christian Science Monitor Santha Rama Rau ’44, author Vera Micheles Dean, Editor, Foreign Policy Association -- World Affairs Center Fred M. Hechinger, Education Editor of The New York Times Neil H. McElroy, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Reston, Chief Washington Correspondent of The New York Times Edward Weeks, Editor of The Atlantic Monthly McGeorge Bundy, Prof. of Govt and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Univ. Charles E. Wyzanski, Jr., Judge of U.S. District Court, Massachusetts John H. Finley, Jr., Professor of Greek Literature, Harvard University Mildred McAfee Horton, President of Wellesley College, 1936-49 Erwin Dain Canham, Editor of The Christian Science Monitor Archibald MacLeish, poet and Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, Harvard University John Knox Jessup, Chairman, Board of Editors of Fortune Mildred McAfee Horton, President of Wellesley College, 1936-49 Edward A. Weeks, Jr., Editor of The Atlantic Monthly James Forrestal, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Harold E. Stassen, ex-Governor of Minnesota Leverett Saltonstall, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Vice-Admiral Randall Jacobs, U.S. Navy, Chief of Naval Personnel Harvey Hollister Bundy, Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of War Hu Shih, Ambassador from China to the U.S. Archibald MacLeish, poet and Librarian of Congress Karl Taylor Compton, President of MIT Stephen Duggan, Director of the Institute of International Education, New York Ernest Hatch Wilkins, President of Oberlin College Josephine Roche, U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Charles Seymour, Provost of Yale University Frances Perkins, U.S. Secretary of Labor George E. Vincent, Dean Emeritus of Yale Divinity School James G. McDonald, Chairman of the Board of the Foreign Policy Association M. Roy Ridley, Fellow and Chaplain of Balliol College, Oxford Willard Learoyd Sperry, Dean of the Harvard Divinity School Raymond Blaine Fosdick, lawyer Roscoe Pound, Dean of Harvard Law School Sir Robert Falconer, President of University of Toronto Michael Pupin, Professor of Electro-Mechanics, Columbia University Chauncey Brewster Tinker, Professor of English Literature, Yale University Robert Morss Lovett, Editor of The New Republic Rev. Samuel McChord Crothers Judge Florence Ellinwood Allen, Supreme Court of Ohio Raymond B. Fosdick, lawyer Gutzon Borglum, sculptor and orator Charles Evans Hughes, ex-Governor of New York Albert Parker Fitch, Professor of the History of Religion, Amherst College Rev. Raymond Calkins William Ernest Hocking, Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University George Edgar Vincent, President of the University of Minnesota William Howard Taft, former U.S. President; Professor of Law, Yale University John Finley, New York State Commissioner of Education Bliss Perry, Professor of English Literature, Harvard University Talcott Williams, President of Columbia School of Journalism John Farwell Moors, Boston broker Curtis Guild, Jr., former Governor of Massachusetts Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver, Senator from Iowa Rev. Samuel McChord Crothers William Roscoe Thayer, author James Hulme Canfield, Librarian of Columbia University William De Witt Hyde, Professor of Bowdoin College George Herbert Palmer, Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University Richard Watson Gilder, Editor of The Century LeBaron Russell Briggs, Dean of Harvard College Caroline Hazard, President of Wellesley College, 1899-1910 Theodore Salisbury Woolsey, Professor of International Law, Yale University Hamilton Wright Mabie, Associate Editor of The Outlook Benjamin Ide Wheeler, Professor of Greek, Cornell University Calvin Thomas, Professor of Germanic Languages and Literature, Columbia University Albert Bushnell Hart, Professor of History, Harvard University Woodrow Wilson, Professor of Jurisprudence and Politics, Princeton University Rev. James Gardiner Vose G. Stanley Hall, President of Clark University Rev. Philip Stafford Moxom Rev. Heman Lincoln Wayland Alice Freeman Palmer, President of Wellesley College, 1881-87 Jacob Gould Schurman, Professor of Philosophy, Cornell University W. C. P. Breckenridge, Congressman from Kentucky James O. Murray, Professor of English Language and Literature, Princeton University Rev. Marvin R. Vincent Daniel C. Gilman, President of Johns Hopkins University Rev. Charles Dana Barrows George S. Morris, Johns Hopkins University and University of Michigan Rev. N. Howard Crosby [no Commencement exercises] John D. Long, Governor of Massachusetts Rev. R. S. Storrs |
