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Commencement 2011
Commencement 2011 - July-August Print
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE JULY-AUGUST PRINT ISSUE
Commencement Witchcraft
Highlights from Harvard’s 360th Commencement
6.16.11
Honoris Causa
The honorary-degree recipients of 2011
6.16.11
Words to Live By
A sampling of Commencement week speeches
6.16.11
Commencement Confetti
An omnium-gatherum of notes and statistics, vital and otherwise
6.16.11
Center of Attention
Human touches within Commencement’s pomp
6.16.11
Commencement 2011 - Principal Events
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
TUESDAY, MAY 24
Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises
11:00 • Sanders Theatre
With poet Henri Cole and orator Joyce Carol Oates
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25
Senior Class Day Exercises
2:00 • TERCENTENARY THEATRE
With the Harvard and Ivy Orations and actress Amy Poehler as guest speaker
THURSDAY, MAY 26
The 360th Commencement Exercises
9:45 • Tercentenary Theatre
Degrees conferred on candidates from Harvard College and all graduate schools, as well as honorary guests
The Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association
2:30 • TERCENTENARY THEATRE
With speeches by President Drew Faust and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, M.P.A. ’71, of Liberia
FRIDAY, MAY 27
Radcliffe Institute Annual Luncheon
12:30 • Radcliffe Yard
With Radcliffe Institute Medalist Ela Bhatt
The Latest Coverage
Senior at the Crossroads
2011 graduate Quincy Bock posed for a picture near a significant street sign.
6.3.11
“If We Cannot Break Through, We Just Find a Way Around”
Radcliffe Medalist Ela Bhatt tells her story of empowering India’s poorest women through work.
5.27.11
“If Your Dreams Do Not Scare You, They Are Not Big Enough”
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf addresses new graduates. With video of remarks by Sirleaf and President Drew Faust.
5.26.11
Video: An Operatic Honorary Degree
At Commencement, tenor and honorand Plácido Domingo surprises Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an opera fan, during the conferral of her degree.
5.26.11
Election Results
Harvard alumni choose new Overseers and HAA elected directors.
5.26.11
A Wheel of Fortune, a Three-Legged Chair, and a New View of the Charles River
The Morning Exercises, with video of the student speeches. Plus, seniors receive the best advice delivered by the late Peter Gomes over the years.
5.26.11
Commencement and Reunion Guide - 2011
COMMENCEMENT AND REUNION GUIDE
The Essence of Commencement
A photographer captures three decades of graduation moments and emotions.
4.19.11
“The Best Day of the Year”
The Commencement emcee on keeping the ceremonies festive while making the trains run on time
4.17.11
In the Valley
How Michael Zuckerman ’10 got to Harvard, and what he got out of it
4.19.11
Pleasing Palates
Harvard Square offers plenty of lunch spots.
4.17.11
Ambitions Realized
In a straitened era, landmark construction projects advance academic goals.
4.17.11
The Week’s Events
Highlights of Commencement Week 2011: May 24-27
4.17.11
Commencement 2011 - The SIGnboard
Commencement 2011 - Greatest Hits
GREATEST HITS
American Values and Constitutional Law
Video, audio, photos, and text from the 2010 Commencement address by the Honorable David H. Souter
5.28.10
The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s delivers Harvard’s 2008 Commencement address
6.5.08
“To Turn Caring Into Action”
Bill Gates tells 2007 graduates that it’s possible to find solutions to the complex global problems of poverty and inequity—and recalls the fateful phone call that led him to leave Harvard.
6.7.07
“A Rule-Based System”
Read the 2004 Commencement address by United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan.
7.1.04
“Today's Speech is Going to Be a Little Different”
For the purposes of funny man Will Ferrell’s 2003 Class Day speech, nothing was sacred.
4.20.11
“The Limits of Logic”
Lessons from Dairy Queen: a memorable student speech by Avery W. Gardiner ’97, J.D. ’02
7.1.02
“My Name is Bono, and I Am A Rock Star”
Bono and other speakers from Commencement 2001
7.1.01
Colin Powell Discussed the Role of the Military
Despite some Harvardians’ opposition to his selection as chief speaker, the general was received with applause in 1993.
5.6.11
Marian Wright Edelman Spoke Up for Children
In her 1993 Class Day speech, she reminded the graduating seniors of those less fortunate.
5.6.11
“God Created Harvard”
From a cappella music to tenure, the real story as told by Joshua Preven ’91
4.25.11
Words Both Hopeful and Fateful
Benazir Bhutto ’73 spoke about democracy and human rights in her 1989 Commencement address.
4.25.11
Mother Teresa Speaks her Mind
The class of 1982 hears from “the angel of Calcutta.”
4.25.11
Walter Cronkite Issued a Challenge to the Class of 1980
“Pick up your cudgels and man (and woman) the barricades” against overpopulation, pollution, natural-resource depletion, and nuclear proliferation, he advised.
5.6.11
Solzhenitsyn Flays the West
The Russian Nobel laureate’s biting 1978 Harvard Commencement speech
4.25.11
Unpack!
George Plimpton’s contrarian Class Day manifesto of 1977
4.25.11
The Shah of Iran Proposed a Universal Welfare Legion
Unruffled by protesters, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi suggested a way to remove the “roots of the curses that afflict humanity” in his 1968 speech.
5.6.11
Coretta Scott King Urged Students to “Speak Out with Righteous Indignation”
Two months after her husband’s murder, the civil-rights leader’s widow delivered the 1968 Class Day speech.
5.6.11
John F. Kennedy Tried to Mediate
In 1956, the future president sought to persuade intellectuals and politicians to work better together.