Commencement 2011

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

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

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

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

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.

5.6.11