Harvard Commencement 2019

Harvard Commencement and reunion guide

Photograph by Jim Harrison

COMMENCEMENT WEEK includes addresses by President Lawrence S. Bacow and Chancellor Angela D. Merkel of Germany. For details and updates on event speakers, visit harvardmagazine.com/commencement.

* * *

Tuesday, May 28

Phi Beta Kappa Exercises, at 11, with a guest poet and orator. Memorial Hall.

Baccalaureate Service for the Class of 2019, at 2, Memorial Church, followed by class photo, at 3:30, Tercentenary Theatre.

Class of 2019 Family Reception, at 5. Tickets required. Science Center plaza.

Harvard Extension School Annual Commencement Banquet, 6-9:30. Tickets required. Annenberg Hall.

Wednesday, May 29

ROTC Commissioning Ceremony, at 10:30, with President Bacow and General Mark A. Milley, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, and nominated chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Tercentenary Theatre.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Convocation at 11, with Cecile Richards, former president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and author of Make Trouble. HMS Quad.

Senior Class Day Picnic, at noon.Tickets required. The Old Yard.

Senior Class Day Exercises, at 2, with the Harvard and Ivy Orations, remarks by incoming Harvard Alumni Association president Alice Hill ’81, Ph.D. ’91, and a guest speaker. Tickets required. Tercentenary Theatre.

Harvard Kennedy School Graduation Address, at 2, by Juan Manuel Santos, former president of the Republic of Colombia and Nobel peace laureate. JFK Memorial Park.

Law School Class Day, 2:30, with Roberta A. Kaplan ’88, founding partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink and author of Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA. Holmes Field.

Business School Class Day Ceremony, 2:30, with former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, M.B.A. ’66, LL.D. ’14, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Baker Lawn.

Graduate School of Education Convocation, 3:30-5, dean Bridget Terry Long and guest speaker Posse founder and CEO Deborah Bial, Ed.D. ’04. Radcliffe Yard.

Graduate School of Design Class Day, at 3:30, with Vidal professor of the practice of creative writing Teju Cole. Gund Hall lawn.

Divinity School Multireligious Commencement Service for the Class of 2019 at 3:30. Memorial Church.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dudley House Faculty Deans’ Reception, 4-6. Lehman Hall.

Faculty Deans’ Receptions for seniors and guests, at 5. Undergraduate Houses.

Harvard University Band, Harvard Glee Club, and Radcliffe Choral Society Concert, at 8. Tercentenary Theatre.

Thursday, May 30

Commencement Day. Gates open at 6:45.

Academic Procession, 8:50. The Old Yard.

The 368th Commencement Exercises, 9:45 (concluding at 11:30). Tickets required. Tercentenary Theatre.

All Alumni Spread, 11:30. Tickets required. The Old Yard.

The Tree Spread, for the College classes through 1968, 11:30. Tickets required. Holden Quadrangle.

Graduate Schools Diploma Ceremonies, from 11:30. GSAS Luncheon and Reception, 12 to 3. Tickets required. Behind Perkins Hall.

College Diploma Presentation Ceremonies and Luncheons, at noon. Undergraduate Houses.

Alumni Procession, 1:45. The Old Yard.

The Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA): The Commencement Afternoon Program, 2:30 (concluding at 4:15), includes remarks by HAA president Margaret M. Wang ’09, President Bacow, and Commencement speaker Angela D. Merkel; Overseer and HAA director election results; and Harvard Medal presentations. Tercentenary Theatre.

Medical and Dental Schools Class Day Ceremony. Ticketed luncheon at noon, followed by a speech, at 2, by pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha, founder and director of the Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative. HMS Quad.

Friday, May 31

Radcliffe Day 10 a.m. panel discussion, “Nourishing America: Exploring the Intersection of Food and Justice,” moderated by journalist Soledad O’Brien ’88, with Sara Bleich, professor of public health policy and Pforzheimer professor of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; Jennifer Gordon ’87, J.D. ’92, professor of law at Fordham University School of Law; Frances Moore Lappé, writer and activist; Daniel A. Sumner, Buck Distinguished Professor of agricultural and resource economics at UC, Davis; and Alice Waters, the chef, food activist, and founder/owner of Chez Panisse.

During the subsequent luncheon (12:30-2), the civil-rights activist Dolores Huerta, who with Cesar Chavez founded what became the United Farm Workers of America, is to receive the 2019 Radcliffe Medal. Tickets are required; events will also be webcast live at radcliffe.harvard.edu.

For updates on Commencement week and related activities, visit commencement.harvard.edu.

You might also like

“It’s Tournament Time”

Harvard women’s basketball prepares for Ivy Madness.

A Harvard Agenda Shaped by Speech

The work underway in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Dialogue, not Debate

American University’s Lara Schwartz, J.D. ’98, teaches productive disagreement.

Most popular

alt text here

AWOL from Academics

Behind students' increasing pull toward extracurriculars

Lola Mullaney, Coach Carrie Moore, and Elena Rodriguez

“It’s Tournament Time”

Harvard women’s basketball prepares for Ivy Madness.

View of Harvard University campus from the Charles River

Why Americans Love to Hate Harvard

The president emeritus on elite universities’ academic accomplishments—and a rising tide of antagonism

More to explore

Winthrop Bell

Brief life of a philosopher and spy: 1884-1965

Talking about Talking

Fostering healthy disagreement

A Dogged Observer

Novelist and psychiatrist Daniel Mason takes the long view.