| Before 1893, no outside speaker gave the commencement address. |
| 1893 |
Frank W. Gunsaulus |
| 1894 |
Hamilton Mabie |
| 1895 |
Woodrow Wilson |
| 1896 |
Lyman Abbott |
| 1897 |
Newell Dwight Hillis |
| 1898 |
Edward Everett Hale |
| 1899 |
Franklin H. Giddings |
| 1900 |
Robert M. Wenley |
| 1901 |
Albion W. Small |
| 1902 |
S. Parkes Cadman |
| 1903 |
St. Clair McKelvey |
| 1904 |
Professor G. Santayana |
| 1905 |
James B. Dill |
| 1906 |
George Herbert Palmer |
| 1907 |
William Allen White |
| 1908 |
Samuel Walker McCall * |
| 1909 |
Charles E. Jefferson |
| 1910 |
Rollo Ogden |
| 1911 |
Edwin Emery Slosson |
| 1912 |
Charles R. Brown * |
| 1913 |
George E. Vincent |
| 1914 |
Charles Austin Beard |
| 1915 |
Charles E. Jefferson |
| 1916 |
Francis J. McConnell |
| 1917 |
Hugh Black |
| 1918 |
S. Parkes Cadman |
| 1919 |
William C. Sharp * |
| 1920 |
Oswald Garrison Villard |
| 1921 |
Hamilton Holt * |
| 1922 |
Marion LeRoy Burton |
| 1923 |
Paul Elmer More |
| 1924 |
Ian Campbell Hannah |
| 1925 |
Newton D. Baker |
| 1926 |
Robert A. Millikan |
| 1927 |
Roscoe Pound |
| 1928 |
Harry Emerson Fosdick |
| 1929 |
Rollo Walter Brown |
| 1930 |
Edwin Montefiore Borchard |
| 1931 |
Kemper Fullerton |
| 1932 |
Lane Cooper |
| 1933 |
Robert Andrews Millikan |
| 1934 |
Robert Maynard Hutchins |
| 1935 |
Lewis Mumford |
| 1936 |
John Erskine |
| 1937 |
Robert Frost |
| 1938 |
Alan Valentine |
| 1939 |
James Lukens McConaughy |
| 1940 |
William Allan Neilson |
| 1941 |
Hendrik Willem van Loon |
| 1942 |
President Wilkins |
| 1943, Feb. |
President Wilkins |
| 1943, June |
President Wilkins |
| 1944, June |
President Wilkins |
| 1944, Oct. |
Lawrence E. Cole |
| 1945, Feb. |
President Wilkins |
| 1945, June. |
President Wilkins |
| 1945, Oct. |
President Wilkins |
| 1946, Feb. |
Thomas W. Graham |
| 1946, June |
President Wilkins |
| 1946, Oct. |
Prof. Thomas Kepler |
| 1947, Feb. |
President William E. Stevenson |
| 1947, June |
Howard Foster Lowry * |
| 1948, Feb. |
Professor Paul B. Sears |
| 1948, June |
President Francis Stephenson Hutchins * |
| 1949, Feb. |
Professor Clarence Ward |
| 1949, June |
Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche * |
| 1950, Feb. |
President Arthur Sherwood Flemming * |
| 1950, June |
Sir Oliver Shewell Franks * |
| 1951, June |
Dr. Paul Howard Douglas * |
| 1952, June |
Dr. Thornton Niven Wilder * |
| 1953, June |
Dr. Raymond Tyson Moyer * |
| 1954, June |
Dr. Buell G. Gallagher |
| 1955, June |
Adlai Ewing Stevenson * |
| 1956 |
John Marshall Harlan * |
| 1957 |
Chester Bowles * |
| 1958 |
Paul Bigelow Sears * |
| 1959 |
McGeorge Bundy * |
| 1960 |
Robert Eugene Cushman |
| 1961 |
Henri Maurice Peyre * |
| 1962 |
J. Irwin Miller * |
| 1963 |
Ralph Emerson McGill * |
| 1964 |
Percy Lavon Julian * |
| 1965 |
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. * |
| 1966 |
Seabury Cone Mastick |
| 1967 |
Roy Wilkins * |
| 1968 |
Margaret Clapp * |
| 1969 |
Richard Gordon Hatcher |
| 1970 |
Jesse L. Jackson * |
| 1971 |
William Edgar Stafford * |
| 1972 |
Pete Seeger |
| 1973 |
Michael Harrington |
| 1974 |
Florynce R. Kennedy |
| 1975 |
Harvey Gallagher Cox |
| 1976 |
Alex Haley |
| 1977 |
Morris King Udall |
| 1978 |
Marcus C. Raskin |
| 1979 |
Nancy Hays Teeters * |
| 1980 |
Louis Stokes * |
| 1981 |
George Stanley McGovern * |
| 1982 |
Andrew Young * |
| 1983 |
Maya Angelou * |
| 1984 |
Francine du Plessix Gray * |
| 1985 |
William Weil Goldman |
| 1986 |
Flora Lewis |
| 1987 |
Archbishop Desmond Tutu * |
| 1988 |
Gardner Calvin Taylor * |
| 1989 |
Audre Lorde * |
| 1990 |
Bronislaw Geremek * |
| 1991 |
Faye Wattleton * |
| 1992 |
Antonia Hernandez * |
| 1993 |
June E. Osborn * |
| 1994 |
Romulus Zachariah Linney * |
| 1995 |
Johnnetta Betsch Cole * |
| 1996 |
Robert Coles * |
| 1997 |
Allan Henry Spear * |
| 1998 |
Damon Jerome Keith * |
| 1999 |
John J. Sweeney * |
| 2000 |
Oscar Arias Sànchez * |
| 2001 |
William H. Gray III * |
| 2002 |
Judah M. Folkman * |
| 2003 |
Anthony Lewis |
| 2004 |
Margaret H. Marshall |
| 2005 |
William Frederick Schulze III |
| 2006 |
Juan Guzmán Tapia * |
| 2007 |
Connie Schultz * |
| 2008 |
Fareed Zakaria * |
2009 |
Dr. Richard N. Haass* |
| 2010 |
Julie Taymor* |
| 2011 |
Helene D. Gayle* |
| 2012 |
Thomas R. Frieden* |
* Indicates speaker received an honorary degree at that commencement.
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