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Commencement Speakers

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Year Speaker
1893Frank W. Gunsaulus
1894Hamilton Mabie
1895Woodrow Wilson
1896Lyman Abbott
1897Newell Dwight Hillis
1898Edward Everett Hale
1899Franklin H. Giddings
1900Robert M. Wenley
1901Albion W. Small
1902S. Parkes Cadman
1903St. Clair McKelvey
1904Professor G. Santayana
1905James B. Dill
1906George Herbert Palmer
1907William Allen White
1908Samuel Walker McCall*
1909Charles E. Jefferson
1910Rollo Ogden
1911Edwin Emery Slosson
1912Charles R. Brown*
1913George E. Vincent
1914Charles Austin Beard
1915Charles E. Jefferson
1916Francis J. McConnell
1917Hugh Black
1918S. Parkes Cadman
1919William C. Sharp*
1920Oswald Garrison Villard
1921Hamilton Holt*
1922Marion LeRoy Burton
1923Paul Elmer More
1924Ian Campbell Hannah
1925Newton D. Baker
1926Robert A. Millikan
1927Roscoe Pound
1928Harry Emerson Fosdick
1929Rollo Walter Brown
1930Edwin Montefiore Borchard
1931Kemper Fullerton
1932Lane Cooper
1933Robert Andrews Millikan
1934Robert Maynard Hutchins
1935Lewis Mumford
1936John Erskine
1937Robert Frost
1938Alan Valentine
1939James Lukens McConaughy
1940William Allan Neilson
1941Hendrik Willem van Loon
1942President Wilkins
1943, Feb.President Wilkins
1943, JunePresident Wilkins
1944, JunePresident Wilkins
1944, Oct.Lawrence E. Cole
1945, Feb.President Wilkins
1945, June.President Wilkins
1945, Oct.President Wilkins
1946, Feb.Thomas W. Graham
1946, JunePresident Wilkins
1946, Oct.Prof. Thomas Kepler
1947, Feb.President William E. Stevenson
1947, JuneHoward Foster Lowry*
1948, Feb.Professor Paul B. Sears
1948, JunePresident Francis Stephenson Hutchins*
1949, Feb.Professor Clarence Ward
1949, JuneDr. Ralph Johnson Bunche*
1950, Feb.President Arthur Sherwood Flemming*
1950, JuneSir Oliver Shewell Franks*
1951, JuneDr. Paul Howard Douglas*
1952, JuneDr. Thornton Niven Wilder*
1953, JuneDr. Raymond Tyson Moyer*
1954, JuneDr. Buell G. Gallagher
1955, JuneAdlai Ewing Stevenson*
1956John Marshall Harlan*
1957Chester Bowles*
1958Paul Bigelow Sears*
1959McGeorge Bundy*
1960Robert Eugene Cushman
1961Henri Maurice Peyre*
1962J. Irwin Miller*
1963Ralph Emerson McGill*
1964Percy Lavon Julian*
1965Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.*
1966Seabury Cone Mastick
1967Roy Wilkins*
1968Margaret Clapp*
1969Richard Gordon Hatcher
1970Jesse L. Jackson*
1971William Edgar Stafford*
1972Pete Seeger
1973Michael Harrington
1974Florynce R. Kennedy
1975Harvey Gallagher Cox
1976Alex Haley
1977Morris King Udall
1978Marcus C. Raskin
1979Nancy Hays Teeters*
1980Louis Stokes*
1981George Stanley McGovern*
1982Andrew Young*
1983Maya Angelou*
1984Francine du Plessix Gray*
1985William Weil Goldman
1986Flora Lewis
1987Archbishop Desmond Tutu*
1988Gardner Calvin Taylor*
1989Audre Lorde*
1990Bronislaw Geremek*
1991Faye Wattleton*
1992Antonia Hernandez*
1993June E. Osborn*
1994Romulus Zachariah Linney*
1995Johnnetta Betsch Cole*
1996Robert Coles*
1997Allan Henry Spear*
1998Damon Jerome Keith*
1999John J. Sweeney*
2000Oscar Arias Sanchez*
2001William H. Gray III*
2002Judah M. Folkman*
2003Anthony Lewis
2004Margaret H. Marshall
2005William Frederick Schulze III
2006Juan Guzman Tapia*
2007Connie Schultz*
2008Fareed Zakaria*
2009Dr. Richard N. Haass*
2010Julie Taymor*
2011Helene D. Gayle*
2012Thomas R. Frieden*
2013Tracy Chevalier
2014Thomas Perez
2015Marian Wright Edelman, Michelle Obama*
2016Jessye Norman*
2017Darren Walker*
2018David Sedaris*
2019Lisa Jackson

* Indicates speaker received an honorary degree at that commencement.