Commencement Speakers
2022 | Dr. Luis Jódar, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Pfizer Vaccines |
2022 | Rev. Dr. Janet L. Wolf, Author and Member of the Executive/National Steering Committee of the Inside Out Prison Exchange Program |
2022 | Dr. Kimani Paul-Emile, Professor of Law, Associate Director, and Head of Domestic Programs and Initiatives at Fordham Law School’s Center on Race, Law & Justice, and faculty co-director of the Fordham Law School Stein Center for Law & Ethics |
2020/2021 | The Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts III T’82 |
2019 | Christine Todd Whitman, Former Governor of New Jersey |
2018 | John Leguizamo, Actor, Comedian and Activist |
2018 | Mallory Mortillaro C’13, G’15, Sesquicentennial Speaker |
2017 | The Rev. Dr. William Barber II T’03, Sesquicentennial Speaker |
2017 | Julia Wolfe, MacArthur Fellow, Pulitzer Prize–Winner in Music |
2016 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Basketball Legend, Activist, Author |
2015 | Rob Franek C’93, Senior Vice President/Publisher, The Princeton Review |
2014 | Vivian A. Bull, President, Drew University |
2013 | Frank Occhiogrosso, Professor of English |
2012 | The Honorable Barry T. Albin, Associate Justice, New Jersey Supreme Court |
2011 | Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
2010 | Michael Lewis, Author |
2009 | Gerald Stern, Poet |
2008 | Cory Booker, Mayor of the City of Newark, New Jersey |
2007 | Richard Codey, President New Jersey Senate |
2006 | Candy Crowley, Senior Political Correspondent, CNN |
2005 | Thomas H. Kean, President of Drew University |
2004 | Shirley Tilghman, President of Princeton University |
2003 | James E. McGreevey, Governor of New Jersey |
2002 | Bill Cosby, Actor (degree rescinded) |
2001 | Richard Holbrooke, Former Ambassador to U.N. |
2000 | Bill Richardson, U.S. Secretary of Energy |
1999 | Christopher Reeve, Actor |
1998 | James Earl Jones, Actor |
1997 | Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New Jersey |
1996 | First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton |
1995 | Andrew Shue, Do Something Wendy Kopp, Teach for America |
1994 | Mario Cuomo |
1993 | Olympia Dukakis, Actress |
1992 | David Halberstam, Author |
1991 | Thomas Pickering, U.N. Ambassador |
1990 | George Romney, Former Governor of Michigan |
1989 | Arno Penzias |
1988 | Rosalyn Yalow |
1987 | John Amos, Actor |
1986 | Richard Reeves, Journalist |
1985 | Bill Bradley, U.S. senator |
1984 | John Brademas, President of NYU |
1983 | Marie L. Garibaldi, New Jersey Supreme Court Justice |
1982 | Thomas H. Kean, Governor of New Jersey |
1981 | Dr. William O. Baker, Chairman (ret) Bell Laboratories |
1980 | Eudora Welty, Novelist, Pulitzer Prize Winner |
1979 | Alan Alda, Actor |
1978 | Jean Rey, Ministre d’Etat of Belgium |
1977 | Jennifer E. Beaver ’77, representing all of the schools |
1976 | Millicent Fenwick, Congresswoman, Fifth District of New Jersey |
1975 | Kenneth E. Grebenstein, SGA President, representing all schools |
1974 | Terry Sanford, President of Duke University |
1973 | William Pearson Tolley, Chancellor Emeritus, Syracuse University |
1972 | Otto Klineberg, Director of the International Center for Intergroup Relations |
1971 | James E. Cheek, President of Howard University |
1970 | William R. Keast, President of Wayne State Universitiy |
1969 | Louis T. Benezet, President of Claremont University Center |
1968 | Sharvy G. Umbeck, Chair of the American Council on Education |
1967 | Erwin D. Canham, Editor in Chief, Christian Science Monitor |
1966 | Harry D. Gideonse, President Brooklyn College, CUNY |
1965 | Harrison E. Salisbury, Assistant Managing Editor, New York Times |
1964 | Robert Fisher Oxnam, President of Drew University |
1963 | Robert Fisher Oxnam, President of Drew University |
1962 | Robert Fisher Oxnam, President of Drew University |
1961 | Robert Fisher Oxnam, President of Drew University |
1960 | Hugh L. Dryden, Deputy Administrator, NASA |
1959 | Fred G. Holloway, President of Drew University |
1958 | Charles C. Parlin |
1957 | C. Douglas Dillon, Deputy Under Secretary of State |
1956 | Fred G. Holloway, President of Drew University |
1955 | Fred G. Holloway, President of Drew University |
1954 | Fred G. Holloway, President of Drew University |
1953 | Fred G. Holloway, President of Drew University |
1952 | Fred G. Holloway, President of Drew University |
1951 | Arolo Ayres Brown, President Emeritus, Drew University |
1950 | The Rev. Donald B. Aldrich, Dean of the Chapel, Princeton University |
Honorary Degree Recipients
2022 | Dr. Luis Jódar, Rev. Dr. Janet L. Wolf, Dr. Kimani Paul-Emile |
2020/2021 | Yamiche Alcindor The Rev. Alfred T. Day III |
2019 | Dean T. Criares C’85 |
Karen Oliveto C’80, G’91,’02 | |
2018 | Arnold L. Demain |
Steven Gilbert | |
2017 | William Barber II T’03 |
Julia Wolfe | |
2016 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar |
William C. Campbell | |
Robert Ready | |
2015 | Rob Franek C’93 |
Bob Conley | |
2014 | In Hwan Kim |
Hugh A. D’Andrade | |
2013 | Hedy Brasch |
Edward W. Poitras | |
2012 | Barry T. Albin |
Barbara Morris Caspersen | |
Edmund D. Pellegrino | |
Wilbert Mitchell | |
2011 | Maxine Clarke Beach |
Clarence B. Jones | |
Joan C. Verplanck | |
Shirley Ann Jackson | |
2010 | John Shelby Spong |
Judy Shepard | |
Arturo A. Valenzuela | |
Michael Lewis | |
2009 | Gerald Stern |
Arnold Demain | |
2009 | Nina Wells |
2008 | Cory Booker |
David Grant | |
Mary Sue Sweeney Price | |
Joseph Blotner | |
2007 | Richard J. Codey |
Ernest S. Lyght | |
Eugene M. Lang | |
Jean B. Gazarian | |
2006 | Kevin Murphy |
Susan M. Morrison | |
2005 | Bonnie Monte |
Victor Parsonnet | |
2004 | Shirley M. Tilghman |
Clement Price | |
Roger H. Martin | |
Rodney Frelinghuysen | |
2003 | James E. McGreevey |
Vivian A. Bull | |
Sol Gittleman | |
Larry Shinn | |
2002 | William H. Cosby Jr. (degree rescinded) |
Raymond A. Brown | |
Deborah T. Poritz | |
Warren J. Sinsheimer | |
2001 | Richard Holbrooke |
Pita John Ala’ilima | |
Heath B. McLendon | |
James H. Pain | |
2000 | Bill Richardson |
Barbara Bell Coleman | |
Michele K. Guhl | |
1999 | Christopher Reeve |
Helen C. Fenske | |
Lawrence Horner | |
1998 | James Earl Jones |
Herman A. Estrin | |
Melville D. Miller | |
1997 | Christine Todd Whitman |
Fred M. Kirby II | |
DeForest Soaries | |
1996 | Hillary Rodham Clinton |
Alfredo Martinez Moreno | |
Nancy Schaenen | |
1995 | Andrew Shue |
Wendy Kopp | |
Robert C. Woolley | |
Dorothy Young | |
1994 | Mario Cuomo |
Donald Payne | |
George Eberhardt | |
1993 | Olympia Dukakis |
Jeffrey Smith | |
Hae-Jong Kim | |
Ruth Churchill | |
1992 | David Halberstam |
Robert Luciano | |
Althea Gibson | |
Rand Castile | |
1991 | Thomas R. Pickering |
Sharpe James | |
Albert Baez | |
Kathleen Di Chiara | |
1990 | George Romney |
Raymond Chambers | |
Mary Smith | |
John Henry Kruse | |
1989 | Thomas H. Denman |
Grace Murray Hopper | |
Arno A. Penzias | |
1988 | George DeStevens |
George G. Reader | |
Leonard J. Soucy Jr. | |
Rosalyn S. Yalow | |
1987 | John Allen Amos Jr. |
Horton Foote | |
Jerome Hines | |
1986 | Richard Reeves |
Richard Walker | |
1985 | Bill Bradley |
Bruce Ritter | |
William James | |
George Kelsey | |
1984 | John Brademas |
Saul Cooperman | |
Barent Johnson | |
1983 | Marie L. Garibaldi |
Sam Jaffe | |
Bettye Ackerman | |
Lewis Thomas | |
1982 | Thomas H. Kean |
Albert W. Merck | |
Robert W. Edgar | |
William H. Gray III | |
Vartan Gregorian | |
1981 | William O. Baker |
Tai-Young Lee | |
1980 | Eudora Welty |
1979 | Alan Alda |
1978 | Ruth Cameron Webb |
Jean Rey | |
1977 | Alexander L. Boraine |
Maud Keister Jensen | |
Robert Fillen Smith | |
Manas Buthelezi | |
1976 | Millicent Fenwick |
John T. Cunningham | |
1975 | John Lewis Pepin |
1974 | Allan H. Gilbert |
Terry Sanford | |
1972 | Owen Barfield |
Otto Klineberg | |
Prince Albert Taylor Jr. | |
1971 | James Edward Cheek |
John Edward Horner | |
Luigi G. Ligutti | |
William Paul Stillman | |
Ignatius Yacob, III | |
1970 | Frank Lusk Babbott |
Peter Randolph Jennings |