(people murmuring softly) (bell tolling) (gentle music) - Welcome to Harvard's 368
Commencement Dan Schrag how wonderful to be with you again. I'm Diane Eck, professor
of comparative religion and Indian Studies and Dan and I are sitting
here high above ringside in Tercentenary Theatre. - Diane Eck, it's great
to be here with you again. - It is wonderful. - This is one of my
favorite days of the year. Here we are, the yard is filling up with graduates with parents, with families, and you can
just feel the excitement of what's about to come. - You really can and despite the fact that our background here has a quite of autumnal look, the truth is this is springtime, it's May in Cambridge, Massachusetts but the last time that Dan and I were here was for the inauguration
of President Larry Bacow on October 5th. And this then will be
his first commencement as President of Harvard University. This is an exciting time for both of us. - [Dan] I gotta say commencement
is all about beginnings indeed the word commencement
really means beginning. And it comes from the old medieval age when an undergraduate degree was really the start of
a career as a scholar, as an educator. But when you think about all the students, we're beginning to see some of the masters and doctoral students walking
into the yard right now, you think about their potential and all of the things they're gonna go out and do in the world. This is a very exciting moment. - It is an exciting moment
and if they read the history of this in their programs, the first of these
commencements was in 1642, there were only nine commencers and it was in the autumn. But now there are literally
thousands of people who are graduating today
with graduate degrees, PhDs, MAs, and of course
the undergraduate degree, the bachelor of arts. - I think the potential to shape the world that will be sitting in this space is just so remarkable and
that's what's so exciting and of course there's
also all of the families and parents are the ones that
are able to be here today and also the ones who weren't
able to be here, but watching from afar, for them this is an incredibly important day because behind
each one of the graduates today there is an important story, a story about family and about support and nurturing and all to make it up to this moment in time. - Absolutely and we had
the pleasure last night of having a reception for all the parents of the students who are
graduating at Lowell House. And what a wonderful, and some of the grandparents
who had come from India and elsewhere to be here
for this moment today. And so for those of you who are here in the Tercentenary Theatre, this is a great and noisy
and wonderful estival but some of you are in your
home or in one of the places around Harvard where you
can have a cup of coffee or a cup of tea and relax while Dan and I will talk a little bit about these festive rites
that are taking place today. - That's right and we can
barely hear each other right now above the band noise and the crowd noise it's a wonderful time. But part of the fun of this
ceremony is the pageantry. - [Diana] Oh, it really is. - [Dan] The old medieval
costumes of academia, the robes in the different colors, those of you who don't know the colors of our robes represent the our PhD granting. - [Diana] And so you were from Yale? - [Dan] No, this is actually interesting, this is the University of
California at Berkeley. - [Diana] Oh Berkeley yeah. - Blue and gold.
- Blue and gold. - [Dan] Although the blue is Yale blue Because University of California was started by a bunch of Yale graduates. - [Diana] Oh really,
well I have a red robe from Harvard and then actually my what do you call this thing? - [Dan] I think it's called a hood. - My hood yes, my hood is
from my honorary degree at Montana State University which is also blue and gold. So here am I, both of us in blue and gold I love wearing this because
it kind of has a sense of who I am. I came from Montana and did
my doctorate here at Harvard. - Well we will see all of the colors. There will be the Harvard crimson which comes out looking a
little bit like hot pink but we will see the vast
fields of bright pink or crimson and then we
will see different colors represented by the faculty. And that's part of the fun. - And what we see, I mean, the people who have a kind of pride of
place in the graduate degrees are the PhDs and we'll see the rest
of the graduates come in. - They're filing in right now. We will see all of them. You know before we get started talking about the graduates, we have a long time for the procession to happen. This is a big commencement for you, Diana - It really is, absolutely. - You were a house deans of Lowell House for many years, and
this is your final year. - It is our final year. - That's a big transition. - It is a transition we are
graduating from Lowell House today, too, and it's an exciting one. I mean the first class
that we gave diplomas to was 20 years ago in what was that, 1999. And today it's 2019. - [Dan] The last millennium. - Yeah really, and the
other thing is very exciting about it is that Lowell House has itself undergone a great transition. For the last two years we have
been scattered in diaspora, in different parts of the university - So Lowell will be coming back together which is very nice. - Lowell will be coming back together. - You know my sister was in Lowell House. I used to visit her when
I was in high school so I have warm memories of
the Lowell House dining hall. - The dining hall and the courtyards, well, we have kept track of this our sophomores and sort
of the center of our house has been what used to be the inn at Harvard and the sophomores lived there, the juniors and seniors
have been scattered around, those are Lowell House
flags that you're seeing waving, those blues one there. There's the Lowell banner. So today we had our breakfast
there in the dining hall of the Inn at Harvard, we made our procession here, Dorothy and I rode in a rick shaw so we could keep the
pace of the procession and then when we leave
here we're going back to the renewed Lowell
House and it is exciting! It will be moving for us and it'll be moving for the seniors. Oh my heavens. - For those who don't know
about the Harvard house system, this really takes this enormous university and for undergraduates breaks it up into a much smaller community so your graduating
class is what about 125? - [Diana] 135 yeah. - And that just is a much
more manageable size. - And it becomes a real
community, absolutely, and this is a community that they live in, it's multi generational,
it includes tutors, in graduate school, faculty members in the senior common room, and then Dorothy and
I live right next door and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner there. - I think the role of faculty
dean, the faculty member in the house really sets the tone for the spirit of the house. To me that's an enormous sacrifice and great service that you've made. - Well it's kind of a
sacrifice but it's a real joy, I will say that, I mean it's been really the best years of our lives at Harvard. - Well it's an enormous service and I know there are hundreds
and hundreds of undergraduates who have you to thank for
part of their experience. - Well I think it's more like thousands, the undergraduates gave us
a wonderful sort of painting of Lowell House and it had
a computerized signature of more than 3,000 people
on it, individually. Oh it was really wonderful. Well anyway here we are today, a transition for students. It is a right of passage for students as they leave the work and ordeals for some of
a phase of their lives. And the joys of that part
of their lives as well. - There's an aspect of the ceremony that's special at Harvard. We should describe it
because it's about to happen. When the faculty and the
president and the deans and all of the members of the overseers and the corporation, when
they march into this theater, what they do is walk through
all the undergraduates. The undergraduates
essentially line the path. - [Diana] And you'll see
that lining right there, these are undergraduates
lining the central aisle. - [Dan] All the way from here, all the way outside of
the theater as well. I was gonna say as a
faculty member when I used to walk in the procession, basically walking down a path lined with students who
had taken your classes over the years, seeing all those faces, it is one of the best
moments at commencement - [Diana] It is great. And it's wonderful for students, too. The first of the processions
that follows down that path is the president's procession that is led well not by the presiden but by the sheriff and here you see the
president's procession well they're actually coming
around University Hall at this point, but it is-- - [Dan] They're just getting started. - [Diana] Just starting the
sheriff of Middlesex County leads and then the
president and the provost and the honorary degree recipients who have been garbed in their
Harvard robes for the day. And we might recognize some of them, but we're not at liberty
to say who they are although we all know who they are now, especially the speaker. - [Dan] Yes we should note that everybody knows the speaker this
afternoon, Angela Merkel, And Angela Merkel, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Dr. Merkel is a physical chemist. She's a scientist who went into government and really has profoundly
shaped the modern world. And you know I have a sense that this afternoon we're gonna hear something very special - I will be right there, I probably will be right there
watching it on television, but I am very much looking forward to it. - Every now and then these
commencement speeches at Harvard are far more than just
commencement speeches. - I'm sure that's true. - Remember back to 1947, George Marshall, the then secretary of
state came to Harvard to give a commencement address nobody expected the momentous speech he was about make where he laid out the vision for the US the requirement that the
US needed to help Europe get back on its feet after World War II. That was the Marshall Plan and ultimately he won the
Nobel Peace Prize for that and it changed the world. - And that was on the
afternoon of commencement at Harvard in 1947.
- That's right. And so I think that history, everyone has a sense of that. And I think there's an expectation that Chancellor Merkel will share with us some insights in this
very complicated world. - It really is, and you know with the recent elections in Europe and also her own anticipated stepping down in a couple of years. - And of course the politics in the US and around the world.
- Oh, boy. - And what's happening with china rising, this is a very interesting time. - And one of the things that
I learned last night only is that this is her first visit to Boston. And has never been to Harvard before so she's going to see Harvard in all of its huge diversity today. - Well that's something that's special, I think, about Harvard.
- Oh yeah. - You know we sometimes call
universities ivory towers, Harvard in some ways is
Harvard is not a normal place, Harvard is an incredible
community of educated people, passionate people, interested people and isn't necessarily reflective of everything going on in the world, but I would say this, that of all the universities
I've every been at, Harvard may be the most
connected to the world of any university. - [Diana] And connected through
these many graduate schools as well as through the huge diversity of its undergraduate population. - That's right. We have students from all over the world and we have faculty
engaged in all the world. For example I think of our
colleague Ricardo Houseman, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School was an economist, a development economist who until very recently ran the Center for
International Development there but Ricardo Houseman was
the planning minister of Venezuala before Chavez came to power and right now the struggle
that's going on in Venezuela the tragic collapse of
the economy in Venezuela, due to the corruption
of the Maduro Regime, what we're seeing is that
actually our colleague, Ricardo Houseman may get
called back to Venezuela to help rebuild that economy if there's a political transition there. And that story is just typical of what we see all over Harvard. - And here we see the faculty procession, some of them we'll kind
of come back to that. Actually it would be good to see more of that, the faculty processing through the open ranks of the students, enjoying their accolades, there's Peter Machinist who is
an Egyptologist for example. And then there's an MIT person, I just learned that, that sort of gray, - [Dan] That gray red,
that's Dave, he's a professor of bio engineering, the last
one is the executive dean of the school of engineering, David clark, and Eric Mazure, and so we have enormous
range of faculty here. - [Diana] This is wonderful yes. - [Dan] And again you see all their robes and their degrees from all over the world. there is the Sheriff of Nottingham, I mean Sheriff of Middlesex County and he's gonna play a ceremonial role to start and end the proceedings. - [Diana] He totally enjoys this. It really is wonderful. - [Dan] Absolutely, it's a lot of fun. - [Diana] So the graduate communities are gradually filling their seats, the Kennedy school, the divinity school and then here we see the-- - [Dan] There is Alec Garber, Alec Garber provost of the University, along with-- - [Diana] There is President
Bacow right in front of him. - [Dan] And President Bacow
and Bill Lee is the head of the corporation. - [Diana] And there's the
president, the sheriff, he's got quite a sheriff's badge on today. And there are some of our Lowellelians. This is wonderful, good to see them. - You know amidst these crowds, these more than 8,000
students are graduating today. It is an incredible number but at the same time each
one has a special story. There's so many, you know I
think of the handful of them, really, I've interacted with
probably several hundred of them over the last four years. I know a tiny fraction of all
the students graduating today and each of them is so special. Each one has this remarkable story. I'm thinking of my friend Dan Lieberman, our colleague in human
evolutionary biology Dan is professor who has
worked on the evolution of humans, and for example, sort of one of the gurus
of barefoot running thinking about his fast
he ran a marathoner, and his daughter Eleanor, Eleanor Lieberman is graduating today. - She's graduating today. - And each of them has a
remarkable story to tell about where they're going and how they're gonna change the world. It's really very special and inspiring. - It's extraordinary. - I think you can't help
but attend today's events and be hopeful for the world. - It really is true and
our program at Lowell House lists sort of awards they have attained and some of them are
academic awards to be sure but many are also from public service and from their contributions
to the community. - [Dan] Absolutely. - [Diana] Here we see President Bacow making his way through. - [Dan] President Bacow
has a special robe, it's not the normal academic robe. He has a special robe that actually echos the
garb of a Quaker minister. - [Diana] Unitarian I think it is. - [Dan] Unitarian, sorry. - [Diana] He had to have this
specially made and he did. It has sort of buttons across the front. - [Dan] Here are they are
now, the corporation members on the stage. The women on the corporation, my friend Susan Graham, a computer scientist from berkeley, and others, they get
to wear wonderful hats that's one of the best parts. - [Diana] And the men of the corporation wear their own wonderful hats their top hats, which they don't
have much occasion to wear, deans and vice presidents coming now. They try to make the
president's procession more or less hierarchal. We do see the university sort
of enacting its hierarchies in itself really in these rites. As it turns out the faculty and the deans and the vice presidents
are not all that organized and they sometimes simply
straggle down the aisle as well but there is really an
especially large crowd on the stage to our right now that is gathering in the
president's procession. - That's right so in the honor procession, we just see to the left of
that sign that's Angela Merkel, her red hair, short red hair, she is walking in. A little bit of extra
security in the Yard today because of Chancellor Merkel. They're all coming up on stage now. The various deans of
the different schools, something maybe people don't
understand about Harvard, that really the hierarchy, while today we ceremonially
recognize the president as the leader of the university, a lot of the decisions about how the university actually works comes from the deans of the schools. And one of the remarkable
things is how much turnover there has been in the
deans in recent years. - There really has been. - So we have one of the very first things that President Bacow had to do when he came on was to appoint a new dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences which anyway is may be in some ways, the most powerful positions in Harvard and we're gonna see her in
a minute, Claudine Gray, one year now into her
teaching, very exciting time. - And maybe not so new, but the Dean of the
School of Public Health, Michelle Williams and a new dean of the
graduate school of education. - [Dan] We also have some
deans who are leaving. And we have John Manning,
at the law school, who's a relatively new dean he took over for Martha
Minnow very recently. Frank Doyle from the school of engineering and applied sciences,
he is relatively new, but now actually because of the turnover he is becoming one of the veterans. - [Diana] And then Bruce Donoff who has been dean of at the
school of dental medicine for years really is stepping
down after this year. - And this is also Mohsen
Mostafavi's last graduation as dean of the graduate school of design. He is going to, his
successor has been announced and she will take over starting in July. - But it is true that this is the day where no one talks about one Harvard, this is the day when you actually can see Harvard University in a visible form because we have people from
all over the University, from the graduate schools, et cetera, and from the various
houses of Harvard College. So it is an in-gathering
of Harvard University in an extraordinary way and beyond the graduates
it includes the people who are in reunion classes. The 50th reunion class,
the 25th, the 30th, the 60th, they're all
here and at least the 25th and the 50th have a pride of place in the Tercentenary Theatre - [Dan] They get to march
in with the faculty, it's a very exciting time. The 50th reunion class of course includes former Vice President Al Gore who gave the class day speech yesterday. - [Diana] Yes indeed. - [Dan] Vice President gore,
I have known him for years through my work on climate, indeed he's come and taught
my class every now and then-- - [Diana] That's very exciting. - [Dan] Obviously he's very
committed to climate change and he spoke about climate change but he actually spoke about something much broader yesterday, he really spoke about the
need to be really devoted to maintaining our democracy partly through pursuit of truth. Veritas is the motto for Harvard and I think Vice President
Gore took that to heart. - [Diana] He really did and
I watched it very carefully and if you didn't happen
to hear it yesterday, and it was sort of cold, you could see everyone
gathered in their sweaters and shawls, but you can go back and listen to his speech on
the class day streaming video of Harvard University. And I would suggest people do that it was a very very powerful speech. And of course because of his devotion to issues of the environment climate change and yours, also, as head of the Harvard University
Center for the Environment this is the kind of much
needed encouragement. - [Dan] you see Angela Merkel there, we also just saw a glimpse of Drew Faust Drew Faust last year presided
over these ceremonies this year she's getting
an honorary degree. - [Diana] She's getting
an honorary degree. - [Dan] And we thank her
for all of her service. - [Diana] And I think Angela Merkel is talking with her faculty escort, who is Nick Burns - [Dan] Nick Burns, former number two at the State Department,
under Hillary Clinton, and wonderful diplomat and my colleague at the Belfer Center for Science and National Affairs. Nick was a wonderful colleague and really a career diplomat who has just wonderful insight into the nature of the world. - [Diana] And right in that
shot as well is Bob Guliano who is a longstanding general counsel to the university and he's
going to leave this year and take up the presidency
of Gettysburg College. - [Dan] That's very exciting. So we will see the faculty
now coming on the stage and they will come on and eventually be sitting
just to our right here, in seats reserved for the faculty. - [Diana] The one set of seats
that is still quite empty in the Tercentenary Theatre is the seat, the large block of seats reserved for the undergraduates and they will come in house by house and fill up those seats. - [Dan] After the faculty process through that's when they will start to file in and that takes a good long while. - [Diana] It does. - [Dan] In that 50th reunion class there are so many colorful people, my deer friend, Tommy Lee
Jones was in that class. - [Diana] Oh was he in
that class, oh really? - He was in that class, he's
not here today unfortunately, he's filming a movie
right now in New Mexico but he's very devoted to Harvard and comes back regularly and it's just a wonderful,
you know people think of him as almost a
particular type of actor but he's actually a remarkable scholar. He's incredibly well read
and he's a very thoughtful, thoughtful man, not
what people most expect and you can imagine what it was like when he and Al Gore were
like, 19, 20 years old, rooming together. - [Diana] And those rooming
groups are here today graduating as well. - [Dan] And there is Doug Elmendorf, Doug is the dean just walking
off the screen to the right he's our dean of the
Harvard Kennedy School, Doug has a very interesting background. Doug was the chair of the
Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan office designed
to sort of give facts and figures of course under
attack in recent years for creating an assessment
of various budgets that various folks including
the current administration didn't like. And gain it's this question
of the importance of truth. Doug's also very
thoughtful about inequality in the world and one of the
issues that's being discussed around Harvard and around the US and around the world is how do we manage the growing level of
inequality in our lives? - [Diana] There you see the
seats for the recipients of Harvard's bachelor degrees empty and they will be filled in by the houses. - [Dan] And all the way back, behind those empty seats, you see the best seats in the house, which actually the steps
to Widener Library. - [Diana] Yes and hopefully
some of those seats they can see us and see
what we're seeing as well because the crowd here is immense today. - [Dan] That's right, some
of the parents came here at six in the morning to make
sure they got a good spot. - [Diana] Make sure they got good seats. Well I always tell them the good seats are the ones that are near the jumbotrons those big screens that will enable them to see up close what's happening. - [Dan] So it's a gray
day, it's a little cool. - [Diana] That's good, actually. - [Dan] My daughter, Rose,
her birthday is tomorrow and I always like to have roses blooming in my garden because it's her birthday 'cause her name is Lila Rose. But I'm not sure that's gonna happen, we had such a cold spring. But the advantage of the cold spring is luckily today, these
robes are actually unpleasant in hot weather. So thankfully it's a
little bit cooler today. - [Diana] One of the
questions people often ask is who's speaking at Harvard Commencement? Well we know that the great speaker today to be expected is Angela Merkel, but this morning the only
speeches people will hear are the three speeches of the
student commencement parts, and the first will be an oration in Latin by Kabir Gandhi, the
second will be an oration in English, an undergraduate oration by Genesis de los Santos and the third is a
graduate English oration by Lucila Takjerad from Algeria. So those will be the five
minute speeches this morning, but if you say who's speaking, there've been a host of speakers at the various events, there
was the class day speaker here at the Tercentenary
Theatre yesterday, the undergraduate's class
day speaker, Al Gore. - [Dan] The faculty are taking their seats and the undergraduates
are starting to file in. So the faculty have now arrived and the faculty are taking their seats and the undergraduates are filing in. - [Diana] There is Richard
Terrant the professor of Latin who used to be the chief sort
of coach of the Latin orator. - [Dan] I see Stewart Shiegan there, Stewart is a computer scientist, Jim Waldo great computer scientist, and others.
- David Lamberth there right behind Terrant who is
a professor of philosophy of religion at the Divinity School. - [Dan] You see all the way to the left the orange robes that belongs to John Shaw John has been the chair of the
earth and planetary science for the last I think 13 years an enormous service and
is a wonderful colleague, a structural geologist, he's a very wise and gentle leader. - [Diana] Some of the students
have an orange piece of cloth on their mortar boards which apparently is to signal a commitment to getting Harvard to divest from fossil fuels, something
frankly that Al Gore mentioned not just mentioned, but
asserted very very strongly yesterday in his Class Day speech. - [Dan] You know I'm obviously
very close to that issue, I know a lot about it. I've gotta tell you,
I think the engagement of the students is so wonderful, it again gives us hope--
- It really does. - That students actually
care about the world. I think it's really important. I think, you know personally think that divestment to me is not the issue that I'm most passionate about for me Harvard is the most
incredible insititution in the way we educate our students and I would love to see us
devote much greater effort to investing in the knowledge
about climate change that we give our students
because they will then go out and change the world. But you know what's great about Harvard is we have these debates we have these debates,
and one of the things about a great university is it has to be open to disagreements. When we start saying
there is only one answer that's when a university dies. I think devotion to that back and forth, that continual argument and yet with respect
and with collegiality. I think that is a very
important core part of learning. - Very important when there
was a faculty discussion on divestment, Larry Bacow showed up to be part of that discussion,
I think an important move. - I think so. - If we also ask about the other speakers I looked at the other class day speakers and at the law school was a
woman named Roberta Kaplan who represented Edith Windsor in that landmark Supreme Court case that ruled the Defense of Marriage Act violated the Constitution and that really opened the
way for same sex marriage. Edith Windsor was a New York
woman who made that case. And this was her lawyer. Then at the medical school, they had Mona Hanna-Attisha who was the pediatrician and
educator in Flint, Michigan who exposed the lead crisis and again someone who's been
quite an activist in that field and at the school of public
health it was Cecile Richards who has been working
with Planned Parenthood and some of those issues
for many many years. So this is a huge group of people actually Michael Bloomberg spoke at the business school class day. So the range of speakers is enormous. - [Dan] That's right and
after this event here, the undergraduates will
all go back to their houses and you will preside over
giving out individual degrees so we should prepare our viewers that we are not going
to spend this morning reading out names of graduates. Each of the deans will be
called up by the president or by the provost and the president will bestow the degrees on the whole groups of
graduates wide swaths at a time. The one exception is
for the undergraduates, the summa cum laude,
the highest Latin honors we give to our undergraduates, the students with the most
exceptional academic records they will be asked to come close, so they will be called close to the stage they won't be singled out individually but they will get some
special recognition. - [Diana] And some
handshake from the president or the provost or Rakesh
Khurana the dean of the college. - [Dan] We will also see
each of the graduate schools has their own flavor. We see for example, the dental school has a giant toothbrush - [Diana] Oh my heavens, yes, they do. - [Dan] And each of the graduate schools when their dean stands up there, you will hear a roar of applause from their numbers and it
often doesn't correlate with population. The school of education is small but is quite vocal in their enthusiasm. - [Diana] Good. The other thing we should probably note is that yesterday at about this time was the ROTC commissioning ceremony here with very formal commissioning of almost ten undergraduates
in the various branches of the service, one our own student, Peter Hartnit was commissioned in the Air Force and he was presented with a lei by the officer who gave
him his first salute that's part of that ceremony. So he is today as a newly
commissioned lieutenant in the Air Force is
wearing a Hawaiian lei. But that's a very moving ceremony as well. - [Dan] So again we see the high sheriff from Middlesex County along with Angela Merkel and Nick Burns. I think we're all expecting
something interesting and powerful this afternoon. - [Diana] Now I think we have
our first interview here. Welcome Ira, you will have
to tell us about that, this is Irapeti Ghura, Ira and we wanted to hear a
little about yourself. - So I am a student at the Kennedy School and I'm doing the masters in public policy and I'm graduating. - You're graduating, congratulations. - Thank you. - And where have you come from? - So I've come from
Bangalore in south India and that's where I'm returning as well. So while I've been at the Kennedy school I've been working on the
topic of menstrual hygiene. Periods are a major source of anxiety for most women in India and period products that
we take for granted here in the US like tampons and pads and there are hundreds of thousands of people who can't afford them so I've been working with a designer at the graduate school of design to come up with a reusable
low cost period product, called a menstrual cup.
- A menstrual cup? That's wonderful I think that's the first we've heard about menstrual cups here on the stage at graduation
but so important. How does it impact the
education of girls in India? - So there's as you can imagine, girls who can't afford tampons and pads miss out on many days of school, women miss out on work and there are girls who drop
out of school altogether because of their periods. So we're hoping that
this product is one thing that can really improve
the lives of many people because you just need
one, it can be reused, it lasts for ten years and
from our pilot testing, women love it, it's extremely comfortable. - That's a very exciting thing to do! - It is! - And you're going back to
participate in this, head it up? Do you have a company that
you can tell us about? - So I'm a starting a
company a social enterprise, it's called (speaking in foreign language) so in in Hindi you
would know it means easy or worry free. So the mission is to make sure that periods are a completely
worry-free experience for every woman and girl in India. - That is so exciting, it really is. - So tell us about a little bit about the two years you've
been at the Kennedy School. - So I've been in the MPP program there, that's the master in public policy, there are about 200 of us
from all over the world with very diverse interests, there are people in the government and who come from government and there are people
like me who are kind of in the middle of social
impact in the private sector. And I've always been
interested in this topic and I received a lot of
support from the professors at the Kennedy School. So my mentor Carl Meyer is helping me build the
financial model for it, and I have also got some funding from the women in public policy program at the Kennedy School
fund projects like this, so that's been really great and also just the wider Harvard network, I took Professor Eck's class about India, which was incredible and I
also got to meet a designer at the design school which
is how we started working on this project together. - Wouldn't you like to
take and learn about India Indian from a woman from Montana. - It was so refreshing because, I guess, the students have no kind
of preconceived notions or judgments about which
camp this professor sits in. Honestly it was just mesmerizing, listening to Professor Eck. - It was fun this year because it was a general education course in which we had some gen-ed
students who were freshman and some who were masters
students like yourself and others who would come from the Indian administrative service who wanted to know more
about religion in India and they don't have a chance to study it. So this is great yeah. - It was a real variety and it was incredible,
because as Professor Eck says, we had 40 year olds who had
all this knowledge about India but at the same time we were kind of being outsmarted by 18 years old, freshmen from the college who just have amazing
ideas and write incredibly. - Well one of the most amazing things having taught here, I'm
a relative new comer compared to Diana but I've
been teaching here now for 22 years and one of
the most incredible things is you realize, it's humbling, students learn more from each other than they do from the faculty. - It is true. - We can guide but it's the
students who teach each other. Tell us a little bit
more about the diversity. Because I also teach at the Kennedy school and I find the student
population at the Kennedy School even at Harvard which
is remarkably diverse I find the population
at the Kennedy School is truly remarkable. - It's so diverse, exactly. And it's because it's global and they come from so many different countries. - And that's what brings you to this globe and there you have an object here and that's a good one. - But it's also the age
range of the Kennedy School, with the mercurial program, so there are ministers, MPs
from different countries. - Current military. - We have military, it's fascinating and also so incredible to
be able to cross-register so I've been able to take classes at the divinity school
and government department. - And so who's here
with your family today, are they here? - My brother is here from India and it's nice for him
because he graduated in 2013 from the college so it's a nice way for him to come back. See the whole thing. - Well congratulations, wonderful! Really enjoy the great day. - Wonderful, have a great day. - Thank you very much. - Let's stay in touch, please! - Thank you very much.
- Thanks so much. - Wonderful. - So there you are, it's so inspiring? - It's so wonderful. Amidst every one of those
8,099 graduates today there are stories like that. - [Diana] So there we see Rakesh Khurana talking to Nita Noria, both of them business school professors, but Rakesh the dean of Harvard College. - [Dan] So I gotta say,
this may be the commencement I most remember as the one where I learned about menstrual pumps. - [Diana] It might yes, I
know, we have known for years that girls' education in India is a real crisis. And it's partly 'cause
girls can't go to school during this time and there's all sorts of
prohibitions about this, that and the other thing. - [Dan] And it connects to
issues of the environment and the population. It's very clear that if
you wanna control fertility in population the best investment of all is to educate and empower women. - [Diana] Well now speaking of educating and empowering women-- - Hi.
- Hi, tell me, how to pronounce your first name. - I'm Zaria.
- Zaria Smalls who is graduating senior today. - Good morning and congratulations. - Thank you so much. - Yes really wonderful,
it's great to have you here, thank you for coming. We have to tell people how to find us over in this little tree house. - Yeah! - But you didn't have
too much trouble though? - I got to an area and
I couldn't figure out exactly where it was so they instruct me to go behind the stage. - Now tell us, you have set
up a special concentration. - Yeah. - That I have never heard of before. But tell us what your special
concentration has been. - Yeah, so I created a
special concentration called design, engineering,
and social change which is kind of a mash-up
of the engineering department and computer science so we get the design
process of how technology is built, understands the
ways which that process impacts social change and then try and figure out how you make intentional changes. With this design process. - So design engineering and social change. - I'm in the school of engineering, so tell me a little bit
about how you put this set of courses together? Where did you go to within
the engineering school? - I originally started off as
an electrical engineer here so a lot of my technical-based courses pull from the electrical
engineering components so I took that as my
engineering structural courses, I've also taken a couple
of design courses here around Harvard and also at MIT including innovators practice, and design survivor to learn
about the design process CS179 so I took those from
the engineering school. - Did you take any of the courses that are part of our new master's degree in master's in design engineering. - I actually have not
gotten to take any classes in the master's program but I've worked alongside
many of the students there and they were actually
critical in constructing and guiding the process of
where I thought it was goig and they could give
insight into what design I might be interested
in or even larger fields that are correlated to that
so I can delve into that. - And what about the
history of science side, who did you engage with on that? - Yeah so Alma Steinguard
was one of the faculty that was pretty core in that and Ann Hampton is my advisor for this concentration along with Chris Lombardo in
the engineering department. - I'm an affiliate at Pforzheimer House, so I know Ann well. - Yeah so she was really critical in that. I took classes with Matt Hirsch, a lot of it giving me theories on how to analyze technology and understand where they came from who they're impacting
and who they're built for and maybe not built for and I
think that was really critical in kind of building to where I am today. - As you can tell to construct
a special concentration at Harvard requires a kind of an ability, to put it all together, and real initiative, I could
just listen to you talk I can say this is
fabulous what you've done. And what's next for you then? - In the fall I will be working at Twitter as an associate product
manager, hopefully working to build products that think critically about the way Twitter as a
platform has a huge influence. - When you work at
Twitter, where do you go? Do you go to Silicon Valley? - Yeah San Francisco. - I hope they pay you
enough to live there! - It's an expensive place. - It is an expensive place to live. - You know what, you're
going to have a great time. I left college and went to
graduate school at Berkeley and it's a wonderful place to be. Tell us who is here
today to celebrate you? - A lot of my family came
out to support me today. - From where. - Mostly from New York City, that's where most of my family lives. - Where in New York City did you grow up? - I grew up in Queens, but I have family in
Queens, Highland, Brooklyn, kind of all over the five boroughs, but me personally South Jamaica Queens. So my mom and dad are
here, aunts and uncles, and younger cousin and grandparents, like 20 people who came out. - That is just so wonderful, Congratulations. - Congratulations.
- Thanks so much. - And to your parents, there
must be, and relatives, some of them will be out there listening. - Yes hopefully. - Wonderful, thank you, congratulations, have a wonderful day. - Enjoy the celebration with your class. - Yes really wonderful.
- Thank you. - Thanks for coming to be with us. - Thank you for having me. - [Diana] That's great, Ann Harrington, who is one of my colleagues
as a faculty dean she's in Pforzheimer, but she is the person who said we should interview Zaria Small and I think well, this is absolutely why, what an impressive young woman. - [Dan] Here we see again a
picture here of Dean Faust. You can see she's very tall. - [Diana] There's Claudine
Gray taking a picture, or maybe I don't think if it's
a selfie if Claudine is there Yeah right there. There's Rakesh Khurana and
Drew Faust in the background. And Luke Menond over on the
right-hand side of the stage. - [Dan] The back of the head we're seeing is actually Frank Doyle, Frank is our dean of the school of engineering and applied
sciences, wearing his robes from Cal Tech. - [Diana] There are many new
things this year as well, the faculty are organized
usually by a caller over standing on a platform
over near Harvard Hall and this year the caller is Kay Shelema, who is a professor of music. This is a position that has been held by all of the sort of great
old men of the university from Mason Hammond to Harry Lewis, and beyond, just some wonderful people, that try to organize, she's great. - [Dan] She is a small
number of women in musicology who really transformed that field. - [Diana] She really has here,
I mean she's in musicology. Now you begin to see
everything filling up here. Including faculty members who
may be seated with the houses. I should say that our
successors as faculty deans, David Lapsin in economics and Nina Zipsur who is associate dean for human affairs in university hall, both of them have been what they call our interns this year and they are both here with the house to get a sense of commencement from the standpoint of Lowell House today and that's exciting. - [Dan] Here's the honorary
degree recipients as well, just behind them that's Janet
Brown history and science, Michelle Williams, Larry
Bacow is talking to someone. Getting ready for the ceremony. - [Diana] We're not supposed
to tell you who they are now but those of you who have a
copy of the newspaper can tell. - [Dan] There is a few more
undergraduates filing in so we're going to be here
for another few minutes before the actual ceremony begins. - This is what is called
an academic festival and it really is. It's a rite of transition, it's a rite of passage, an
initiatory rite in a sense but it is a festival and you feel this, a festival of the in-gathering of the clan of the reunion classes and the festival of the various schools and everything that they do. The picnics and the
spreads as they call it all over the university. - [Dan] As much as we
are celebrating the past and celebrating all of the hard work-- - [Diana] We sure are. - [Dan] over the last
two, three, four, five, sometimes six or seven years, for PhDs all of that work,
I still think of this as a forward-looking event. - [Diana] It is. - [Dan] I think of it as a
celebration of the future, of how all of these students are gonna go out and in their various ways change the world, whether
it's through menstrual cups, or through working for Twitter, or through whatever
these students will do, they will shape the world around them. - [Diana] And it is an
in-gathering of students from all over the US and from all over the world who are as diverse as the world. - [Diana] I listened to part
of the baccalaureate yesterday Tuesday rather, when President Bacow addressed the senior class and the readings at baccalaureate began with a reading from the Qur'an, by Anwar Omish, who is one
of the resident of PBHA and who has probably won as
many distinguished awards as any undergraduate, she has read from the Qur'an in Arabic and someone else in English and then there were readings in Sanskrit from the Bhagavad Gita and in Greek and the range of language
that are brought forth by our students. And from the religious
and cultural traditions that they represent,
that is a representation of this graduating class, extraordinary. - [Dan] Diversity has been a
controversial issue this year. There has been a lawsuit against Harvard for the admissions process,
particularly focused on discrimination against Asian Americans and how they should have higher numbers of representations here. It's a fundamental debate and, again, I think the nature of the debate is happening all around the US. - [Diana] It is. - [Dan] I think it's important that that debate happens at Harvard. - [Diana] absolutely. - [Dan] And I think the opening
up of the admissions process and understanding how decisions get made, it's fundamental to the
integrity of our mission in some ways. I think we don't yet, the
judge hasn't issued a ruling on that. I think it will come probably
in the next several months but I hope that will only be
the continuation of our debate. This isn't gonna resolve this discussion, this is a long tradition, you know, various groups were
excluded from this community over the rich, nearly 400
years of Harvard's history. And I think this discussion
will continue into the future. - [Diana] I'm sure it will. I taught a freshman seminar in the fall on Asian America that had
about 12 or 15 students who were literally from
all parts of Asian America. Only one from Asia itself right now, a student from Singapore, but they were Korean Americans, Indian Americans, Chinese Americans, all of them intensely
interested in this issue. And we kind of followed
along the court case as we also followed along the very rich and important history of
Asians in the United States. - [Dan] And I think it gets at really again connected to the
core issue of inequality. The question of opportunity. How does this institution in some ways, it's in some ways a beacon for opportunity it's also though in some ways it's been a place of incredible privilege and supporting existing
privilege and that tension is coming to the fore and I think it's an interesting time to be part of this community. - It really is, I mean when Dorothy and I began at Lowell House 20 years ago that diversity was beginning
to be very much present there. People from all over the United States, from the new immigration
post '65 immigration, the sons and daughters who had grown up in the United States, but who's parents had
come from China or Korea, or Vietnam or India or Pakistan. And it is a very different demography than we would have seen 50 years ago, absolutely it's so rich and so wonderful. - I'm in the physical sciences in the department of earth
and planetary sciences and in the school of engineering and applied sciences I'll tell you that the diversity we have seen at the undergraduate
level and in some ways for well understood reasons that diversity has percolated into Harvard Law School, and the Harvard Business School, those are avenues for
wealth, for achievement but in the physical sciences
we are still just dealing with gender equality, we have
barely scratched the surface of racial diversity in our communities. So we remain still relatively
non-diverse compared to other communities and that's
something that's gonna happen. - [Diana] They're beginning, we will hear. - [Dan] We are about
to start the ceremony, the undergraduates have all come in now and any minute now we will see the Sheriff of
Nottingham approach the stage. - [Diana] It's Middlesex. - [Dan] It's Middlesex, I keep thinking we're in
England with Robin Hood. - [Diana] On the right you see the PhDs who among the graduates, graduating professional graduate schools will receive their diplomas first. (bells ringing) - [Dan] Here are the bells
to start the ceremony. - Mr. Sheriff, pray give us order. (audience laughing) (audience applauding) - As the high sheriff of Middlesex County, I declare that the
meeting will be in order! (audience applauding) - Please rise for the national anthem and remain standing for
the chaplain of the day, who will open the exercises with prayer. (drum cadence) ♪ Oh say, can you see, ♪ ♪ By the dawn's early light, ♪ ♪ What so proudly we hail'd ♪ ♪ At the twilight's last gleaming. ♪ ♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars, ♪ ♪ Thro' the perilous fight, ♪ ♪ O'er the ramparts we watch'd, ♪ ♪ Were so gallantly streaming. ♪ ♪ And the rockets' red glare, ♪ ♪ The bombs bursting in air, ♪ ♪ Gave proof thro' the night ♪ ♪ That our flag was still there. ♪ ♪ O say, does that
star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave. ♪ (audience applauding) - Lord, help us listen. In a world where there
is not enough listening, help us do a better job of
listening to one another. In the presence of those
who love us, our parents and teachers, our family and friends, help us hear their wisdom. May our listening help us grow. In the presence of those
whom we do not understand, we just see the world very differently, help us hear their
thinking with an open mind. May our listening help us learn
something we did not know, in the presence of
those who do not get us, they don't understand us. Help us hear not only their questions, but also the anxiety
behind their questions. May our listening enable us to see people we hadn't seen before. In the presence of the
difference and the diversity that are the hallmark of
this beloved university and our beloved land, may
our listening enable us to hear the prose and the poetry of a very different person's
very different story and may our listening enable us to build beautiful things together. In the presence of the
multitudes that we contain within ourselves, our nobler
angels and our raging demons, help us hear the inner clamor within our own souls with gentleness and without judgment. May our listening enable
our better selves to emerge. (speaking in foreign language) Hear, oh, community of Harvard, God is found in Harvard Yard God is found in the
world beyond Harvard Yard when with humility and curiosity we can
listen to one another. Let us all say amen. (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) - Latin salutatorian,
(speaking in foreign language) candidate for the degree
of bachelor of arts, Kabir, Kyle Gandhi. (audience applauding) (audience applauding) - Senior English address,
just off the orange line Candidate for the degree
of Bachelor of Arts, Genesis Noelia de los Santos Fragoso. (audience applauding) - If you take the red line to Park Street, switch onto the orange
line towards Forest Hills past the hustling vendors and the smell of fresh roasted peanuts toasting, and get off at the very last
stop, you'll end up there. No, not Harvard's Arnold Arboretum, but instead the South
Street housing development. Like Harvard, it is a
place filled with dreamers, future changemakers, and aspiring artists; the only difference, opportunity. At the college, Weld Hall, Eliot House, (audience applauding) they aren't too different from the apartment buildings I grew up in. Paint peels off of the walls, (audience laughing) pet cockroaches occasionally
appear in the showers. But, more importantly, loving
community members envelop you with their kindness. Those brick buildings, though
they are rigid and cold on the outside, are home
to a roaring hearth. The people, like my former
neighbor Vecina, Ana, whose smile reveals a
glimpse of the metal cap on her tooth, are family. The first responders when you are in need. On August 3rd 2006, I was eight years old when my mother received a call
that would change everything. My father had suffered a car accident in the Dominican Republic while on his way to visit my grandmother. It was out back by the green dumpsters that my mommy relinquished
every sense of being, falling onto the cold
concrete in disbelief. An immigrant, and alone with
no immediate family here, my mother depended on the South
Street housing development. For an entire year, during the many months of my father's multiple
comae and surgeries, this community fed us,
clothed us, and watched us. It was on the playgrounds
of this concrete jungle that I learned what a home looked like. Every Vecina in our building, at 4 Metcalf Court, lit
a candle for my family. It was the flicker of those red candles that brought my family and me all of the way
here to Harvard Yard. (audience applauding) I remember sitting in Weld on move-in day, looking up at my father. That day was the first time in 30 years of living in the United States, of living in Boston, that he had ever stepped
foot in Harvard Yard. As I sat there, I recalled the day that I, a 12 year old girl, was moving out of her
home at Metcalf Court. When we left those
project buildings behind, my parents did not look back. But today, I do. In that moment, sitting
on the stairs in Weld, I remembered how I would sit
and wait for my school bus as a child in the stairwells
of my apartment building. I thought to myself and realized just how far I had traveled. Though fairly close, Cambridge, let me be more specific, Harvard still feels worlds apart from the courtyards at South Street that gave me my first scars when I fell off of Yamilex's
magenta Barbie stickered bike. These brick buildings, though
their facades may be similar, still swell with the privilege that lies behind their walls, the privilege of opportunity. Here at Harvard, I have
found women similar to Ana, a lot younger, but also
willing to stay up with me as I filled Eliot's D entryway with shrill cries when my mother
was diagnosed with cancer. If the walls in Eliot House, if the walls at 4 Metcalf
Court could speak, they would have enough stories
to fill several novels, testifying to the pain and trauma, but more importantly the love and support that I have
received from my various homes. Harvard is a home, and we all have complicated
relationships with home. But it is a place that has touched us all. And as we leave this home that we have created here as a community, I urge us to think about the opportunities that we have been given. Let us think about the
privileges granted to us as we go through the world
carrying a Harvard diploma. Let us reflect, but more
importantly, be conscious. Conscious of the weight
that our education holds. Conscious of all of those who simply do not have the opportunity. It could rightfully have been someone else in our place, but it was us. Now, what will we do with
what we have gained here? I hope that as we answer this for ourselves, we lead
not with our privilege but instead work with a desire to create
opportunities for others. (audience applauding) - [Diana] The honor of giving an address. - [Dan] That was remarkable. - [Diana] And it was extraordinary. - [Dan] She is getting a standing ovations from the entire theater of graduates. An extraordinary personal testament. - [Diana] yes. - Graduate english address, the least you can do candidate for the degree of
master of public administration Lucila Hanane Takjerad. (audience applauding) - As Harvard graduates, you will be asked to go into the world and
do the most you can do. I am here to ask you to do the least. (audience applauding) I grew up in a small village in Algeria. Every friday, my sister
and I had our weekly shower at the public baths. We didn't have running water at home. On winter nights, we
cuddled against the cold because our heat was cut off. And, on some days, we hid our hunger in order not to worry our parents. When I was seven years old, my country plunged into
a bloody civil war. Every night, I prayed to God that tomorrow, there
would not be an empty seat at our dinner table. On one hot summer day in 1994,
my life was changed forever by a man whom I never met, do
not know, and can never thank. My mother was at the local market when she noticed a chaotic gathering. Wading into the crowd, she learned that the French government was allowing some Algerians
to find refuge from war. All you had to do was
write your name on a list. My mother desperately
wanted to sign that list. That list might promise her
daughters a better future. But there was one problem,
my mother was illiterate. She did not know how to write
her name, Fadila Takjerad. Dejected, she walked away. A man noticed her and ran after her. He got my mother's name and
wrote it down on the list. (audience applauding) A few months later, my
family was fortunate to emigrate to France. I was sad to leave my beloved
homeland, caring neighbors, childhood friends and extended family, but I knew that bright
opportunities awaited me. Had I stayed in my village,
assuming I was spared from bullets or bombs, my life would have been very different. I would not have become the
first woman in my family to graduate from college,
to work and live abroad. I would not have had the
chance to call Harvard my home this past year. As we are graduating today,
I still find myself asking, "Why did this wonderful
man run after my mother?" A simple gesture of writing
a stranger's name on a page offered an entire family
hope for a better life. He will probably never know
the difference he made, but from the small seeds of
his goodness have grown fruits of prosperity for my family, myself, and everyone whom we touch. I now have the ability to shape my world, but this ability was sparked
by one little encounter which lit up the course of my life. So, that is the real power,
the power of little things; the least you can do
can bring true change. Perhaps you have been blessed
in your lives with small gifts that made big changes. Maybe it was a teacher
who instilled in you her love of a certain subject. Or a kind stranger who
helped you with directions when you were lost. At Harvard, I see it every day, in the smiles of the cafeteria staff who keep me so well caffeinated, and in ad hoc babysitting circles. Small things, such small things. But from these small things
grow inspired people, lasting friendships, and
stronger communities. When one person thanks another, that second person often replies, "Oh, it's the least I can do," because often the least you
can do can be more than enough. You don't need to move mountains. Maybe it's a matter of
transLating documents for a family at the immigration office or offering a car ride to a pregnant lady. You never know how these small gestures can affect people's lives. But I can tell you, they do. Fellow graduates, of course,
do the most you can do. Your education and legacy demand it. But also do the least you can do because the least you
can do might turn out to be the most significant. To that gentleman in Algeria, I now say, (speaking in foreign language) Thank you and God bless you. And to each of you today, I ask of you, what is the least you can do now to make the world around
you a little better? (audience applauding) - [Dan] Another remarkable
powerful testimony. - [Diana] We said at the beginning each of these students has story to tell. A back story, and yes, they have. These two English addresses extraordinary - [Dan] I'm absolutely
blown way by the experience. You think about all of
the hopes and dreams of all of parents to come from such an extraordinary
beginning and end up here, what wonderful achievement. All because of one man putting
a name on a peace of paper. ♪ I will wade out ♪ ♪ I will wade out ♪ ♪ I will wade out ♪ ♪ I will wade out ♪ ♪ I will wade out ♪ ♪ Till my thighs are steeped ♪ ♪ in burning flowers ♪ ♪ I will wade out till my thighs ♪ ♪ are steeped in burning flowers ♪ ♪ I will take the sun in my mouth ♪ ♪ And leap into the ripe air alive ♪ ♪ With closed eyes to
dash against darkness ♪ ♪ In the sleeping curves of my body ♪ ♪ Shall enter fingers of smooth mastery ♪ ♪ With chasteness of sea-girls ♪ ♪ Will I complete the
mystery of my flesh ♪ ♪ I will rise ♪ ♪ After a thousand years ♪ ♪ After a thousand years ♪ ♪ Lipping flowers ♪ ♪ Lipping flowers ♪ ♪ And sink my teeth in the silver ♪ ♪ Of the moon. ♪ ♪ I will wade out ♪ ♪ I will wade out ♪ ♪ I will wade out ♪ ♪ Of the moon ♪ - [Diana] Amazing composition,
the words I will wade out by E. E. Cummings graduate of 1916. - These addresses by selected candidates for ordinary degrees being ended, the deans of the several departments will now present to the president and fellows and to the board of overseers, in the favoring presence of
the friends here assembled, the candidates on whom the various academic distinctions are, with due ceremony, to be conferred. The dean of the faculty
of arts and sciences (audience applauding) - Mr. President, and
fellows of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers: in the name of the faculty
of arts and sciences and by its authority, I have the honor to report on four
groups of candidates who will be presented to you today. First, the dean of the graduate school of arts and sciences
will present candidates for the degree of doctor of philosophy, and then the degree of master of arts. Next, the dean of the
school of engineering and applied sciences
will present candidates for the degrees of master of
science and of engineering. Third, the dean of continuing education and university extension
will present candidates for the degrees of associate in arts, bachelor of liberal arts,
and master of liberal arts in extension studies. Finally, near the close
of these exercises, the seniors in Harvard College who are candidates for the first degree in arts or in science will
stand proudly before you. (audience applauding) The candidates in each
of these groups have, by vote of the faculty,
fulfilled the requirements for the degrees for which they
are severally recommended. I salute all of these individuals, trusting that they will forever
wisely enjoy the freedoms that their education has given to them while bearing the responsibilities that their learning demands of them. Each of these groups will
now be introduced to you by the deans responsible for the programs in which they have been enrolled. - Candidates for the degree of doctor of philosophy will rise. (audience applauding) The dean of the graduate
school of arts and sciences. - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of the graduate
school of arts and sciences, I have the honor to present
to you these scholars, all of whom have devoted themselves to the rigorous pursuit of advanced study, have attained high distinction, and have made original contributions to knowledge in their several
fields of scholarship. - By virtue of authority delegated to me, and recognizing your high
academic achievements, I confer on you the degree
of doctor of philosophy, welcome you to the ancient
and universal company of scholars, and entrust
to you the free inquiry of future generations. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - Candidates from the graduate
school of arts and sciences for the degree of master
of arts will rise. The dean of the graduate
school of arts and sciences. - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of the graduate
school of arts and sciences, I have the honor to present
to you these candidates, all of whom have completed
a commendable step of advanced study in their
respective disciplines. - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the
degree of master of arts and certify that you have surmounted with distinction the first
stage of graduate study. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - Candidates from the
school of engineering and applied sciences for the
degrees of master of science and master of engineering will rise. (audience applauding) The dean of the school of
engineering and applied sciences, please rise.
(audience laughing) - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of the school of
engineering and applied sciences, it is my honor to present
these degree candidates who have completed the first
step in their advanced training in engineering and applied sciences. They stand ready to
address societal challenges through foundational science
with translational impact. - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the degree
of master of science or master of engineering, and certify that you have surmounted with distinction the first
stage of graduate study. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - Candidates for the degrees
of associate in arts, bachelor of liberal arts,
and master of liberal arts in extension studies will rise. (audience applauding) The dean of continuing education
and university extension. - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of continuing education
and university extension, I have the honor to present to you these global lifelong learners who through their ability,
curiosity, and drive are candidates for the
degrees of associate in arts, bachelor of liberal arts,
and master of liberal arts in extension studies. And if you'll excuse me going
off script I'd like to say I'm proud of our 40 active duty military and 87 veterans included in this class. (audience applauding) - And so are we. By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the degree
of associate in arts, bachelor of liberal arts,
or master of liberal arts in extension studies, and admit you to the fellowship
of educated individuals. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - [Diana] The graduates
from the engineering school in extension studies. (gentle music) ♪ Give ear my children to my law ♪ ♪ Devout attention lend ♪ ♪ Let the instructions ♪ ♪ Of my mouth ♪ ♪ Deep in your hearts descend ♪ ♪ Let children learn the mighty deeds ♪ ♪ Which God performed of old ♪ ♪ Which in our younger years ♪ ♪ We saw ♪ ♪ And which our fathers told ♪ ♪ Our lips shall tell them ♪ ♪ To our sons ♪ ♪ And they again to theirs ♪ ♪ That generations ♪ ♪ Yet unborn ♪ ♪ May teach them to their heirs ♪ (audience applauding) - The dean of the faculty of medicine. - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, in the name of the faculty of medicine, and by its authority, it's my honor to report today that
two groups of candidates in the fields of medicine and dental medicine have
fulfilled the requirements of the faculty for the degrees for which they are recommended. They will be introduced to
you by the deans responsible for the programs in
which they are enrolled. I wish to give special
thanks to Dr. Bruce Donohoff who will be stepping down
later this year after 28 years of distinguished leadership
of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. (audience applauding) - Candidates for the degrees
of doctor of dental medicine, doctor of medical sciences, and master of medical sciences will rise. (audience applauding) (audience laughing) With appreciation for his devoted service. The dean of the school of dental medicine. - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of the school of dental medicine, I have the pleasure of
introducing these candidates each of whom has devoted four years to the study of dental medicine
or at least three years to postdoctoral studies
aimed at improving health and the quality of life. - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the degree
of doctor of dental medicine, doctor of medical sciences,
or master of medical sciences, and declare that you are
qualified for practice and research in a demanding
branch of medicine. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - Candidates for the degrees
of doctor of medicine and master of medical science will rise. (audience applauding) The dean for medical education. - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean for medical education, I have the honor to present
to you these degree candidates who have dedicated
themselves to the relief of human suffering and
prepared themselves well for a life of learning
and service in medicine. (audience applauding) - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the degree
of doctor of medicine or master of medical science, and declare that as physicians
you are ready to engage in an honorable and merciful calling. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - Candidates for the degree of master of theological studies, master of divinity, master of theology, and doctor of theology will rise. (audience applauding) The dean of the faculty of divinity. (audience applauding) - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of the faculty of divinity, I have the honor to present to you these degree candidates, each of whom has devoted two, three, or more years to religious
and theological studies in preparation for careers as leaders in scholarship
and vocations of service. - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the degree of
master of theological studies, master of divinity, master of theology, or doctor of theology, and declare that you are well
prepared to foster the health and vitality of communities of faith, to further scholarship
in religious studies, and to help in shaping the shared values of the broader society. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - [Diana] David Hempton
you might have noticed is from Belfast, Northern Ireland. And his particular
interest in peace studies. - Candidates for the
degrees of doctor of law, master of laws, and doctor of
juridical science will rise. (audience applauding) - [Diana] 835 or so
graduates of law school. - The dean of the faculty of law. - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of the faculty of law, I have the honor to present
to you these students, each of whom has completed a degree in legal studies towards
the end of advancing justice and promoting the rule of law. (audience applauding) - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the
degree of doctor of law, master of laws, or doctor
of juridical science, and declare that you are
ready to aid in the shaping and application of those wise
restraints that make us free. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - [Diana] Are they waving
gavels, I think so. - Candidates for the degrees of master in business administration (audience applauding) and doctor of business administration will please rise again.
(audience laughing) - [Diana] They're very
near us here in our booth. - [Dan] Harvard Business
School has a lot of spirit and a lot of vocal participants. - [Diana] And most of them
are there for only two years. Then they go out and make a big salary. I think of them in relation to the PhDs who are here for six years. - The dean of the faculty
of business administration. (audience applauding) - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of the faculty of
Harvard Business School, it is my privilege to present to you these degree candidates who have mastered the study
of business administration and prepared themselves to become leaders who will make a difference in the world. (audience applauding) - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the degree of master in business administration or doctor of business administration, and testify that you
are ready to lead people and organizations in enterprises
that will serve society. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - Mr. President with your leave I would also like to give
a shout out to my daughter, Amika Nohria a proud member
of the Harvard class of 2019. (audience applauding) - [Diana] He is mentioning
his own daughter who is graduating today as well. - Candidates for the several
degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and design will rise. With gratitude for his dedicated service, which will conclude in June, the dean of the faculty of design. (audience applauding) - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of the faculty of design, I have the honor to present
to you these students, each of whom has qualified
for a master's degree in architecture, landscape
architecture, urban design, urban planning, or design studies; or a master's degree
in design engineering, conferred in collaboration
with the school of engineering; or for the degree of doctor of design. (audience applauding) - By virtue of the
authority delegated to me, I confer on you the degree
for which you have qualified, and declare your competence to lead in shaping the spaces in which we live. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - [Diana] In shaping the
spaces in which we live. School of design. - Candidates for the several degrees in public health will rise. (audience applauding) The dean of the faculty of public health. (audience applauding) - Mr. President, madam president
fellows of Harvard College, and members of the board of overseers, as dean of the Harvard
School of Public Health, I have the distinct pleasure to present to you these students, each of whom has qualified
for a master's degree or a doctor's degree
to provide leadership, advance knowledge, and
improve the public's health. (audience applauding) - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the
degrees in public health for which your studies have qualified you, and declare that you are
well prepared to generate and utilize knowledge to improve health throughout the world. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - [Diana] 600 students here
and one of them, Shriram was also in my class, and is in Indian Administrative Service in the state of Kerala in south India. - Candidates for the degrees
of doctor of education, (audience applauding) doctor of education leadership, (audience applauding) and master of education will rise. (audience applauding) - [Diana] I think they're
waving children's books or in any case, books, and the dean of the school of education, Bridget Terry Long is relatively new in the school of education. - The dean of the faculty of education. - [Dan] Engaged in the Boston
community, they really do. - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as the proud dean of the
faculty of education, (audience applauding) I have the honor to present
to you these degree candidates who will change the
world through education. (audience applauding) - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the master's or doctor's degree in education, and declare that you are
well prepared to guide and serve the learning needs
of contemporary society. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - [Diana] So interesting
there is an interview in the "Gazette" with three
of the African American deans of the professional schools
that include Claudine Gay, Bridget Long, and Michelle Williams. - Candidates for the degrees of master in public administration, master in public administration in international development, and master in public policy. (audience applauding) - [Dan] The students
are waving their globes. - [Diana] Some 600 of
them, mid-career students who have come from
wherever they're serving in the world for education
for a year, sometimes more. - The dean of the faculty of government. - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of the faculty of government, I have the honor to present to
you these degree candidates, each of whom has qualified
to provide leadership in public service. (audience applauding) - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the degree for which your studies have qualified you, and testify that you are well prepared to serve as public leaders
and improve public policy and administration throughout the world. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - [Dan] Larry Bacow himself is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy school and he's a member of our faculty at the Harvard Business School. I have what they call a
schedule C or adjunct there. And Larry Bacow officially is a member of the Harvard Kennedy School faculty. - [Diana] And you are for science
and the environment there? - Belferson energy and policy. ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ This little light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine ♪ ♪ This little light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine ♪ ♪ This little light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine, ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ My God gave it to me, ♪ ♪ Oh children, I'm gonna let it shine ♪ ♪ Children my God gave it to me ♪ ♪ Lord, I'm gonna let it shine ♪ ♪ My God gave it to me oh children ♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine children ♪ ♪ My God gave it to me ♪ ♪ Lord I'm gonna let it shine ♪ ♪ My God gave it to me oh children ♪ ♪ I'm gonna let it shine ♪ ♪ In my home ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ All over the world ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine, ♪ ♪ Shine shine. ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ (audience applauding) - Candidates for the
degree of bachelor of arts or of science will rise. (audience applauding) Their chosen representatives, together with candidates for
those degrees summa cum laude, will draw near. The dean of Harvard College. - Mr. President, fellows
of Harvard College, madam president and members
of the board of overseers, as dean of Harvard College, I have the honor to present
to you these students, each of whom has fulfilled
the faculty's requirements for the first degree
in arts or in science. Each candidate stands
ready to advance knowledge, to promote understanding,
and to serve society. - By virtue of authority delegated to me, I confer on you the first degree in arts and sciences, and admit you to the fellowship
of educated individuals. Congratulations. (audience applauding) - Larry Bacow will get out of his chair and personally come and
greet the summa cum laudes. This is a nice tradition. - [Diana] It is and the
summas didn't know for sure they were summas until
after the faculty meeting the other day, and then there are the ones who are class officers, and
who are among the leaders of their class by virtue of
being elected as marshals. So these are the ones with the red piping. - [Dan] They're all coming
up to greet Angela Merkel. They all want to shake her hand. And now as they take their seats again, we will see honorary degree recipients. - [Crowd] Divest and
reinvest, divest and reinvest. Divest and reinvest, divest and reinvest. Divest and reinvest, divest and reinvest divest and reinvest, divest and reinvest divest and reinvest, divest and reinvest divest divest divest, reinvest. Divest, divest, divest, reinvest. Divest, divest, divest and reinvest. Divest, divest, divest, and reinvest. - [Dan] Some chanting go on. - [Diana] Yeah, divest you can hear, but whether it's, divest and reinvest. And some of this is for divestiture from the prison industry. - By virtue of authority delegated to me by the two governing boards, I now confer the following
honorary degrees. The provost will introduce the candidates. - When some children can't
fall asleep, they count sheep. Not our first honored guest. As a child, she would lie in bed and mentally calculate the powers of two. Or she'd wonder why, when
you add up the digits in any number divisible by nine, you get another number divisible by nine. Growing up, she also loved
weaving and pottery and sewing. She found joy in making things. So, it's no surprise that
her extraordinary career has combined deep thinking about abstract mathematical concepts with a fascination for making things work. A native of Belgium, she was
a star student in physics. She taught in Brussels and then crossed the Atlantic to work at Bell Labs. She went on to become an eminent professor of mathematics at
Princeton and now at Duke. She is best known for her
pioneering work on wavelets, mathematical functions
that play a crucial role in signal processing
and pattern recognition. While the math is esoteric,
the applications are many. What's the best way to compress and transmit digital images? How can the FBI efficiently store hundreds of millions of fingerprints? How can art historians
distinguish a forgery from the real thing? How can geologists analyze earthquake data to reveal what lies beneath
the earth's surface? These are just a few of the
far-ranging applications of her work. Past president of the
international mathematical union, honored with many of her
field's major awards, she is an adventurous interdisciplinarian intrigued by the many ways mathematics can spur practical insights
that change the world. We honor professor, and
Baroness, Ingrid Daubechies. (audience applauding) - following in Fourier's footsteps, a brilliant mathematician enthralled by how things work; her
wizardry with wavelets showed that manifold utility
is the first derivative of theoretical ingenuity, Ingrid Daubechies, doctor of science. (audience applauding) - Inequality of income and wealth poses one of our society's
foremost challenges. And perhaps no economist has
done more to shed new light on that challenge than our next guest. Born in Spain, he moved from
France to the United States to earn his doctorate in economics at a modest technical
institute two miles east of Harvard Square. (audience laughing) PhD In hand, he traveled
two stops up the red line to join the Harvard faculty and, in 2002, he was lured to Berkeley, where, when he's not indulging
his passion for surfing, he serves as the chancellor's
professor of tax policy and public finance and
director of the center for equitable growth. As one observer put it,
"Nobody has done more "to describe the broad
changes in income distribution "in the United States
that have taken place "during the last 90 years." He also serves as co-director of the world inequality database, a wellspring of historical data on income and wealth distribution around the globe. His powerful work has addressed not only the rise of inequality, but also how to optimize
the design of tax systems, how to encourage retirement savings, and how people behave in
response to changes in policy. Both an imaginative theorist
and a rigorous empiricist whose work sparks domestic and
international policy debates, he has been recognized with
both a MacArthur Fellowship and the American Economic
Association's prestigious John Bates Clark Medal. We honor Emmanuel Saez. (audience applauding) - [Diana] Professor at Berkeley and at Harvard early in
his career, they say. - An economist
extraordinaire whose studies, both theoretical and empirical,
elucidate telling trends and animate crucial debate;
as a scholar of inequality, he has few equals, Emmanuel
Saez, doctor of laws. (audience applauding) - [Diana] The center for
equitable growth at Berkeley, very important aspect of today's world. - On a day we welcome a preeminent
figure in modern Europe, we also honor a preeminent
historian of medieval Europe. One of the foremost experts
on the high middle ages, he has written authoritatively about the French feudal monarchy. About relations between church and state. About serfdom and the path to freedom. About the crusades. About the plight of Jews and Muslims. About the role of women
in the medieval economy. And perhaps most notably, about the causes and consequences of the
great famine of 1315 to 1322, one of the worst catastrophes ever to befall northern Europe. He has done so with striking
erudition, with deep immersion in diverse sources, and in
prose both elegant and engaging. Beyond his core scholarship,
he has written volumes about the middle ages for students of all ages and has
contributed many entries for reference works about
this often misunderstood era in western history. Himself a veritable
encyclopedia of medieval europe, he has accomplished all
this despite having toiled for nearly half a century
at an obscure institution of learning in central New Jersey. (audience laughing) Possibly best known as the
setting for several scenes in the movie "Transformers:
Revenge of the Rallen." (audience laughing) We are pleased to
welcome the past director of the Davis Center
for Historical Studies, the past president of the
Medieval Academy of America, and the Dayton-Stockton
professor of history at Princeton University
William Chester Jordan. (audience applauding) - [Diana] He's escorted by
Daniel Allen right behind him, professor here at Harvard. - Esteemed William of Orange and Black, a magisterial figure in medieval history; surveying the ravages of the great famine, he has laid out a bountiful
feast of erudition, William Chester Jordan, doctor of laws. (audience applauding) - Our next guest is one of the world's most
innovative anthropologists. Born in north Wales, she
grew up in southeast England and enjoyed digging in the
local Roman ruins as a child. She did her undergraduate
and graduate studies in anthropology at the
University of Cambridge. Early in her career, she
set off to do field work in the Melanesian Islands
of Papua New Guinea, north of Australia. She immersed herself in learning to see how people live their lives. Her work led to her pathbreaking book, "The Gender of the Gift," in which she illuminated another culture's
strikingly different views of fundamental concepts such as individual and society, male and female, agency and cause. Beyond her seminal work on
Melanesia over the decades, she has contributed insights
on an array of subjects such as kinship in 20th century England, modern reproductive technologies,
intellectual property, and the nature of interdisciplinarity. Her approach subverts the conventions of Euro-American anthropological thought, reorienting our angle of vision and challenging us to
see different cultures in context from the perspectives of those who live within them. Honorary life president of the Association of Social
Anthropologists in the UK and the former William Wyse Professor and Mistress of Girton College at the University of Cambridge, she was named a dame commander of the British Empire in 2001. We honor Marilyn Strathern. (audience applauding) - Intrigued by seeing how people live, inventive in subverting conceptual norms, an empathic ethnographer
who crafts new lenses on the varieties and
complexities of human experience, Ann Marilyn Strathern, doctor of laws. (audience applauding) - [Diana] I made a point of
trying to meet her yesterday. She has been the mistress as they call it of Girton College at Cambridge and had that kind of faculty
leadership there as well. - Our next guest is a
historian, author, educator, curator, and museum leader. His distinguished career
bespeaks a vital mission, to broaden and deepen the understanding of the African American
experience as a central and integral part of
the American experience. He is the greatly
admired founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. (audience applauding) Which opened on the National Mall, to extraordinary acclaim in 2016. And only this week, just two days ago he was named to become the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, (audience applauding) one of the paramount
institutions of leadership in cultural institutions worldwide. We warmly congratulate him
on his new appointment. To complete his introduction,
with the anthem adopted 100 years ago as the
official song of the NAACP, we welcome to the stage Davone Tines, Harvard college class of 2009. (audience applauding) ♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪ ♪ Till earth and heaven ring, ♪ ♪ Ring with the harmonies of liberty ♪ ♪ Let our rejoicing rise ♪ ♪ High as glistening skies ♪ ♪ Let it resound loud as the rolling sea ♪ ♪ Sing a song ♪ ♪ Full of the faith ♪ ♪ That the dark past has taught us ♪ ♪ Sing a song ♪ ♪ Full of the hope ♪ ♪ That the present has brought us ♪ ♪ Facing the rising sun ♪ ♪ Of our new day begun ♪ ♪ Let us march on till victory is won ♪ ♪ Stony the road we trod ♪ ♪ Bitter the chastening rod ♪ ♪ Felt in the day ♪ ♪ When hope unborn had died ♪ ♪ Yet with a steady beat ♪ ♪ Have not our weary feet ♪ ♪ Come to the place ♪ ♪ For which our fathers sighed ♪ ♪ We have come over a way ♪ ♪ That with tears has been watered ♪ ♪ We have come treading our path ♪ ♪ Through the blood of the slaughtered ♪ ♪ Out from the gloomy past ♪ ♪ Till now we stand at last ♪ ♪ Where the bright gleam ♪ ♪ Of our bright star is cast ♪ ♪ God of our weary years ♪ ♪ God of our silent tears ♪ ♪ Thou who hast brought us thus ♪ ♪ Far on the way ♪ ♪ Thou who hast by thy might ♪ ♪ Led us into the light ♪ ♪ Keep us forever in the path, ♪ ♪ We pray ♪ ♪ Lest our feet stray ♪ ♪ From the places ♪ ♪ Our God, where we met thee ♪ ♪ Lest our hearts drunk ♪ ♪ With the wine of the world ♪ ♪ We forget thee ♪ ♪ Shadowed beneath ♪ ♪ Thy hand ♪ ♪ May we forever stand ♪ ♪ True to our God ♪ ♪ True to our native land ♪ (audience applauding) - [Diana] That was an
incredible performance. That is usually called
The black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." - [Dan] He was here in
Cambridge for the performance of the Black Clown at the
American Repertory Theater. A beautiful ensemble piece, based on Langston Hughes' poem. He was the lead in that, an extraordinary, gifted opera singer,
Harvard class of 2009. - [Diana] This was not in the program, at least not the one that
we had, a wonderful addition here as they're about
to honor Lonnie Bunch. - We welcome and honor Lonnie Bunch. (audience applauding) - Eminent expositor of the
African American experience, fervent in efforts to lift every voice; he attests that for us
to look honestly forward, we must face the stony road of the past. Lonnie G. Bunch III, doctor of laws. (audience applauding) - In the field of Chinese art history, it's been said of our next guest, "There is no one to compare
for his originality, "depth of knowledge, and
breadth of interests." He studied at Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts in what was then the only art history department in China. Amid the cultural revolution,
he worked within the confines of Beijing's Forbidden
City, in the Palace Museum, studying painting,
calligraphy, and carvings from eras long past. "You close the gate," he has said, "And you don't know
which century you're in." He came to the us four
decades ago, pursued his PhD here at Harvard, joined the faculty, and embarked on a career that
has transfigured scholarship on Chinese art. 25 years ago, he moved to
the University of Chicago, where he has served as
distinguished professor, founding director of the Center
for the Art of East Asia, and consulting curator of
the Smart Museum of Art. His vast scholarship reaches
across three millennia of Chinese history. He is not only a preeminent scholar of traditional Chinese art forms but also a leading exponent
of contemporary Chinese art, and a pathbreaking curator, as well. He has shed light not only on
individual works and artists, but on larger themes that
transcend eras and art forms. And he has incisively
explored the interplay of art, ideology, and social change
with attention to everything from ancient Buddhist
caves to Tienanmen Square. Of his many honors, he is proudest of those he has
won for his teaching. We warmly welcome Wu Hung. (audience applauding) - From the caves of Buddhas
to the contemporary art scene, from the painted screen
to the public square, he expertly illumines the
vast sweep of Chinese art and enlarges our vision of visual culture. Wu Hung, doctor of arts. (audience applauding) - You might not guess it, but our next guest is
especially fond of elephants. Each year, winners of the
National Magazine Award are presented with copper statuettes in the image of that majestic mammal. And over the past 21 years,
during his remarkable run as the editor of the "New Yorker," nearly 50 such elephants
have sauntered the way of his publication, one of the
nation's premier magazines. A native of New Jersey, he
studied Dante and Walt Whitman at a small college close to home whose cinematic fame I have already noted. (audience laughing) He then spent a decade as an
enterprising young reporter for the "Washington Post," the last four years as
Moscow correspondent. That experience led to
his book, "Lenin's Tomb," about the waning days
of the Soviet Empire, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize. He joined the "New Yorker"
as a staff writer in 1992 and has since produced
scores of feature pieces. He has a flair for vivid profiles whose subjects have included
numerous figures honored here on this stage, Alexsandr Solzhenitzyn and Al Gore, Vaclav
Havel and Elaine Pagels, Philip Roth and Aretha
Franklin, to name a few. He has also written acclaimed
biographies of Muhammad Ali and Barack Obama. And since 1998, through
tumultuous times in journalism, he has deftly led the "New Yorker," setting the tone and shaping the content of a magazine known for
its in-depth reporting, its commentary, and its
fiction, poetry, and humor. When he was named
editor, a colleague said, "It seldom happens that
the absolute best person "on the face of the earth
for a given position "gets that position." But, as the last 21 years have proved, sometimes that is precisely what happens. We honor David Remnick. (audience applauding) - [Diana] We see him
online almost once a week. - Prolific in profiling
politicians and pugilists, adroit in eliciting his writers' best, intent and indefatigable
in pursuit of truth, a journalist and editor whose
work contains multitudes, David Jay Remnick, doctor of laws. (audience applauding) - We next honor someone who is
no stranger to this platform. From 2001 to 2007, she sat
stage left as the founding dean of our Radcliffe Institute
for Advanced Study. (audience applauding) And for our past 11 commencements, she sat right behind where I now stand, in the famously uncomfortable chair reserved for Harvard's president. (audience laughing) From 2007 through 2018, she led Harvard with wisdom and vision, mettle and grace. She led with a humane
concern for the wellbeing of others here on our campus and in communities near and far. She led with a devotion
to academic excellence in all its forms and a dedication to how Harvard can better serve the world. Her accomplishments are
many, opening doors, creating opportunity, launching programs, embracing innovation,
envisioning common spaces, navigating financial challenges, raising new resources,
championing academic values, catalyzing novel connections
among Harvard's many parts. Challenging us to learn from the past and, in her phrase, to
seize an impatient future. If the measure of a leader is whether she has left her
enterprise stronger and better, she has succeeded beyond measure. And she has done so with
humility and humanity, with an historian's understanding of how to cultivate change,
and with a bedrock commitment to how higher education
can inspire discovery, drive progress, and
improve people's lives. She likes to speak of her
parking space theory of life, the idea that you shouldn't
settle for a space blocks away from where you're going; you should drive first
to where you want to be. This university, and all
of us who care for it, could not be more fortunate that she chose to park
her car in Harvard Yard. (audience laughing) (audience applauding) It is my privilege and
my personal pleasure to introduce a treasured
colleague, mentor, and friend, Harvard's 28th president and now the Arthur Kingsley
Porter University Professor, Drew Gilpin Faust. (audience applauding) - [Diana] And, again, the
whole Tercentenary Theatre rises to its feet. - [Dan] Honoring their former president. - [Diana] Thank you, she says. The thing that I think impressed so many was also her prize-winning book
"The Republic of Suffering" about the Civil War and
one hopes that she has time and sort of leisure over these next years to write another such book. - A luminous leader of
this republic of learning, an opener of doors ever
true to high ideals, a scholar of the past with
a will to seize the future; out of many Harvards, she drew one, Drew Gilpin
Faust, doctor of laws. (audience applauding) - She was born in Hamburg,
the daughter of a pastor and a teacher. She grew up in East Germany, in the days of the Communist regime. She was a star student in
Russian and mathematics, and went on to study physics. In time, she earned a
PhD in quantum chemistry and worked as a research
scientist in East Berlin. Then, in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, and she embraced what was to become her life's paramount purpose, the pursuit and practice
of democratic governance. (audience applauding) In December 1990, she won a
seat in Germany's Parliament, and her ascendancy in politics began. Minister for women and youth.
minister for the environment and nature conservation,
Secretary-General. And then, leader of a
major political party, the Christian Democratic Union. In 2005, she was elected to her first term as chancellor of Germany. (audience applauding) As chancellor she was
the first East German to hold that office. (audience applauding) She has gone on to become
the longest serving head of government in the European Union and one of world's most
respected and influential leaders in the post Cold War era. (audience applauding) Through often turbulent times, she has been a steadfast force for reason, for international cooperation,
for human dignity, for common values, and
for democratic ideals. (audience applauding) She has guided not only
Germany but Europe, charting the course of her
nation and her continent through the headwinds and cross-currents of a changing world. We welcome and we honor the
four-term chancellor of Germany, her excellency, Angela Merkel. (audience applauding) - [Diana] An anticipated
move in which people here are generally proud this woman who is in a sense the de facto
leader of the European Union. - [Dan] She speaks this afternoon, and it may be as momentous as
that Marshall speech in 1947. - [Diana] May it be. I remember the photograph of
her leaning across the table to address Donald Trump
who was sitting down with his arms crossed, I think
this was at the G7 Summit. She had some words. - Quantum chemist turned
stalwart statesperson, resolute in devotion to democratic values; a wall came down and she rose up, leading her nation with strength and savvy and guiding Europe through challenge and change, Angela Dorothea Merkel, doctor of laws. (audience applauding) - [Diana] They said it was a year after the Berlin Wall came down that she was first elected
to the parliament in Germany. (audience applauding) - In the name of this society of scholars, I declare that these persons
are entitled to the rights and privileges pertaining
to their several degrees, and that their names
are to be forever borne on its roll of honorary members. - Degree candidates and their guests and all alumni are warmly invited to attend the afternoon session of commencement day exercises under the direction of the
Harvard Alumni Association. The alumni procession
will begin at 1:45 p.m., and the exercises will begin at 2:30 p.m. The commencement speakers will
be chancellor Angela Merkel and the president of Harvard University. The commencement choir
director will lead us in the singing of the commencement hymn. Following the hymn, the Pusey Minister will pronounce the benediction. The commencement exercises
then being ended, the Sheriff of Middlesex County will declare the meeting adjourned. The audience is requested to remain seated until the president and
fellows and their guests have withdrawn from the platform. (gentle music) (singing in foreign language) - God of our weary ears,
God of our silent tears, now through this process long await. Lord, we ask today that you would free us. We ask that you would free us of all fear about the future and
timidity about tomorrow, free us, oh God. Free us of bigotry and
bitterness toward others. And an inflated sense
of ourselves, free us. Free us from cowardice
in the face of danger, laziness in the face of work, and anxiety in the face
of new opportunity. Free us. But once you free us, Lord, we also ask that you would fill us. Fill us with love that knows no borders or boundaries, fill us with sympathy for all. Fill us with compassion that spreads wide and kindness that cannot be curtailed. Fill us with faith to
lead us through darkness. And hope that will guide
us through despair. For once you free us, and
once you fill us, Lord, we just ask that you would use us. Use us to help heal the
many republics of suffering across our globe. This is our prayer. This is our humble plea. Amen. - [Dan] His final few weeks here as Pusey Minister here at Harvard. Going off to lead another institution. - [Diana] He's going
off to become the dean of Wake Forest Divinity
School in North Carolina. (crowd cheering) - [Dan] The Sheriff of Middlesex County. - As the high Sheriff of Middlesex County, I declare that the
meeting will be adjourned! (audience applauding) (bells ringing)
- [Dan] Now the bells ring. - [Diana] There are
bells all over Cambridge beginning to ring now, every belfry in Cambridge pledged to ring for the next few minutes including the great bells of Lowell House, the Russian bells, they've been
silent for almost two years and they're ringing today. - [Dan] And now the honored
guests will process out of the theater, through
the undergraduates. And you see a mad dash
of students and parents all leaving this theater. You see the extraordinary
sense now of accomplishment. There will be ceremonies in the individual professional schools and at the houses where students will get
their degrees individually but officially it's all done. The degrees have been
conferred, it is finished. - [Diana] It is and the
wonderful feasts that follow, the picnics and spreads across the houses and the schools, the kind of celebration of what has happened and the future of all of these students. I think of the inscription
over Dexter Gates they all take along,
enter the growing wisdom and from the inside going out depart to better serve your
country and your kind. And that sense of service
that is sort of built into the gates of the university I think very, very profound. Now this party is heading up
the steps of Widener Library. As I think is that what we're seeing? - [Dan] THat's what we're seeing. So there is a spread
of the chief marshals, I will be attending that in a few minutes and that is a luncheon in Widener library. - [Diana] Widener library. - It's a wonderful place of
course you never get to go. - [Diana] I never get to go because I go back to Lowell House. - [Dan] You have a more
important job there but perhaps next year you will come to the
marshal's spread with me. - [Diana] That would be great. Well Dorothy and I need to run before very long because our
rickshaw is waiting for us near John Harvard to help us lead the Lowell
procession back to Lowell House, back to the new Lowell House. (joyful music) - [Dan] Michele Williams, Claudine Gay. - [Diana] Claudine Gay,
Alan Brandt, wonderful. And the former dean of the graduate school of arts and sciences. - [Dan] It's wonderful to
see him back on his feet. - [Diana] So here go the
deans, and the honorees. - [Dan] And the various
honorary degree recipients, Janet Brown, a wonderful
historian expert on Darwin. Danielle Allen, who runs the center. - [Diana] It's amazing
how everyone gets in here in an orderly way and utterly chaotic how it is that people end up
leaving after these ceremonies but you can see that we
have a sort of cordon of hands up the central aisle. - [Dan] I think with a
certain amount of patience and good humor, everyone will
get where you're trying to go. It's a wonderful glow on the entire crowd, great sense of achievement and again I think we
should end where we began which is the sense of
optimism, the sense of future. These students are leaving
today with a new Harvard degree but also with a mission. A mission to go out and really try to make the world a better
place and you know what? They will. - [Diana] I think they will! - [Dan] It's really wonderful
to be here with you, Diana. - [Diana] Wonderful to be
here with you, Dan, wonderful. - [Dan] It's a great time to celebrate this incredible institution. - [Diana] It is, so you
take care of the environment and I will try to take care
of the religious pluralism and the cultural pluralism of our society and the rest of the world
and we will reconvene. - [Dan] There are grand challenges. - [Diana] Grand challenges, yes! - [Dan] Now it's time
to go out and face them. - [Diana] Absolutely. - [Dan] As we celebrate commencement. - [Diana] Happy
commencement to one and all! (joyful music) (crowd cheering) ♪ Then hit the line for Harvard ♪ ♪ For Harvard wins today ♪ ♪ We show the sons of Eli ♪ ♪ That the crimson still holds sway ♪ ♪ Sweep down the field again ♪ ♪ Victory or die ♪ ♪ And we'll give the
grand old cheer boys ♪ ♪ When the Harvard team goes by ♪ (crowd cheering)
