
Congratulations to everyone graduating this month! As NYU's commencement was today, with speaker jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, we decided to list the many NYC commencement speakers, with help from The Chronicle of Higher Education (if we've missed any or gotten it wrong, let us know in comments):
Barnard College: Anna Deveare Smith, playwright-actress
CUNY Lehman College: Representative Charles Rangel
CUNY Brooklyn College: Roberta S. Matthews, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Brooklyn College
CUNY Queens College: Susan Isaacs, novelists
College of Staten Island: Mayor Bloomberg
John Jay College of Criminal Justice: Taylor Branch, historian; Deborah E. Lipstadt, professor at Emory University; Richard Delgado, legal scholar; Paul Farmer, medical anthropologist
Medgar Evers College: Judge Theodore T. Jones, Jr.
The William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY: Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, N.J.
Baruch College: William Macaulay, chairman and CEO of First Reserve Corporation
Borough of Manhattan Community College: Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer
Hunter College: Jeff Greenfield, CBS political correspondent
Bronx Community College: Dr. Richard Carmona, former U.S. Surgeon
York College: Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. Surgeon
NYC College of Technology: State Senator Eric Adams
Yeshiva University: Tim Russert, NBC Washington Bureau Chief
Fordham University: Willie Randolph, Mets manager
Manhattan College: Jan Crawford Greenburg, ABC News Legal correspondent
Juilliard School: Audra McDonald, actress
New School: Shirin Ebadi, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Price recipient
School of Visual Arts: Nicholas Kristof, NY Times columnist
Pace University: Eugene M. Lang, philanthropist; City Comptroller William Thompson; Jean Fagan Yellin, professor
Pratt Institute: Vito Acconci, architect and installation artist
Cooper Union: E. Stanley O'Neal, Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch
And we know the Columbia College has Matthew Fox speaking for its Class Day; as for the university-wide event, there's no one speaker, but Columbia is giving honorary degrees to a number of people, including financier Felix Rohatyn and architect Santiago Calatrava.
Photograph of NYU's Graduation Alley by New York Daily Photo




Its nice to know that Gothamist covers Universities other than NYU and Columbia.
I'm sorry but this year's commencement speakers suck.
Jeff Greenfield WAS a CNN Correspondent. He is now a CBS News Correspondent.
i think it's worth noting that Marsalis didn't speak - he played! it was quite magical, but i'm probably biased (i'm a proud member of the class of 2007, SCPS grad :-)). the webcast is on the nyu website, i believe.
#2, thanks for pointing that out. And congratulations, Emily!
If I wasn't a gay man or a woman then I'd feel so gypped that the guy from party of five was the speaker at my commencement. Honestly, the only cool speaker is Tim Russert and he's speaking with the jews.
Bard College just upstate has Mike Bloomberg...don't forget about us.
As a graduating Columbia student, I'm very disappointed with our speakers. Wish we could've gotten Bloomberg instead. You'd think our schools would have connections to better speakers for such an important event.
CUNY Law isn't on your list...
Bard may be a great school but it's not "just upstate", it's over 2 hours away in northern Dutchess. If all the schools within a 2 hour radius of NYC were added to this list it would be kind of silly.
Pratt could use a little recognition...
Pratt could use a little recognition...
St. John's is having George Stephanopolous speak at their Queens campus, and VA Sec'y Jim Nicholson speak at their Staten Island campus.
(and what's the deal with SVA having a print guy speak?)
Good luck in the workforce, graduates! Don't forget to ask if people want their value meals supersized.
Hey, don't forget the Columbia SEAS (engineering) class day! Santiago Calatrava Valls is the speaker.
You omitted that the speaker for the New School, Shirin Ebabdi, is, besides a "human rights activist", a Nobel Peace Price recipient. You don't have one of those everyday at your commencement.
College of Staten island definitely has the best speaker out of these :-)
What about cooper union? Who's speaking there?
how could you forget Cooper union!!?!
Thanks for all your suggestions - keep 'em coming.
people at columbia should stop complaining about matthew fox... at least they get someone a little more attention-grabbing than "Provost and VP Of Academic Affairs."
ughhhh
Sarah Lawrence College (up in Yonkers)
Alice Greenwald-Director of the WTC Memorial and Museum