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====== Commencement Speakers ======
[{{::hanna_gray_commencement_1978.jpeg?200 |Dr. Hanna Gray, first female commencement speaker, 1978. Photo credit: Trinity Reporter}}]
Over its long history, Trinity College’s [[commencement| commencement ]] ceremonies have been highlighted by powerful speeches from a diverse array of speakers, each bringing unique perspectives and life experiences to the podium. Whether alumni, renowned educators, or distinguished figures from Connecticut’s public and civic life and beyond, these speakers have imparted words of resilience, leadership, and social responsibility, acting as shining examples for the graduating classes.

Since 1918, the tradition of a single commencement speaker has been a hallmark of the ceremony, with the designated speaker receiving an [[honorary_degrees|honorary degree]] from the College. Prior to this change, there was not a singular speaker; instead, multiple addresses were delivered by members of the graduating class. While the single-speaker format has remained largely consistent, there have been a few exceptions. For example, the 1923 ceremony featured four speakers in celebration of the College's centennial, and in 1921, two speakers addressed the audience due to the honored visit of the Italian ambassador to the United States. Additionally, there was a brief hiatus from 1971 to 1976, during which no speakers were featured, presumably in an effort to shorten the ceremony. The following list details all commencement speakers from 1918 to the present:

{Degree abbreviations: DD – Doctor of Divinity; LHD – Doctor of Humane Letters; DHum – Doctor of Humanities; LittD – Doctor of Letters; LLD – Doctor of Laws; ScD – Doctor of Science; DFA – Doctor of Fine Arts; DM – Doctor of Music; DST – Doctor of Sacred Theology; DPH – Doctor of Public Health; JCD – Doctor of Canon Law; MA – Master of Arts; MFA – Master of Fine Arts; MLitt – Master of Letters; MM – Master of Music; MS - Master of Science; BA – Bachelor of Arts; BM – Bachelor of Music; BS – Bachelor of Science}


  * 2024 - Danny Meyer, Class of 1980, LHD, Leader, author, humanitarian, founder of Union Square Hospitality Group
  * 2023 - Nicole Hockley, Class of 1992, LHD, Advocate for gun violence prevention, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise
  * 2022 - Raja Changez Sultan, Class of 1972, DFA, Painter, poet, journalist
  * 2021 - Jeffrey A. Flaks, LHD, President and CEO, Hartford HealthCare
  * 2020 - Will McCormack, Class of 1996, executive producer, director, screenwriter, and actor (The delayed commencement ceremony was held in June 2022.) 
  * 2019 - Samuel H. Kennedy, Class of 1995, LHD, President and CEO of Boston Red Sox
  * 2018 - Johnnetta Betsch Cole, president of Spelman College
  * 2017 - Daniel C. Dennett, LHD, Philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist
  * 2016 - William K. Marimow, Class of 1969, LittD, Journalist, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
  * 2015 - James Morris Lawson Jr., DD, Preacher, nonviolent strategist, activist and university professor
  * 2014 - Katherine A. Couric, LittD, Award-winning journalist, presenter, producer, and author
  * 2013 - Bridget Mary McCormack, Class of 1988, LLD, Lawyer, professor, Michigan Supreme Court judge
  * 2012 - Anne Fadiman, LittD, Journalist, editor, Yale University's first Francis Writer in Residence
  * 2011 - Patrick Joseph Wilson, DFA, Stage and film actor, director, singer
  * 2010 - John Clifton Bogle, LHD, Investor, philanthropist, founder of The Vanguard Group
  * 2009 - Joanna Jeanne Scott, Class of 1982, LittD, Novelist and essayist, educator
  * 2008 - [[jones_james_f._jr|James F. Jones]], 21st President, Trinity College
  * 2007 - Tom Wolfe, LittD, Best-selling author and journalist
  * 2006 - John Heron Biggs, LHD, Former Chairman, President and CEO of TIAA-CREF
  * 2005 - Henry Kaufman, LHD, Economist, philanthropist
  * 2004 - Ruth K. Westheimer, LittD, Social scientific expert on human sexuality, lecturer, and author
  * 2003 - Garry B. Trudeau, LittD, Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist and political commentator
  * 2002 - John G. Rowland, LLD, Statesman, Governor of Connecticut
  * 2001 - Joseph I. Lieberman, LLD, Legislator, candidate for U.S. Vice President, U.S. Senator from Connecticut
  * 2000 - Richard C. Holbrooke, LLD, U.S. ambassador to United Nations, diplomat
  * 1999 - Lorraine Monroe, LHD, Educator, author, founding principal of the Frederick Douglass Academy, Harlem
  * 1998 - Jimmy Carter, LHD, 39th President of the United States, professor at Emory University, chairman of the Carter Center
  * 1997 - Myrlie Evers-Williams, LHD, Chairman of the National Board of Directors, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
  * 1996 - Strobe Talbott, LLD, Deputy U .S. Secretary of State, Russian scholar and author
  * 1995 - Barbara B. Kennelly, M'71, LLD, U.S. Representative for Connecticut, alumni volunteer
  * 1994 - Madeleine May Kunin, LLD, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education
  * 1993 - Mary D. Fisher, LHD, AIDS activist, artist, author
  * 1992 - Brendan Kennelly, LittD, Poet, dramatist and professor, Trinity College, Dublin
  * 1991 - Charles Osgood, LHD, Broadcast journalist, columnist
  * 1990 - Gwendolyn Brooks, LittD, Poet
  * 1989 - [[english_james_fairfield_jr|James Fairfield English Jr.]], 16th President, Trinity College
  * 1988 - Andrew Aitken Rooney, LittD, Writer-producer, news correspondent, CBS News
  * 1987 - Ellen Ash Peters, LLD, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Connecticut
  * 1986 - Christopher John Dodd, LLD, U.S. Senator from Connecticut
  * 1985 - Ellen Goodman, LittD, Columnist and author
  * 1984 - Brendan Gill, LittD, Theatre critic, The New Yorker
  * 1983 - Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, LittD, Broadcast journalist
  * 1982 - Gerald Holton, LittD, Professor of physics and history of science, Harvard University
  * 1981 -Juanita Morris Kreps, LLD, Educator, economist, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce
  * 1980 - Lewis Thomas, M.D., LittD, President, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
  * 1979 - George Frederick Will, Class of 1962, LHD, Syndicated columnist and television commentator
  * 1978 - *Hanna Holborn Gray, LittD, Provost (Acting President) of Yale University, President-Designate of University of Chicago [*First female commencement speaker]
  * 1977 - Harry Reasoner, LLD, ABC news correspondent
  * 1976 - NO COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
  * 1975 - NO COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
  * 1974 - NO COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
  * 1973 - NO COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
  * 1972 - NO COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
  * 1971 - NO COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
  * 1970 - John Morton Blum, PhD, historian, author, and educator
  * 1969 - William Bertalan Walsh, LLD, President and founder, Project HOPE
  * 1968 - [[jacobs_albert_c|Albert Charles Jacobs]], LittD, 14th President, Trinity College
  * 1967 - Charles Harting Percy, LLD, U.S. Senator from Illinois, Chairman of the Ford Foundation Fund
  * 1966 - Cyrus Roberts Vance, LLD, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense
  * 1965 - Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, ScD, Aeronautical scientist, aircraft inventor and designer
  * 1964 - Whitney North Seymour, LLD, President of the American Association of Trial Lawyers
  * 1963 - Glenn Theodore Seaborg, ScD, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission
  * 1962 - [[funston_g._keith|George Keith Funston]], Class of 1932, LLD, President, New York Stock Exchange, 13th President, Trinity College
  * 1961 - Howard Archibald Rusk, ScD, Founder of the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine
  * 1960 - Leonard Carmichael, ScD, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, former president, Tufts University
  * 1959 - Alfred Maximilian Gruenther, LLD, President, American National Red Cross
  * 1958 - John Ray Dunning, ScD, Dean of Engineering, Columbia University
  * 1957 - Albert Charles Jacobs, LLD, 14th President, Trinity College
  * 1956 - Maxwell Davenport Taylor, LLD, U.S. Chief of Staff of the Army
  * 1955 - Frank Diehl Fackenthal, LLD, Acting President, Columbia University, past president, Brookhaven National Laboratory
  * 1954 - Albert Charles Jacobs, LLD, 14th President, Trinity College
  * 1953 - Irving Sands Olds, LLD, Retired chairman of the board, United States Steel Corp.
  * 1952 - Lucius Dubignon Clay, LLD, Former commander-in chief, U.S. forces in Europe
  * 1951 - John Davis Lodge, LLD, Governor of Connecticut
  * 1950 - Harold Edward Stassen, LHD, President, The University of Pennsylvania, former Governor of Minnesota
  * 1949 - John McKenney Mitchell, Class of 1918, ScD, Dean, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
  * 1948 - Allan Nevins, LittD, Pulitzer Prize winning historian, Columbia University
  * 1947 - Everette Lee DeGolyer, LLD, Oil company executive, petroleum exploration geophysicist, philanthropist
  * 1946 - Vannevar Bush, ScD, President, Carnegie Institute of Washington
  * 1945 - Stanley Hart Osborn, DPH, Commissioner of Public Health of the State of Connecticut
         -Randall Jacobs, LLD, Vice Admiral, Chief of the Bureau of Navy Personnel
  * 1944 - James Fairfield English, Class of 1916, DD, Trustee, Hartford Seminary Foundation, Supt. of the Connecticut Conf. of Congregational Christian Churches
  * 1943 - Robert Cutler, LLD, Procurement Officer, U.S. Army, Chairman of the National Community Chests and Councils
  * 1942 - Michael Edward Coleman, DD, All Hallows Church, London
  * 1941 - Bernard Rosecrans Hubbard, ScD, Jesuit priest, American geologist and explorer
  * 1940 - [[ogilby_remsen_brinckerhoff|Remsen Brinckerhoff Ogilby]], 12th President, Trinity College, Episcopal priest, and educator
  * 1939 - Willard Cole Rappleye, ScD, Dean, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
  * 1938 - Gustav Anolph Kleene, PhD, professor of economics
  * 1937 - Wilbur Marshall Urban, LittD, Professor of philosophy, Yale University
  * 1936 - Henry Knox Sherrill, DD, Bishop of Massachusetts
  * 1935 - Samuel Eliot Morison, LittD, Professor of history, Harvard University
  * 1934 - Theodore Leslie Shear, LittD, Archeologist, professor, Princeton University
  * 1933 - Remsen Brinckerhoff Ogilby, 12th President, Trinity College, Episcopal priest, and educator
  * 1932 - Kenneth Ballard Murdock, LittD, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
  * 1931 - Remsen Brinckerhoff Ogilby, 12th President, Trinity College, Episcopal priest, and educator
  * 1930 - Andrew Keogh, LittD, Librarian, Yale University
  * 1929 - Charles McLean Andrews, LHD, Farnam Professor of American History, Yale University
  * 1928 - George Daniel Olds, LLD, President emeritus, Amherst College
  * 1927 - Marshall Bowyer Stewart, Class of 1902, DD, Professor, Nashotah Theological Seminary, Nashotah, WI
  * 1926 - Robert Ernest Vinson, LLD, President of Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
  * 1925 - William Lawrence, DD, Former Bishop of Massachusetts
  * 1924 - Winchell Smith, LittD, American playwright
  * 1923 - Lawson Purdy, Class of 1884, LLD, General Director of the Charity Organization Society, former president of the New York City Department of Taxes and Assessments, and tax reform advocate
        -James Rowland Angell, LLD, president of Yale University, psychologist, and educator 
        -Charles Harold Herford, LittD, Professor of English literature, University of Manchester, Manchester, England
        -Charles Henry Brent, DD, LLD, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York
  * 1922 - Charles Seymour, LLD, Professor of international law, Yale University
  * 1921 - Magnus Wilhelm Alexander, MS, Consulting engineer, General Electric Co.
        -Vittorio Rolandi Ricci, LLD, Italian Ambassador to the United States
  * 1920 - John Marshall Holcombe, LLD, President of the Phoenix Mutual Life insurance Co.
  * 1919 - Elbert Henry Gary, LLD, President, United States Steel Corp
  * 1918 - George Wharton Pepper, JCD, Prominent Philadelphia lawyer, law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
        -Theodore Roosevelt, ScD, 26th President of the United States delivered an [[theodore_roosevelt_speech|address]] the day before Commencement 1918


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===== Sources =====

[[https://www.jstor.org/site/trinity/trinitycollegepublications/commencementprograms-36739208/?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Ftrinity%2Ftrinitycollegepublications%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc%26searchkey%3D1729699573643%26doi%3D10.2307%252Fcontainer.36739208&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ade01fb1dca958c79280b898890bdcb75&searchkey=1729699573643&so=item_title_str_asc|Trinity College Commencement Programs]]

[[https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.31604927|Trinity Reporter]], Summer 1978.
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