Organizers said Thursday’s event was the largest Senior Breakfast ever, with students seated on three floors of the George Sherman Union.

Commencement 2024

Killers of the Flower Moon Author, and BU Alum, David Grann Will Be BU’s 151st Commencement Speaker

Class of 2024 celebrated at largest-ever Senior Breakfast

Best-selling author David Grann (GRS’94), whose book Killers of the Flower Moon was recently made into an Oscar-nominated thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, will deliver the main address at Boston University’s 151st Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 19. 

The news was announced at Thursday morning’s annual Senior Breakfast in the George Sherman Union, which was attended by an estimated 2,500 students. University President ad interim Kenneth Freeman—assisted by a special celebrity guest—revealed this year’s honorary degree recipients at the breakfast, which is considered the official kickoff event of the 2024 Commencement ceremonies.

Organizers said Thursday’s event was the largest Senior Breakfast ever, and a far cry from how the graduating seniors started their BU careers in August 2020. At that time, the world was just five months into the COVID-19 pandemic, and the new Terriers spent their freshman year taking classes remotely or in person, but with strict masking and social distancing protocols in place. Senior Breakfast was most likely the largest gathering of the Class of 2024 ever, as their orientation had been via Zoom. 

When it came time to announce the Commencement speaker, Freeman pointed up to the screen, where Killers of the Flower Moon and The Godfather star Robert De Niro read off Grann’s name, describing him as “one of the great storytellers of our time.”

“A natural storyteller, David has a sixth sense for sniffing out a great story and a master’s touch for telling it,” the two-time Oscar-winning actor said. “With the blood of Terriers running through his veins, you’re lucky to have him as your Commencement speaker. Congratulations.”

(Read Bostonia’s recent interview with Grann about his new nonfiction book The Wager: a Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder, here.)

Grann will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the Commencement ceremony. Freeman also announced the other honorary degree recipients: Rev. Walter Earl Fluker (GRS’88, STH’88), BU’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Ethical Leadership (honorary Doctor of Laws); Claudia Goldin, a Harvard professor and 2023 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (honorary Doctor of Laws); and Kenneth Feld (Questrom’70), former trustee and chair of the Board of Trustees and chair and chief executive officer of Feld Entertainment (honorary Doctor of Humane Letters). Fluker will deliver the Baccalaureate address at Marsh Chapel on Commencement morning.

Event emcee Jason Campbell-Foster, dean of students, kicked off the event, and Rev. Robert Allan Hill, dean of Marsh Chapel, delivered an invocation before seniors dug into a meal of fresh seasonal fruit, pastries, and roasted grape tomato and mozzarella strata. On the big screen were screengrabs of their freshman-year selves from their Zoom orientation. 

The morning featured live music and performances by the BU Jazz Combo, the Treblemakers, and the 30-foot-tall John R. Silber Symphonic Organ. One of the most popular parts of the breakfast was a visit from Bean, BU’s new golden retriever comfort dog, who enthusiastically greeted the seniors at their tables (no word if someone slipped her a sausage under the table). 

Class Gift committee members Amanda Brown (COM’24), Sage Winkler (CAS’24), and Yadira Cabrera (COM’24) then announced that the Class Gift—which supports programs like scholarships, student life, and athletics—has already raised more than $50,000; they encouraged their classmates to keep donating. 

Campbell-Foster returned to the stage to give a brief rundown of Commencement dos and don’ts (small purses only, pointy heels are not Nickerson Field turf–friendly, and a prompt 12:15 pm arrival, please), the Senior Week lineup, and the news that Michael Arellano (CAS’24) will be the Commencement student speaker.

Arellano was chosen through an annual process where a committee of faculty and staff appointed by the BU president selects a Commencement speaker from graduating seniors who offer to tell the story about how their time at BU shaped and inspired their lives. This year’s committee received 50 applications and the top five finalists were invited to deliver their speech in person to the committee, which selected Arellano based on their presentation about resilience and bonds between friends. 

Campbell-Foster then introduced and thanked Freeman for serving as president ad interim this year. BU’s new president, Melissa L. Gilliam, starts in July.

Freeman walked to the stage to the “I’m Just Ken” song from the Barbie soundtrack. “There’s always something to worry about, and the worry is usually justified, but at the same time, there are always things to be hopeful about and excited about, too,” Freeman said. “I’m optimistic about the future because of you… You, the Class of 2024, are imaginative, hardworking, kind, serious, and courageous. And you leave BU prepared to make a big difference in the world.” 

The honorary degree recipients were then announced.

New Yorker staff writer and best-selling author David Grann has written some of the most popular nonfiction books of recent years, among them The Lost City of Z, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, and most recently, The Wager: a Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder, which is being adapted for the screen by Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese and will star Leonardo DiCaprio. Grann is a winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best true crime book and a finalist for the National Book Award and the Samuel Johnson Prize. His stories have appeared in publications such as The Best American Crime Writing, the New York Times Magazine, and The Atlantic. He graduated in 1994 with an MFA from BU’s Creative Writing Program. 

Former School of Theology Professor Walter Earl Fluker (GRS’88, STH’88) is a well-known scholar of theory and ethical leaders, among them Martin Luther King, Jr. (GRS’55, Hon.’59) and Howard Thurman (Hon.’67), Marsh Chapel’s dean from 1953 to 1965, the first Black dean at a mostly white American university. Claudia Goldin, the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard, is the former director of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Development of the American Economy Program; her research covers the female labor force. Kenneth Feld (Questrom’70) is chair and chief executive officer of Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Monster Jam, Disney Live! and Disney On Ice, a BU trustee for 24 years, and chair of the board for 6 years.

During Senior Breakfast, Freeman also announced the recipients of the University’s highest teaching honors, the Metcalf Cup and Prize and Metcalf Awards for Excellence in Teaching. The top honor, the Cup and Prize, will be awarded to Yuri Corrigan, a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of Russian and comparative literature. The Metcalf Award winners are Veronika Wirtz, a School of Public Health professor of global health, and Alexis Peri, a CAS associate professor of history. All three will be honored during the 2024 Commencement ceremony.

Find more information about Commencement here.