Category: Commencement
Boston University’s 151st Commencement
After a morning marked by a cold drizzle, the rain abated as approximately 3,700 members of the Class of 2024 marched onto Nickerson Field for Boston University’s 151st Commencement, where they were cheered by an estimated 20,000 family members and friends.
BU alum David Grann, the best-selling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, delivered the Commencement address. In his speech, Grann (GRS’94) recounted with humor and self-deprecation, his reporting for a New Yorker magazine story about the efforts by a giant squid hunter to capture one of the ocean’s most elusive creatures. Prior to his remarks, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
Other honorary degree recipients were Rev. Walter E. Fluker, Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Ethical Leadership at BU and the current Distinguished Professor of the Howard Thurman Center at Hartford International University for Religion & Peace, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws; Claudia Goldin, Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University and winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in economics, who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws; and trustee emeritus Kenneth Feld (Questrom’70), former trustee and chair of Boston University’s Board of Trustees and chair and CEO of Feld Entertainment, who received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
From Masks to Mortarboards: Class of 2024 on Four Unique Years
When the Boston University Class of 2024 began their college journey nearly four years ago, no one knew what to expect. The nation, and the world, was still in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to the BU community just weeks before their arrival, Robert A. Brown, then BU president, wrote: “Life on campus will not look or be the same as it was last fall.”
What the freshmen encountered was a world of mandatory mask-wearing and testing, strict social distancing, and a hybrid learning model, known as Learn from Anywhere, that provided in-person and remote learning options. Even in the dining halls, it was grab and go. Students struggled with the isolation imposed by all the restrictions. The challenges were especially daunting for these freshmen, who had to grapple with how to make friends and launch their college careers under extraordinary conditions.
Yet, amid all the uncertainty, the Class of 2024 demonstrated remarkable resilience, quickly embracing online platforms for social interaction and discovering innovative ways to stay connected with one another.
In May 2024, as they prepared to graduate from BU, the Class of 2024 looked forward to a celebratory Commencement—something most of them had to forego as high school seniors. As they gathered with family and friends on Nickerson Field, they carried with them lessons learned, friendships forged, and the fighting spirit that has marked their four years here.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav Tells Graduates to Pursue Their Passion
“Show up.” Those two words are the most important advice for success, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and President David Zaslav (LAW’85) told Boston University graduates and guests at Sunday’s 150th Commencement. The ceremony turned occasionally raucous, with protests inside and outside Nickerson Field, in support of the ongoing writers strike in Hollywood and condemning the choice of Zaslav as the University’s speaker because of his role in the contract negotiations.
CFA’s Karin Hendricks to Receive the 2023 Metcalf Cup and Prize
A College of Fine Arts associate professor and chair of music education, Karin Hendricks has been named this year’s winner of the Metcalf Cup and Prize, the University’s highest award for teaching. Gregory Melchor-Barz, director of CFA’s School of Music wrote in support of her nomination and praised her crucial contributions to the success of her program: “The department is now considered nationally and internationally as one of the top music education programs for undergraduate and graduate study.”
BU’s 149th Commencement Sizzles
Boston University’s 149th Commencement was held on a sweltering Sunday: May 22, 2022. Despite the heat and humidity, family and friends cheered on the 3,648 undergrads and 4,113 advanced degree candidates. This year marked the first traditional Commencement since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Class of 2020 Gets Long-Awaited Send-Off
The COVID-postponed 147th Commencement was held on Nickerson Field on October 3. “COVID robbed you of a traditional senior year,” Dr. Victor J. Dzau (Hon.’20), president of the National Academy of Medicine, said in his Commencement address to the 1,818 graduates who returned for the long-awaited ceremony. They traveled from 46 states and represented 61 countries. “You have already demonstrated incredible resilience and fortitude,” Dzau said. “You have prevailed and are here today with each other.”
Commencement 2021
Boston University’s 148th Commencement was unique but a great success. Because of the need for social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, two separate ceremonies were held: one for advanced degree graduates in the morning, one for graduating seniors in the afternoon. There was no procession or family and friends allowed in the stands, but both ceremonies were livestreamed.
Class of 2020 Commencement Planned for May 2021
Boston University will give the Class of 2020 “an appropriately festive, in-person Commencement” in May 2021, “on or around” the same weekend it says farewell to the Class of 2021, President Robert A. Brown announced. BU’s original plan to hold the 2020 event in August or early fall of 2020 proved not to be feasible, due to ongoing concerns about the safety of mass gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic.
2020 Metcalf Cup and Prize Conferred on LAW’s Sarah Sherman-Stokes
Sarah Sherman-Stokes teaches students how to be immigration lawyers by being immigration lawyers. They represent immigrants in court under her supervision. They visit detained clients in jail. Sherman-Stokes’ teaching—and action—has helped win national recognition for BU’s immigration law program and the University’s most prestigious award for educators. A gift from the late Arthur G. B. Metcalf (Wheelock’35, Hon.’74), a BU Board of Trustees chair emeritus and former professor, funds the Metcalf Cup and Prize and the Metcalf Awards for Excellence in Teaching, created in 1973 and presented at Commencement.
MED Class of 2020 to Make History with Early Graduation
Lending new credence to the school’s informal motto, “frontline medicine,” MED’s Class of 2020 will graduate a month earlier than scheduled so these new MDs can do their part to combat the coronavirus pandemic—and without the glory and ritual of an in-person convocation. Instead, they will graduate remotely, with a virtual—and memorable—ceremony conducted via Facebook Live.
