’S JOURNAL COMMENCEMENT 2014

Graduating, Briskly proceeded with brisk e'ciency, less than usually interrupted (and enlivened) by pro- T!" #$%", cool spring was not the exact tracted student cheering. type of the long, cold winter, but it was a Nonetheless, there were moments of passably fair relic. Tuesday morning, the spontaneity. The Commencement program, stellar seniors processed to the Phi Beta as o'cial a document as there is, specified Kappa literary exercises under a shower of that the “Soloist” would perform “My Coun- elm seeds from the Old Yard canopy, kept try, ’Tis of Thee.” Once seated at the piano, comfortable in their gowns by breezes and honorand Aretha Franklin moved right into a temperature of 58 degrees—the day’s high. a soulful rendition of “The Star-Spangled Wednesday dawned with showers of real Banner,” instead. When Faculty of Arts and

rain drops, at 50 degrees and falling. By Sciences dean Michael D. Smith spoke at ROSNER TU Commencement morning, May 29, it was center stage, beginning the presentation of S downright autumnal—44 degrees, nearly student degrees, he do&ed his cap, bowed, ARRISON (2); (2); ARRISON

a record low—but with brilliant blue sky H overhead: a tradeo& every Commencement Ready to take on the world (top) are

IM HARRISON IM class marshals J o'cial gladly made. Encountered en route Theodore Zagraniski (M.P.A.), I-Chun toward the Yard at 6:35 $.(., University mar- Hsiao (M.P.P.), and Jonathan Chang shal Jackie O’Neill, who runs the Morning (M.P.A.). Displaying Ph.D.-powered pride Exercises, said, “Just one day a year,” al- are crimson-gowned Jin Cheng “George” Ye, Anouska Bhattacharyya, and Cammi lowing a measure of grateful relief to mix Valdez. Francisco Andreu ’14 dolls up his ROM TOP: STU ROSNER (2), (2), ROSNER STU TOP: ROM F with her usual calm. Thus set up, the show mortarboard. JIM RIGHT: UPPER FROM CLOCKWISE

www.harvardmagazine.com/commencement Reprinted from . For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 JOHN H ARVARD’S JOURNALsCOMMENC EMENT 2014 ARRISON H JIM JIM STU ROSNER STU ARRISON H IM HARRISON IM JIM JIM J (Clockwise from upper left) Pearl and followed the usual salutations (“Madam versity unveiled its Bhatnagar ’14 blossoms with gradua- President, Fellows of , Mis- worst-kept secret tion spirit. Memorial Church memo- ter President and Members of the Board of of the millennium, ries: a Baccalaureate-service sel!e Overseers”), but then, turning to honorand to date: that The encompasses seniors Raina Gandhi, Jen Zhu, and Maria Barragan-Santa- George H. W. Bush, added a simple, third Harvard Campaign na. seniors Monica element: “Mr. President.” Successive deans sought to raise $6.5 Nesselbush (holding pole), Victoria followed suit, until dean for medical educa- billion. The fun- Wenger (middle), and Chloe Soukas tion Jules L. Dienstag, presenting the M.D.s, draisers did their (at left) show the "ag. Canine critic Zoë, the seeing-eye dog of Kristin included (for Michael R. Bloomberg, M.B.A. work, and Har- Anne Fleischner, J.D. ’14, attends ’)), and Franklin), “Mr. Mayor and Madame vard recorded its Commencement suitably attired. Queen [of Soul].” When degrees were con- first billion-dollar Second Lieutenant Taylor Evans ’14, already a veteran of !ve years in the ferred on Franklin, Bloomberg, and Bush, gift year, and then Marine Corps, has his of!cer’s insignia the band played a few bars of “Respect,” some. Billionaire pinned on by his family. ON CHASE/HPAC ON “New York, New York,” and the “Bulldog, hedge-fund man- J Bulldog” fight song, respectively: prear- agers Kenneth C. Gri'n ’89 and Bill Ack- from billionaire Ratan Tata, AMP ’75, chair ranged, but nice. man ’88, M.B.A. ’92, made nine- and eight- of India’s Tata Group. And Commencement figure gifts toward the Faculty of Arts and itself featured representatives from that co- Finding Fortune, Seeking Service Sciences’ own $2.5-billion component of the hort, including the speaker at the afternoon T!*+ ,$+ !$-.$-/0+ billion-dollar year, campaign. ($1 bil- exercises, former New York mayor Bloom- and Commencement. In September, the Uni- lion) dedicated , funded by a gift berg (the desktop financial terminal/media

14 J1#2 - A131+% 2014 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 billionaire), and the College’s Class Day ora- sued e&ective calls to service on Commence- graduating as part of the class of 2014… if we tor Sheryl Sandberg ’91, M.B.A. ’95 (whose ment morning. Senior English speaker take those waiting revolutions, those great own first billion came via Facebook’s IPO). Sarah Abushaar ’14 (a resi- ideas…out with us into the real world, into Amid these mind-numbing sums, it was dent born in the United States but raised the real Tahrir Squares, and make some- not hard to fathom a finding in the Crim- in Kuwait City, an economics concentra- thing of them! Revolutions not in arms but son’s senior survey: 31 percent of respon- tor who has worked in several finance-in- in minds…more powerful and permanent… dents entering the workforce have jobs dustry positions) recalled being shushed and pervasive. For, this isn’t a Ukrainian in finance and consulting, and another 15 by her parents as a child, lest her prattle revolution or an Arab Spring, but a global percent in technology and engineering. in Syria cause trouble: “‘You’ll get taken by revolution. Ten years hence, those same seniors ex- secret service if they hear you.’ The walls “This is the Harvard Spring of 2014. This pect finance and consulting to exist only everywhere, we were told, could hear our is the Harvard Spring!” in their rear-view mirrors (just 6 percent revolutionary ideas and would send us to Graduate English speaker Philip Hard- in toto), with the academy, health, arts, prison.” How di&erent things are in Cam- ing, M.P.P. ’14 (headed for work on govern- government, and entrepreneurship loom- bridge, she found. In place of an Arab spring, ment innovation in Washington, D.C.), ing much larger. Time will tell. “[T]his graduation is sending 6,000 revolu- recalled George Washington coming to For now, two very di&erent students is- tions into the world in the 6,000 revolutions Harvard “uncertain of his future and his

trustee whose sagacity and tenacity Honoris C ausa always bend the arc toward justice. Joseph E. Stiglitz. University Professor, Columbia University, Five men and three women received honorary and co-winner of the Nobel Prize in eco- degrees at Commencement. University provost nomic sciences, 2001, a prominent critic Alan M. Garber introduced the honorands in of inequality and globalization. Doctor the following order, and President Drew Faust of Laws: Demarking the limits of markets, read the citations, concluding with the recipi- discerning global discontents, a paramount pro- ent’s name and degree. For fuller background genitor of information economics who bestrides on each honorand, see http://harvardmag. the spheres of theory and policy. com/degrees. Peter H. Raven. President emeritus, Mis- Seymour Slive. Cabot founding direc- souri Botanical Garden, and Engelman tor of the Art Mu- professor of botany emeritus, Washing- George H. W. Bush

seums emeritus and Gleason professor ton University, a scholar of biodiversity, ROSNER STU of fine arts emeritus, an authority on species evolution, and conservation. Doc- sublime as the electrifying empress of soul; for seventeenth-century Dutch art. Doctor tor of Science: A grand sycamore in the garden this, our highest honor, she is a natural woman. of Arts: A living of science, he has nourished our knowledge of the portrait in ebul- phyla of flora and cultivated care for the pre- Michael R. Bloomberg, M.B.A. ’66. En- lient erudition and cious diversity of life. trepreneur, philanthropist, and 108th humane inspira- mayor of New York City. Doctor of Laws: tion, he has mas- Isabel Allende. Author of 20 books, in- From Hopkins to Harvard, Wall Street to City terfully illumined cluding The House of the Hall, a resolute leader and fervent the works of Dutch Spirits. Doctor of Letters: philanthropist whose entrepreneur- masters, his own Conjuring memories blown ial spirit and zeal for innovation career a rare work by winds of exile, leavening have helped our nation’s biggest of art. realism with dashes of magic, burg to bloom. she fills her splendrous house Patricia King, of stories with spirits and George H. W. B u s h . Forty- Isabel Allende J.D. ’69. Car- shadows, anguish and love. first president of the United

STU ROSNER STU mack Water- States. Doctor of Laws: With house professor of law, medicine, ethics, Aretha Franklin. The faith, courage, and service true, his and public policy, Georgetown Law Cen- “Queen of Soul,” winner eyes ever fixed on points of light, he ter, and fellow of the Harvard Corpora- of 18 Grammy Awards. piloted our nation through change- tion, 2005-2012. Doctor of Laws: Bridging Doctor of Arts: With sweet ful skies; his cap was Blue, his house disciplines and overcoming barriers, elucidat- passion, almighty fire, and was White, and now his robe is

ing ethics and embracing beneficence, a trusted amazing grace, she reigns ROSNER STU Crimson. Joseph E. Stiglitz

www.harvardmagazine.com/commencement H$-.$-/ M$3$4*5" 15 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 JOHN H ARVARD’S JOURNALsCOMMENC EMENT 2014 fate. He had received an o&er he could not refuse: though he felt unworthy, he wrote to his family and said he felt ‘a kind of des- tiny’ was driving him to Cambridge…to take command of the…fledgling Continen- tal Army”—the ultimate startup. That public entrepreneur, Harding continued, “took ideas that existed only as words and writings and turned them into reality for millions and generations to come.” He then challenged his audi- ence: “Whether you are driven to solve the world’s largest public or private problems, find a cure for that dreaded disease, allevi- ate human su&ering, generate knowledge and push education forward, work across religious and cultural divides, create e&ec- tive legal frameworks, construct the future

world we live in, or use technology to en- ROSNER STU able new discoveries and innovations— Emily Pulitzer, A.M. ’63, who provided vi- Honorand Aretha Franklin pulled a Whatever ‘kind of destiny’ is compelling tal support for that project, was awarded a switcheroo, to a soulful national anthem. you today, imagine the countless lives that Harvard Medal, as was Anand G. Mahindra er of Teach For America, is now CEO of the are waiting for you to step up.” The focus ’77, M.B.A. ’81, who endowed the humanities Knowledge Is Power Program—and thus a of that mission he made clear in a final plea center (see page 77). The Graduate School of champion of charter schools. The Business to “let us not just go change the world, but Arts and Sciences celebrated Keith Chris- School’s speaker, Salman Kahn, M.B.A. ’03, of let us go serve the world with passion.” tiansen, Ph.D. ’77, chair of European paint- the Kahn Academy, represents a vision of edu- ings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art cation that has more terminals than teachers. The Crimson, White, and Blue (page 78). The class of 1989 had classmate (In higher ed, The New York Times twitted Har- T!" ,""60+ events encompassed the stan- Alan Gilbert, music director of the New York vard just before the Commencement after- dard graduation fare. Sandberg told the se- Philharmonic, at the podium for its Boston noon program by posting a story suggesting niors to “open yourselves to honesty.” U.S. Pops reunion concert. And although Presi- that Stanford’s surging applications, soaring ambassador to the United Nations Saman- dent Drew Faust began her afternoon talk admissions yield, and prowess in computer tha Power, J.D. ’99, laid a heavy burden on by emphasizing scientific discovery (page science had made it the nation’s premier uni- her hearers at the Harvard Kennedy School: 19), as she often has this year, the third leg versity—knocking o& you know who.) “Your job is to make sure that democracy of her argument focused on the search for In a society that must sort out such is- matures, expands, deepens, and delivers.” meaning: the essence of humanistic inquiry. sues—with the passion Harding prescribed, Bows were made to the arts and human- Divisive public matters were broached. In but with more open minds than Bloomberg ities. With the renovated Art Museums her Baccalaureate talk, Faust touched on the discerned in Washington and elsewhere— nearing completion, their former director, Occupy movement, divestment, and sexual perhaps the way forward was best represent- Seymour Slive, was among the honorands. assault—issues that have vexed her (see pag- ed by looking back to the service of the final es 22-23 on the latter two). Edu- honorand at this Commencement. cation, especially, was in the air. Amid the day’s upside-down atmo- Bloomberg, who assailed what he spherics, a di&erent sort of reversal was perceived as closed-mindedness staged. By conferring a degree on Presi- on campuses as in the larger soci- dent Bush—Yale’s baseball captain, who ety (page 19), hailed the Graduate took his team to the College World Series School of Education for retaining finals in 1947 and 1948—Harvard e&ective- Colorado state senator Michael ly mirrored Yale’s 1962 graduation. When Johnston, M.Ed. ’00, as its speak- John F. Kennedy ’40, LL.D. ’56, was hon- er; some students objected to his ored in New Haven, he famously quipped, focus on basing teacher evalua- “It might be said now that I have the best tions on test scores. Chief mar- of both worlds, a Harvard education and shal Richard Barth ’89, a found- a Yale degree.” So for these two sports- minded presidents, one Crimson, one Blue, Crimson stethoscopes at the and their alma maters, the score is now a ready (from left): M.D.s Sarah Messmer and Jana Jarolimova bipartisan 1-1. Perhaps fittingly, Harvard’s and Shruthi Rajashekara, 363rd Commencement fell on President IM HARRISON IM J M.D.-M.M.S. ’14 Kennedy’s birthday.

16 J1#2 - A131+% 2014 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746