JOHN HARVARD’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 Harvard Kennedy School 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 Harvard Magazine. 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 Harvard College, 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. Dunster House 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. Harvard Business School ($1 bil- exercises, former New York mayor Bloom- and Commencement. In September, the Uni- lion) dedicated Tata Hall, 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 Leverett House 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 Harvard University 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.