Commencement Speaker

News and Guts is a multimedia production company with offices in New York, San Francisco, and Austin Texas. Founded by iconic newsman Dan Rather, it brings together a team of…

DeRay Mckesson is an organizer, activist, and educator focused primarily on issues of innovation, equity and justice. Born and raised in Baltimore, he graduated from Bowdoin College and has advocated…

A Philadelphia native, Deesha Dyer’s unconventional story is woven together by themes of heart, dedication, and an incessant quest for excellence. After graduating from Milton Hershey School, a private philanthropic…

Don Lemon anchors CNN Tonight with Don Lemon during weekday primetime and serves as a correspondent across CNN’s U.S. programming. Based out of the network’s New York bureau, Lemon joined…

Derek Jeter, a five-time World Series champion Turn 2 Foundation. For the duration of the evening, Jeter was joined on-stage by Fox News lead analyst and former MLB second baseman…

On January 21, 2001, the United States Senate confi rmed Dr. Rod Paige as the 7th U.S. Secretary of Education. For Paige, the son of a principal and a librarian…

Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington is a man constantly on the move.  Never comfortable repeating himself or his successes, Washington always searches for new challenges through his numerous and…

Dr. Cornel West, philosopher, social activist and professor, has long held a place in the African American culture for his thought-provoking theories on politics, race relations and religion. West is…

Dr. Mehmet Oz, two-time Daytime Emmy Award-winning host of the three-time Daytime Emmy Award-winning The Dr. Oz Show, is Vice-Chair and Professor of Surgery at Columbia University. He directs the…

Darryl McDaniels is a legendary music icon and the co-founder of Run-DMC, the legendary rap group that has sold over 30 million records, had several Top 10 hits and was…

David McCullough has been widely acclaimed as a "master of the art of narrative history" and "a matchless writer." Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award, he…

Dr. Henry C. Lee is one of the world’s foremost forensic scientists. Dr. Lee’s work has made him a landmark in modern-day forensic sciences. He has been a prominent player…

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the multiple Emmy award winning chief medical correspondent for CNN.

Actor, director, producer, and political activist Danny Glover has also become known for his community activism and philanthropic work. A San Francisco native, Glover trained at the Black Actors’ Workshop…

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar,…

Dr. Harry Edwards was born in St. Louis but grew up in East Saint Louis, Illinois. After an outstanding athletic career at East St. Louis High, he graduated in 1960…

Named a “comedian phenom and icon” by Entertainment Weekly, Dane Cook has maintained his reputation as one of today’s most prolific stand-up comedians while simultaneously distinguishing himself as a charismatic…

David Chappelle is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. After beginning his film career in 1993 as Ahchoo in Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights, he landed supporting…

Drew Carey is a stand-up comic turned actor and producer who had the distinction of having two hit shows simultaneously: the long-running comedy "The Drew Carey Show," which ran from…

Dr. Juan Andrade Jr. president and executive director of the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute, Under Andrade's direction, the Institute has trained 200,000 present & future leaders, registered 2 million new…