Harvey Mudd College - Commencement Speakers

Commencement Speakers

Commencement speakers at Harvey Mudd College have included inventors, entertainers, educators, astronauts, and civil rights leaders, among others.

  • 2012 — Bill Nye (the Science Guy)
  • 2011 — Marissa Mayer
  • 2010 — Freeman A. Hrabowski III
  • 2009 — Dean Kamen
  • 2008 — Bill Nye (the Science Guy)
  • 2007 — Mae C. Jemison
  • 2006 — Joseph B. Platt (founding president of Harvey Mudd College)
  • 2005 — Michael G. Wilson
  • 2004 — Henry Petroski
  • 2003 — Orson Scott Card
  • 2002 — George "Pinky" Nelson
  • 2001 — Joseph Costello (Douglas Adams was originally scheduled to speak but died two days before the ceremony)
  • 2000 — Bill Nye (the Science Guy)
  • 1999 — Donna Shirley
  • 1998 — Sheila Widnall
  • 1997 — John Shalikashvili
  • 1996 — Clifford Stoll
  • 1995 — George E. Brown, Jr. (Democrat Representative)
  • 1994 — Walter E. Massey (Provost/VP Univ. Calif.; former President of NSF)
  • 1993 — Daniel Goldin
  • 1992 — Denis Hayes (Environmentalist)
  • 1991 — Ben J. Wattenberg (Author/Columnist/Commentator)
  • 1990 — Sandra Kurtzig (CEO/Founder of ASK Computers)
  • 1989 — Robert N. Bellah (Professor/Sociologist/Author)
  • 1988 — Ben Bova (Author/Editor/Lecturer)
  • 1987 — Ray Bradbury
  • 1986 — Margaret L.A. MacVicar (Dean for Undergraduate Education, MIT)
  • 1985 — Michael G. Wilson ’63 (Film Producer/Writer)
  • 1984 — Bill Cosby
  • 1983 — Arthur Laffer
  • 1982 — James L. Gould (Associate Professor of Biology, Princeton)
  • 1981 — Ray Bradbury (Science Fiction Writer)
  • 1980 — Walter J. Mead (Professor of Economics, UCSB)
  • 1979 — Richard F. Post (Deputy Associate Director of Magnetic Fusion Energy at UC Lawrence Livermore Laboratories)
  • 1978 — John A. McCone (Former Director of CIA and Former Chair of US Atomic Energy Commission)
  • 1977 — D. Kenneth Baker (President, HMC)
  • 1976 — Joseph B. Platt (President, HMC)
  • 1975 — E. M. Benson, Jr. (Executive Vice President and Director, Atlantic Richfield Co., and HMC Trustee)
  • 1974 — Alvin M. Weinberg (Director, Office of Research and Development, Federal Energy Office)
  • 1973 — William H. Davenport (Founding Professor, HMC)
  • 1972 — Harvey Mudd II (Environmentalist)
  • 1971 — Myron Tribus (Senior Vice President, Xerox Corp.)
  • 1970 — Paul D. Saltman (Provost, Revelle College, UCSD)
  • 1969 — Eugene Hotchkiss III (Executive Dean, Catham College)
  • 1968 — Joseph B. Platt (President, HMC)
  • 1967 — Herbert F. York (Professor of Physics and Former Chancellor, UCSD)
  • 1966 — T. Keith Glennan (President, Case Institute of Technology)
  • 1965 — Frank R. Collbohm (President, The RAND Corp.)
  • 1964 — Herman T. Spieth (Chancellor, UCR)
  • 1963 — Detlev W. Bronk (President, The Rockefeller Institute)
  • 1962 — Donald J. Russell (President, Southern Pacific Company)
  • 1961 — Kenneth S. Pitzer (Dean of the College of Chemistry, UCB)
  • 1960 — Leonard Carmichael (Secretary, Smithsonian Institution)
  • 1959 — Lee A. DuBridge (President, Caltech)

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