Commencement Kickoff: Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises

With poet Albert Goldbarth and orator James Engell, Gurney professor of English literature and professor of comparative literature

Our Commencement coverage begins with the Phi Beta Kappa service, featuring poet Albert Goldbarth and Gurney professor of English literature and professor of comparative literature James Engell. 

The Sanders Theatre event honors graduating seniors who have been inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement.

Click here for a list this year's Phi Beta Kappa graduates. Listen here to last year's Phi Beta Kappa address, by Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg, formerly Higgins professor of physics at Harvard. At the 2007 event, C.D. Wright (Guggenheim Fellow, MacArthur Fellow, and professor of English at Brown University) read one of her poems, and Jeremy Waldron, University Professor at the New York University School of Law, explored the Bill of Rights in the context of the international movement to secure universal human rights through the actions of individual countries. Hear Wright read here and Waldron's speech here.

Most popular

In her memoir All That's Unseen, Emilee Hackney explores religion, friendship, and home.

Tomiko Brown-Nagin has been named dean of Stanford’s Graduate School of Education.

RSS Creator and Reddit cofounder Aaron Swartz dead at 26

The former Safra Lab fellow was a leader of the open-access movement.

Explore More From Current Issue

Harvey Mansfield seated in a bright yellow chair, surrounded by bookshelves and cozy decor.

The retired government professor has been a rare conservative voice on campus for decades.

Two figures stand before a large, colorful pixelated face against a yellow background.

Harvard scientists identify hundreds of genes under selective pressure.

Colorful abstract design resembling an octopus with intricate swirls and patterns.

Growing liver implants, mapping the sense of smell, and journalism at risk