Harvard Portrait: Stephan Magro

Stephan Magro

Photograph by Jim Harrison

Stephan Magro once conjured up 250 red peonies, months out of season, for a dinner in honor of an important donor: with a couple of phone calls, they were flown in from Alaska. While he declines to name other miracles from his 15 years of planning events for the Development Office, he does say this: no sooner did he become Commencement director in July 2016 than he was flooded by special requests from parents, faculty, and alumni. Equal parts discretion and showmanship, the job demands sincere love of pageantry and mastery of detail, down to each seat-monitor’s training and every hood’s hue. Magro, who dresses in button-up vests and scarves, likens himself to a magician—after all, his job involves robes and wands, he jokes. Then he immediately self-corrects: it’s a baton. “This is a real artifact that’s used in our traditions! And it’s so fun.” But traditions aren’t dictated by some arcane office of lore, he adds: “It’s us.” Magro grew up in Massachusetts and spent summers with family in Italy, where he holds dual citizenship. In college, he studied sociology and journalism; through event planning, he became fluent in floral décor and wine pairings. And just as doctors make bad patients, he’s a guest who can’t relax. Magro recalls that at his sister’s wedding, he felt compelled to intervene with the caterers to expedite the meal service. (His own took place one October in Salem, amid tourists and costumed witches.) Graduation ceremonies, like those for marriage, have a performative logic: participants and the community collectively invest the ritual with meaning. With Commencement, Magro is in charge of a show, older than the United States, in which 32,000 well-wishers witness the conferral of degrees. He says, “You tell me something that’s more like a spell than this.”

Click here for the May-June 2017 issue table of contents

Read more articles by Sophia Nguyen
Sub topics

You might also like

Jodie Foster Honored at Radcliffe Day

The actress and director discussed her film career and her transformative time at Yale.

Harvard Medalists

Four people honored for exceptional service to the University

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Named Harvard College Class Day Speaker

The basketball player and writer will address Harvard seniors on May 28.

Most popular

Rebecca Henderson: Does Capitalism Need to be Reimagined?

How to reform capitalism to confront climate change and extreme inequality, with economist and McArthur University Professor Rebecca Henderson

The New Gender Gaps

What to do as men and boys fall behind

An Original Magna Carta, Hidden in Plain Sight

A rare original surfaces at Harvard at an “almost providential” moment. 

Explore More From Current Issue

Jung Yeondoo: Building Dreams at the Peabody Essex Museum

South Korean artist’s socially themed photographs at the Peabody Essex Museum

Springtime with Mass Audubon

Springtime with Mass Audubon

Filmmaker Salvador Litvak's Jewish Movies

The “Accidental Talmudist” on making Jewish movies