Harvard Alumni Day Speaker Announced

The second annual Harvard Alumni Day, which takes place on Friday, June 2, 2023, will feature guest speaker Mary Louise Kelly ’93, co-host of National Public Radio's All Things Considered. Kelly’s address will anchor the event, which honors alumni impact, citizenship, and community across the globe. Hosted by the Harvard Alumni Association, the midday fete will also feature recognition of the 2023 Harvard Medalists, remarks by President Larry Bacow, the traditional alumni parade, musical performances, and a Harvard Yard party with food and drinks. 

A leading American broadcast journalist, Kelly spent a decade as a national security correspondent for NPR News, and in 2004 carved out the organization’s intelligence beat, reporting as senior Pentagon correspondent and traveling around the world to investigate terrorism, uprisings, and other conflicts. Her work during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, and the hunt for Osama bin Laden garnered widespread acclaim, and she ultimately joined the award-winning news program All Things Considered as co-host in 2018. 

She led the NPR team that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2021 for on-the-ground reporting from Iran, and is the recipient of the Leonard Zeidenberg First Amendment Award and a Gracie Award, among other honors.

Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Atlantic (where she also serves as a contributing writer), and she has authored two novels. Her newest book, the memoir It. Goes. So. Fast. The Year of No Do-Overs is due out later this month, explores balancing acts performed by working mothers, including how to face the pending empty-nest, and other later-life issues. Kelly was born in Germany, but raised in the United States, in Georgia. Following in the footsteps of her father (the late Jim Kelly ’68), she went to Harvard, where she studied government, French, and literature, and reported on politics for The Harvard Crimson.  

Harvard Alumni Day begins at 11 a.m. and takes place on campus (with live-streaming for those who cannot attend in person). All alumni from across the University are invited to attend. For further details and registration, please visit alumni.harvard.edu/alumni-day.