Commencement and Alumni Events

Harvard Commencement and Alumni Events 2025

Graduates in caps and gowns smile while holding inflatable globes during an outdoor commencement ceremony.

Photograph by jennifer Beaumont/harvard Magazine

Commencement week includes addresses by President Alan M. Garber and author and Stanford University’s Meier and Lane provostial professor of medicine Abraham Verghese. For details and updates on event speakers, visit harvardmagazine.com/commencement.


Tuesday, May 27

Phi Beta Kappa Exercises, at 11, with orator Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana and guest poet Arthur Sze, whose many books include The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems, Sanders Theatre

Baccalaureate Service for the College Class of 2025, at 1:15, followed by class photo, Harvard Yard, Old Yard

College Class of 2025 Family Social, at 4, Old Yard, Harvard Yard

Harvard University Band and Choruses Concert, at 8, Tercentenary Theatre

Wednesday, May 28

ROTC Commissioning Ceremony, 11-12:30, with President Alan M. Garber and guest speaker U.S. Army Lieutenant General Joseph “JP” McGee, director of strategy, plans, and policy, on the Joint Staff, Memorial Hall

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Convocation, at 11, with guest speaker epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist Dr. Céline Gounder, senior fellow at KFF and associate professor of medicine and infectious diseases at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine, Agganis Arena, Boston

Harvard Medical School Master’s Convocation Ceremony, at 12:30, with keynote speaker Linda Villarosa, journalist, educator, and author of Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on Health in America, HMS Quad

College Class Day Exercises, at 2, with guest speaker renowned basketball player, writer, and activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, along with Harvard and Ivy Orations and remarks by incoming Harvard Alumni Association president Will Makris, Ed.M. ’00, Tercentenary Theatre

Harvard Kennedy School Graduation Address, at 3, with guest speaker Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor and host of the global affairs program “Amanpour,” JFK Memorial Park

Law School Class Day Ceremony, 2:30-4, with an address by guest speaker Bob Myers, former Golden State Warriors basketball executive, Holmes Field

Business School Class Day Ceremony, 2:30, with speaker John Rice, M.B.A. ’92, CEO and founder of Management Leadership for Tomorrow, Baker Lawn

Graduate School of Education Convocation, 3:30, with speaker Catherine Snow, Hobbs professor of cognition and education, Radcliffe Yard

Graduate School of Design Class Day, 3:30, with Malkit Shoshan, GSD design critic in urban planning and design, Gund Hall backyard tent

Divinity School Multireligious Commencement Service for the Class of 2025, 3:30, HDS campus green

Dudley Community Reception, at 4, 53 Dunster Street

Faculty Deans’ Receptions, starting at 4:30 (times vary by location), undergraduate Houses

Senior Letterwinners’ Dinner, at 5, Bright-Landry Hockey Center

Thursday, May 29

Commencement Day, Harvard Yard gates open at 6:45

Academic Processions, begin at 7:45 (all guests should be seated by 8:55), Harvard Yard, various locations

The 374th Commencement Exercises, 9:30-12:15, with guest speaker Abraham Verghese, Tercentenary Theatre

Luncheons and diploma-awarding ceremonies, at 12:15, undergraduate Houses, and the graduate and professional schools (various locations)

Harvard Extension School Class of 2025 Commencement Ceremony and Reception, at 2, Harvard Museum of Natural History courtyard

Harvard Medical and Dental Schools Class Day Ceremony, luncheon at noon, followed by ceremony and keynote address by Wellesley College president Paula A. Johnson ’80, M.D. ’84, M.P.H. ’85. HMS Quad
 


 

Read more articles by Nell Porter-Brown

You might also like

Celebrating Integrity

Harvard passes a test of its values, yet challenges loom.

Alumni Cheer on Harvard

At Alumni Day, ringing endorsements of Harvard’s fight

The “Obligation to Heal”

Amid distrust of science, Paula Johnson tells medical and dental graduates to be “citizen-physicians.”

Most popular

The Professor Who Quantified Democracy

Erica Chenoweth’s data shows how—and when—authoritarians fall.

Remembering Tom Lehrer

The mathematician and satirist kept Harvard in his thoughts—and lyrics

Harvard Layoffs Continue, with More to Come

In the wake of federal government actions, several Harvard schools and institutes are cutting costs.

Explore More From Current Issue

An illustration of a green leaf being hit by a beam of light and bouncing off the leaf and then becoming a color prisim

Light-based analysis of botanical collections link plants to Earth’s changing climate.

Jack Reardon waves

On regalia, a Jack-of-all-trades retirement, and a Bok’s office bon mot.

Colorful glass bottles and nautical trinkets line a window shelf, with a ship in a bottle as the centerpiece.

I Spy Creator Walter Wick at the Norman Rockwell Museum