Commencement Speakers
Below is a chronological list of previous Commencement speakers.
| Year | Name | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Salman “Sal” Amir Khan | Founder and CEO, Khan Academy |
| 2024 | Mitt Romney | U.S. Senator, R-Utah |
| 2023 | Volodymyr Zelenskyy | President of Ukraine |
| 2022 | Samantha Power | Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author |
| 2021 | Michael R. Bloomberg | 108th New York City Mayor and Founder, Bloomberg LP & Bloomberg Philanthropies |
| 2020 | Alexis Ohanian | Co-founder & Managing Partner, Initialized Capital |
| 2019 | Jeffrey Goldberg | Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic |
| 2018 | Bryan A. Stevenson | Public interest lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative |
| 2017 | Frank A. Bruni Jr. | New York Times Columnist |
| 2016 | Shelton Jackson “Spike” Lee | Film Director, Producer, Writer, and Actor |
| 2015 | Edwin E. Catmull | President of Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios |
| 2014 | Susan Wojcicki | CEO of YouTube |
| 2013 | Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa | Johns Hopkins Neuroscientist & Neurosurgeon |
| 2012 | Samuel J. Palmisano | Chairman of the board, IBM, Chair of IBM’s Executive Committee, and Johns Hopkins alum |
| 2011 | Fareed Zakaria | Host, CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”and Editor-at-Large, Time magazine |
| 2010 | Michael Bloomberg | Mayor, New York and Johns Hopkins alum |
| 2009 | Nancy Pelosi Ronald Daniels |
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 2008 | Bill Nye William R. Brody |
The Science Guy President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 2007 | Brian Billick William R. Brody |
Baltimore Ravens Head Coach President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 2006 | Elias Zerhouni William R. Brody |
Director, National Institutes of Health President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 2005 | Al Gore William R. Brody |
Former U.S. Vice President President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 2004 | Bill Cosby William R. Brody |
Actor & Comedian President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 2003 | Michael Bloomberg William R. Brody |
Mayor, New York President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 2002 | Tom Brokaw William R. Brody |
NBC Nightly News Anchor President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 2001 | Al Hunt William R. Brody |
Wall Street Journal Executive Washington Editor President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 2000 | George Tenet William R. Brody |
CIA Director President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1999 | John McCain William R. Brody |
U.S. Senator, R-Ariz. President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1998 | Elizabeth Dole William R. Brody |
President, American Red Cross President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1997 | Timothy Johnson William R. Brody |
Medical Editor, ABC News President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1996 | George H.W. Bush Sadako Ogata |
Former U.S. President United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |
| 1995 | Ted Koppel Barbara A. Mikulski |
ABC News Nightline Anchor U.S. Senator, D-MD |
| 1994 | Benjamin Carson Madeleine K. Albright |
Director, Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hopsital U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations |
| 1993 | Barry Levinson Richard von Weizscker |
Filmmaker President, Federal Republic of Germany |
| 1992 | Lee Iaccocca Brian Mulroney |
Chairman, Chrysler Corp. Prime Minister, Canada |
| 1991 | Tom Clancy Thomas R. Odhiambo |
Novelist Founder & Director, Center for Insect Physiology & Ecology |
| 1990 | Garry Trudeau Sol Linowitz |
Cartoonist U.S. Diplomat |
| 1989 | Kenneth M. Duberstein Javier Perez de Cuellar |
Former White House Chief of Staff, Reagan administration Secretary General of the United Nations |
| 1988 | Mario Cuomo J. William Fulbright |
Governor, New York Former Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Senate |
| 1987 | Howard Cosell M. Vartan Gregorian |
Sportscaster President, New York Public Library |
| 1986 | Roger Revelle Eric R. Kandel |
Professor, University of California, San Diego Professor, Columbia University |
| 1985 | John Houseman James W. Rouse |
Actor Developer |
| 1984 | William F. Buckley, Jr. Paul Volcker |
Journalist & Author Chairman, Federal Reserve Board |
| 1983 | Bill Bradley Harry Woolf |
U.S. Senator, D-NJ Director, Institute for Advanced Study |
| 1982 | William Donald Schaefer Ralf G. Dahrendorf |
Mayor, Baltimore Director, London School of Economics |
| 1981 | Franklin D. Murphy | Chairman, Times-Mirror Co. |
| 1980 | Roger Stevens Leonard Bernstein |
Chairman of the Board, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Composer & Conductor |
| 1979 | Dick Cavett Rosalyn S. Yalow |
Talk Show Host Nobel Prize Winner, Biomedical Researcher, VA Hospital, The Bronx, New York |
| 1978 | Hyman Rickover John R. Evans |
Retired U.S. Navy Admiral President, University of Toronto |
| 1977 | Isaac Asimov William D. McElroy |
Author Chancellor, University of California, San Diego |
| 1976 | Tom Wicker Lewis Thomas |
New York Times Columnist President, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute |
| 1975 | William Scranton | Former Governor, Pennsylvania |
| 1974 | Rafael Hernandez Colon | Governor, Puerto Rico |
| 1973 | Earl Warren | Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court |
| 1972 | Steven Muller | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1971 | Alexander Heard | Chancellor, Vanderbilt University |
| 1970 | Clifton R. Wharton, Jr. | President, Michigan State University |
| 1969 | Kingman Brewster, Jr. | President, Yale University |
| 1968 | Pendleton Herring | President, American Political Science Association |
| 1967 | Milton Stover Eisenhower | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1966 | Thurgood Marshall | Solicitor General of the United States |
| 1965 | George Boas | Professor Emeritus, History of Philosophy |
| 1964 | Lester Bowles Pearson | Prime Minister, Canada |
| 1963 | Otto F. Kraushaar | President, Goucher College |
| 1962 | Julius Adams Stratton | President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 1961 | Edward K. Murrow | Director, United States Information Agency |
| 1960 | John William Nason | President, Foreign Policy Association |
| 1959 | John Rhyne Killian, Jr. | President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 1958 | Harold Macmillan | Prime Minister, United Kingdom |
| 1957 | Nathan M. Pusey | President, Harvard University |
| 1956 |
Devereux Colt Josephs
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| 1955 | Dag Hammarskjold | Secretary General of the United Nations |
| 1954 | Joseph Henry Willits | Dean, University of Pennsylvania Law School |
| 1953 | Walter Sherman Gifford | U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom |
| 1952 | John Foster Dulles | Secretary of State |
| 1951 | Detlev Bronk | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1950 |
James Hamilton Owens
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| 1949 | Vannevar Bush | Head of U.S. Office of Scientific Development & Research |
| 1948 | Lindsay Rogers | Professor of Public Law & Government, Georgetown University |
| 1947 | Owen Latimore | Director, Walter Hines Page School of International Relations |
| 1946 | Isaiah Bowman | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1944 | Isaiah Bowman | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1943 | Isaiah Bowman | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1941 | Isaiah Bowman | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1940 | Isaiah Bowman | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1939 | Isaiah Bowman | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1938 | Lord Stamp | Former Director of the Bank of London |
| 1937 |
Harry Emerson Fosdick
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| 1936 | Isaiah Bowman | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1935 | Joseph Sweetman Ames | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1934 | Joseph Sweetman Ames | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1933 | Joseph Sweetman Ames | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1932 | Joseph Sweetman Ames | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1931 | Joseph Sweetman Ames | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1930 | Joseph Sweetman Ames | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1929 | Frederick George Donnan | Professor of General Chemistry, University College, London |
| 1928 | Joseph Sweetman Ames | Acting President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1927 | Joseph Sweetman Ames | Acting President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1920 | Albert C. Richie | Governor, Maryland |
| 1918 | Edward K. Graham | President, University of North Carolina |
| 1917 | Newton Baker | Secretary of War |
| 1914 | Robert Latham Owen | Senator from Oklahoma |
| 1913 | Albert Shaw | Editor, “Review of Reviews” |
| 1912 | William C. Gorgas | Assistant Surgeon General, U.S. Army |
| 1911 | Eugene A. Noble | President, Goucher College |
| 1910 | Johann Heinrich von Rernstorff | German Ambassador to the United States |
| 1908 | Professor Henry T. Bovey | Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada |
| 1906 | Bliss Perry | Editor, “The Atlantic Monthly” |
| 1905 |
Talcott Williams
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| 1903 | Abram Winegardner Harris | Director, Jacob Tome Institute |
| 1902 | E.R.L Gould | City Chamberlain of New York |
| 1901 | Henry M. Hurd | Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University |
| 1900 | William Osler | Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University |
| 1899 | Herbert Putnam | Librarian of Congress |
| 1898 | Daniel Coit Gilman | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1897 | Ira Remsen | Professor of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University |
| 1896 | C. Morton Stewart | President of the Johns Hopkins Board of Trustees |
| 1894 | Walter H. Page | Editor, “The Forum” |
| 1893 | Daniel Coit Gilman | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1891 | Bishop Randolph of Philadelphia | |
| 1890 | Ira Remsen | Acting President, The Johns Hopkins University |
| 1889 | Albion Woodbury Small | Professor of History & Political Economy, Colby University |
| 1888 | Daniel Coit Gilman | President, The Johns Hopkins University |
Last updated October 6, 2025