Members of Harvard’s graduating class may be star struck at their Commencement this year.
Harvard announced that Steven Spielberg would be the speaker at Harvard’s 365th Commencement on May 26, 2016. A two-time Academy Award winner for Best Director, Spielberg will address graduates and their families at Harvard Yard’s Tercentenary Theatre.
The Afternoon Exercises of Commencement will not be Spielberg’s first time at Harvard. He previously spoke at the university when he discussed cinema with humanities professor Homi K. Bhabha. Spielberg also received Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois medal in 2013 and Hasty Pudding Man of the Year in 1983.
The selection of Spielberg differs from the pattern of political speakers who spoke in the past two year’s Commencements: former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick in 2015 and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2014.
“Through his art, Mr. Spielberg has challenged us to dream and to see the world anew,” said Harvard president Drew G. Faust. “An extraordinary storyteller, he has given voice to the silenced and brought history to life.”
Read more at The Harvard Crimson.
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