Ma is the latest name in a distinguished list of commencement speakers. Setting the bar pretty high in 2011 was Conan O'Brien, who clearly did his research. It's become something of a tradition to post his speech on this page so here goes:
As for the other commencement speakers of the past, here they are via Dartmouth's website:
1946
Harold Stassen
Former Governor of Minnesota
1947
Robert Houghwout Jackson
Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
1948
Frank Porter Graham
President, University of North Carolina
1949
Everett Moore Baker '24
Dean of Students, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1950
George Frost Kennan
Counselor of the Department of State
1951
Reinhold Niebuhr
Professor of Applied Christianity, Union Theological Seminary
1952
Rt. Hon Sir Oliver Shewell Franks
Ambassador of Great Britain to the United States
1953
Lester Bowles Pearson
The Secretary of State of External Affairs, Canada, and President of the General Assembly of the U.N.
Dwight David Eisenhower
President of the United States
(delivered an "informal response" following Pearson's Commencement address)
1954
Roy Edward Larsen
President of Time Inc.
1955
Robert Frost, Class of 1896
Poet
1956
Detlev Wulf Bronk
President, the Rockefeller Institute
1957
Douglas Horton
Dean, Harvard Divinity School
1958
Fr. Theodore Martin Hesburgh
President of the University of Notre Dame
Theodor Heuss
President of the Federal Republic of Germany
(delivered an "informal response" to Hesburgh's Commencement address)
1959
Charles Habib Malik
President, United Nations General Assembly
1960
Whitney North Seymour
Lawyer; President-elect, American Bar Association
1961
Jean Monnet
French Statesman
1962
Arthur Hobson Dean
Lawyer; Chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the Nuclear Test Ban Conference at Geneva
1963
James Herman Robinson
Director, Operation Crossroads Africa
1964
Jean Lesage
Premier of Quebec
1965
Stuart Udall
Secretary of the Interior
1966
John Williams Macy Jr.
Chairman, United States Civil Service Commission
1967
Robert Henry Winters
Minister of Trade and Commerce, Canada
1968
Jacob Javits
U.S. Senator
1969
Nelson A. Rockefeller '30
Governor of the State of New York
1970
William Ayres Arrowsmith
Professor of Classics, University of Texas
1971
Gunnar Karl Myrdal
Professor of Economics, Stockholm University
1972-1982
No speakers from outside Dartmouth
1983
Paul Adolph Volcker
Chairman of the Federal Reserve
1984
Howard Henry Baker Jr.
U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader
1985
Beverly Sills
General Director, New York City Opera
1986
Stephen Warren Bosworth '61
U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines
1987
Bill Bradley
U.S. Senator
1988
Marian Wright Edelman
Lawyer; Founder and President of the Children's Defense Fund
1989
Joseph Brodsky
Poet
1990
Jill Kathryn Ker Conway
President Emerita, Smith College
1991
Elizabeth Dole
President, American Red Cross
1992
Oscar Arias Sanchez
Former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Laureate for Peace
1993
Bill Moyers
Journalist
1994
Robert B. Reich '68
Secretary of Labor
1995
William Jefferson Clinton
President of the United States
1996
David Halberstam
Journalist and Author
1997
Paavo Lipponen '64
Prime Minister of Finland
1998
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Historian and Bibliographer
1999
George J. Mitchell
Former U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader
2000
Shirley Ann Jackson
President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
2001
Madeleine Korbel Albright
Former U.S. Secretary of State
2002
Fred McFeely Rogers '50
Creator and Host, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and CEO of Family Communications Inc.
2003
David McCullough
Pulitzer Prize-winning Author
2004
Jeffrey R. Immelt '78
Chairman and CEO, General Electric Company
2005
Tom Brokaw
Former Anchor and Managing Editor, NBC Nightly News
2006
Elie Wiesel
Author and Nobel Laureate for Peace
2007
Henry M. Paulson Jr. '68
Secretary of the Treasury
2008
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
President of Liberia
2009
Louise Erdrich '76
Author
2010
Stephen Henry Lewis
Co-founder and Co-director, AIDS-Free World
2011
Conan O'Brien
Late-Night Comedy Host and Stand-Up Comedian
2012
Wendy Kopp
Founder and chief executive officer of Teach for America
2013
Geoffrey Canada
Chief executive officer of Harlem Children's Zone, Inc.
2014
Shonda Rhimes '91
Producer, Screenwriter, and Director
2015
David Brooks
David Brooks
Journalist
2016
Leymah Gbowee
Leymah Gbowee
Nobel Peace Laureate
2017
Jake Tapper '91
Journalist
2018
Mindy Kaling '01
Mindy Kaling '01
Actor, Writer, Producer, Comedian
