Commencement ceremonies

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US Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and media executive Leo Hindery, Jr. received honorary degrees. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. gave the commencement address. The ceremony was held at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts.

Overview Actor, comedian, and writer Denis Leary; business and civic leader, and political commentator Peter Meade; entrepreneur, innovator, and enabler Robert F. X. Sillerman; Emerson College faculty member, artist, designer, and administrator Harry Morgan; Emerson College's resident storyteller, esteemed faculty member, and ordained minister John Coffee received honorary degrees. Robert F. X. Sillerman gave the undergraduate address. The ceremony was held at the Wang Center for Performing Arts in...

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Journalist David Gregory, author and playwright Tony Kushner, founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics Bobbi Brown, and US Poet Laureate Robert Pinksy received honorary degrees. David Gregory gave the undergraduate address. The ceremony was held at the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre in the morning.

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Emmy Award winner Max Mutchnick, actress and choreographer Debbie Allen, poet and playwright Rita Dove, and philanthropist Eugene M. Lang received honorary degrees. Max Mutchnick gave the undergraduate address. The ceremony was held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the morning, this is the first time the ceremony was held at this venue.

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Emerson alumnus Jay Leno, journalist Scott Simon, CNN news anchor Don Lemon, and president and CEO of The Greater Boston Food Bank Catherine D'Amato received honorary degrees. Former host of The Tonight Show, Jay Leno, gave the undergraduate address. The ceremony was held at the Agganis Arena at Boston University in the morning.

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Novelist Alice Sebold, reporter Juan González, and Boston poet laureate Danielle Legros Georges received honorary degrees. Alice Sebold gave the undergraduate address. The ceremony was held at the Agganis Arena at Boston University in the morning.

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Civil rights advocate Anita Hill, novelist Dennis Lehane, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough, poet and playwright Claudia Rankine, and Emerson College Associate Professor Emeritus in Communication Studies John Dennis Anderson received honorary degrees. Dennis Lehane gave the undergraduate address. The ceremony was held at the Agganis Arena at Boston University in the morning.

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Award-winning journalist and author Soledad O'Brien, distinguished scholar Nell Irvin Painter, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas, and Miami Dade College President Eduardo J. Padron received honorary degrees. Soledad O'Brien gave the undergraduate address. There ceremony was held at the Agganis Arena at Boston University.

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Crazy Rich Asians' and 'Raya and the Last Dragon' screenwriter Adele Lim '96; composer and singer Toshi Reagon; and Emerson Trustee, founder and chairman of Samuels & Association, and film producer Steve Samuels received honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees. Adele Lim '96 gave the undergraduate address. The ceremony was held at the Agganis Arena at Boston University in the morning.

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United States Senator John F. Kerry and journalism ethics scholar Robert McKay Steele received honorary degrees. The commencement address was given by John F. Kerry. The ceremony was held at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in the morning.

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Emeritus status was conferred on Kenneth C. '55, M.A., '57, Ph.D., Professor School of Communication and Leonidas A. Nicole, '49, M.A. Professor, Department of Performing Arts School of the Arts. The ceremony was held at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts.

Overview Donor Shoo Iwasaki announced a new scholarship for Emerson students at the ceremony. Director and film scholar Peter Bogdanovich; WBZ radio news anchor Gary LaPierre; and co-founder of Shakespeare & Company Tina Packer received honorary degrees. There is only partial footage of Tina Packer's honorary degree presentation. The ceremony was held at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in the afternoon. Former Emerson College Board of Trustees Chairman and retired president of WCVB S....

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Filmmaker Spike Lee received an honorary degree and gave the commencement address. The ceremony was held at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in the morning.

Overview The commencement ceremony was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony featured: Welcome by Jeffrey D. Greenhawt, Chair of the Board of Trustees; Teaching Awards presented by Michaele Whelan, PhD, Provost and VP of Academic Affairs; Commencement address given by Stefani Robinson '14, an Emmy-nominated co-showrunner, executive producer, and writer for FX’s 'What We Do in the Shadows'; Presidential Valedictory Address by M. Lee Pelton, PhD, President of Emerson College; and...