Past Commencements
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May 21, 2017 - The College awarded degrees to 372 undergraduates and honorary degrees to film producer and journalist David Gelber ’63, philanthropist John Goldman '71, and actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith.
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May 29, 2016 - The College awarded degrees to 359 undergraduates and honorary degrees to film critic and cultural historian Leo Braudy '63, ecosystem ecologist F. Stuart "Terry" Chapin III '66, and world-renowned scholar and advocate for deaf communities Carol Padden.
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May 31, 2015 - The College awarded degrees to 391 undergraduates and honorary degrees to conductor and teacher John Alston, Justice Randy J. Holland ’69, and scientist and educator Molly Miller Jahn ’80.
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June 1, 2014 - The College awarded degrees to 367 undergraduates and honorary degrees to renowned scholar and writer Thomas Laqueur '67, noted documentary photographer and author Barbara Norfleet '47, gifted vocalist and composer Vaneese Thomas '74, and Congressman Christopher Van Hollen '83.
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June 2, 2013 - The College awarded degrees to 374 undergraduates and honorary degrees to entrepreneur and humanitarian Tralance Addy '69 and novelist and social activist Lorene Cary.
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May 27, 2012 - The College awarded degrees to 366 undergraduates and honorary degrees to distinguished pioneering social scientist Lotte Bailyn '51, highly respected jurist Frank Easterbrook '70, and award-winning documentary film producer and activist Judy Richardson '66.
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May 29, 2011 - The College awarded degrees to 366 undergraduates and honorary degrees to innovative publisher and philanthropist David Bradley '75, acclaimed criminologist David Kennedy '80, and noted entrepreneur and educator Iqbal Quadir '81. In addition, 366 undergraduates were awarded degrees at the ceremony.
- May 31, 2010 - The College awarded honorary degrees to distinguished biologist Bonnie Bassler, educator and labor leader John Braxton '70, Morehouse College President Robert Michael Franklin, and actor and author Stephen Lang '73 at the College's 138th commencement.
- May 31, 2009 - The College awarded honorary degrees to Mary Schmidt Campbell '69, dean of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and professor and chair of art and public policy, and James C. Hormel '55, a philanthropist devoted to social justice and human rights and the first openly gay ambassador in U.S. history. President Alfred H. Bloom also received an honorary degree on the occasion of his departure from the College after 18 years as president.
- June 01, 2008 - The College awarded honorary degrees to , former general counsel of the Department of the Navy, , dean of the Yale School of Art, and , a renowned researcher and provost and executive vice-president at the University of Washington, at the College's 136th commencement.
- June 03, 2007 - The College awarded honorary degrees to Marcia A. Grant '60, educator and founding dean of the first liberal arts college for women in Saudi Arabia, civil rights leader and Algebra Project founder Robert Parris Moses, and J. Robert Prichard '71, president and CEO of Torstar Corporation, at the College's 135th commencement.
- May 28, 2006 - The College awarded honorary degrees to philosopher and Africana studies scholar Kwame Anthony Appiah, renowned scientist and inventor Neil Gershenfeld '81, and distinguished jurist Mary Murphy Schroeder '62 at the College's 134th commencement.
- May 29, 2005 - The College awarded degrees to 380 undergraduates and honorary degrees to critically acclaimed author Jonathan Franzen '81; noted poet and educator Daniel Hoffman, a former member of Swarthmore's English faculty; and Anne Schuchat '80, a physician at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- May 30, 2004 - The College awarded degrees to 359 undergraduates and honorary degrees to Patrick G. Awuah, Jr. '89, founder of Ashesi University College in Ghana; Marjorie Garber '66, a renowned Shakespeare scholar and cultural critic; and Joy ('51) and Herbert Kaiser '49, founders of the non-profit Medical Education for Southern African Blacks.
- June 1, 2003 - The College awarded degrees to 360 undergraduates and gave honorary degrees to astrobiologist and public policy expert Christopher Chyba '82, child psychiatrist Margaret Morgan Lawrence, and U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff '64.
- June 2, 2002 - The College awarded degrees to 335 undergraduates and honorary degrees to former U.N. humanitarian coordinator Denis Halliday and journalist and prominent international relations scholar Josef Joffe '65 at the College's 130th commencement.
- June 4, 2001 - The College awarded degrees to 332 undergraduates and honorary degrees to noted bioethicist and civil rights advocate Adrienne Asch '69; longtime public servant, accomplished author, and decorated veteran Ken Hechler '35; and critically acclaimed author and physician Abraham Verghese.
- May 29, 2000 - The College awarded degrees to 377 undergraduates and honorary degrees to physicist and theologian Ian Barbour '44, acclaimed dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones, and social activist and author Elizabeth Martínez '46.
Commencement Speakers and
Honorary Degree Recipients (1888-1999)
