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Graduation Season is Also Commencement Speaker Season
DAN NEPHIN
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - Rocker Bono will head to the Ivy League this spring, while Bill Cosby will again choose Temple, and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will go to Stanford.
With college graduation season fast approaching, departing seniors will hear words of wisdom from commencement speakers ranging from the obscure to the celebrity. Some may be memorable and some may be seen as simply a final hurdle to endure before departing with the sheepskin.
But booking a speaker can be a competitive and time-consuming process that starts months before the big day. In some cases, the school's final choice may not have been their first.
"For some of the kinds of people we ask to be speaking, their schedules are so intense, we have to be asking them two years in advance," said Molly Roth, the director of trustee affairs at the University of Pennsylvania. Bono, lead singer of U-2, is the speaker for Penn's 248th commencement on May 17.
Roth was mum on other contenders. "We would never, ever want it to be publicly known that someone was considered, but not selected," she said.
Often, speakers are booked through speakers bureaus. While professional speakers can command from a few thousand dollars to more than $100,000, many speakers have lower rates for universities - or do it for transportation and an honorary degree.
That's one reason public officials are so popular. Last year, more than a dozen governors and lieutenant governors spoke at commencements. This year, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is scheduled to speak at Slippery Rock State University on May 8.
At Penn, Bono will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. "We never pay commencement speakers. They do it for they greater glory of the award," said Roth.
The Ivy League school says Bono was selected because he's used his celebrity to work to relieve third-world debt, promote AIDS awareness and addressed global disease and hunger issues.
"Some people revel in going and seeing all these fresh-faced graduates and their beaming parents ... and grandma and grandpa. A lot of people really enjoy doing a few of these in a season and it's just really special," said Brian Palmer, president of the National Speakers Bureau in Libertyville, Ill. "People like to be associated with universities."
Schools also seek alumni, politicians and public servants, and frequently, those in the media. Nightline's Ted Koppel is scheduled to speak at the University of California, Berkeley, on May 13.
Media personalities are "popular because they're more in tune with current events and I think a lot of universities want someone to speak to the events of the day," said Mike Garibaldi-Frick, president of Speakers Platform in San Francisco.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will address Ave Maria School of Law in Michigan. When O'Connor speaks at Stanford she'll be speaking not only as a public servant but also an alumna. O'Connor is also speaking at tiny (1,050 students) Centre College in Danville, Kent., where she is friends with a couple of trustees, said spokesman Brant Welch.
"Usually, it's fair to say that our alumni, their connections, and some of our board of trustees, their connections, help with some of the names we get," Welch said. In the past, former president Jimmy Carter spoke.
Presidents and vice presidents, current and past, are big in demand for graduations.
George Bush is speaking at Concordia University in Mequon, Wis., on May 14 and at Louisiana State University on May 21 and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado on June 2.
"The president looks to recognize and honors schools of all sizes," said White House spokeswoman Erin Healy. It's also tradition that the president rotate among the military academies.
Robert Hill, spokesman for the University of Pittsburgh, said its selection process was internal and that the university preferred not to discuss it. Pitt's speaker will be Paul C. Lauterbur, who shared the 2003 Nobel Prize for medicine and is a Pitt alumnus. Lauterbur won for discoveries leading to the development of magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.
At Carnegie Mellon University, students and faculty suggest possible names and the school sends out invitations. Candace Matthews, an alumna, trustee, and a L'Oreal USA Inc. division president, is scheduled to speak this year.
Temple University traditionally doesn't have a formal commencement speaker, though comedian Cosby, perhaps the school's most famous alumnus, usually speaks.
"The thinking was, the focus of commencement is the students and we wanted them to be the spotlight," said spokeswoman Harriet Goodheart. This year, Dennis Archer, president of the American Bar Association and former Detroit mayor, will speak May 20 along with Cosby.
Last August, Cosby addressed incoming students in a program dubbed "Cosby 101," which the school hopes to make a permanent fixture.
"He said waiting until they graduate is way too late. He wants to get them on the way in," Goodheart said.
Cosby is a popular choice, usually speaking at several schools a year. This year, he's speaking at Berklee College of Music in Boston on May 8 and Johns Hopkins University on the same day as Temple's commencement, about 90 miles from Philadelphia.
Jerry Schnydman, executive assistant to the president at Johns Hopkins, said Cosby was nominated by students and ultimately chosen by a presidential advisory committee.
"They just felt that this was a terrific human being who was in the arts," Schnydman said. Cosby will be awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters.
"I just love Mr. Cosby. I think he can relate to anybody at any age," said Maureen Brooks, president of the Denver-based International Speakers and Entertainment Bureau. "He walks his talk when it comes to education."
"Some programs really run off prestige so they're really expected to have someone who will bring some cache," Garibaldi-Frick said.
But famous names don't always translate into stellar speakers, Brooks said.
"There are certain people that are big names that so many people - the students and the parents - just want to walk out because they're so boring," she said.
DAN NEPHIN
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - Rocker Bono will head to the Ivy League this spring, while Bill Cosby will again choose Temple, and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will go to Stanford.
With college graduation season fast approaching, departing seniors will hear words of wisdom from commencement speakers ranging from the obscure to the celebrity. Some may be memorable and some may be seen as simply a final hurdle to endure before departing with the sheepskin.
But booking a speaker can be a competitive and time-consuming process that starts months before the big day. In some cases, the school's final choice may not have been their first.
"For some of the kinds of people we ask to be speaking, their schedules are so intense, we have to be asking them two years in advance," said Molly Roth, the director of trustee affairs at the University of Pennsylvania. Bono, lead singer of U-2, is the speaker for Penn's 248th commencement on May 17.
Roth was mum on other contenders. "We would never, ever want it to be publicly known that someone was considered, but not selected," she said.
Often, speakers are booked through speakers bureaus. While professional speakers can command from a few thousand dollars to more than $100,000, many speakers have lower rates for universities - or do it for transportation and an honorary degree.
That's one reason public officials are so popular. Last year, more than a dozen governors and lieutenant governors spoke at commencements. This year, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is scheduled to speak at Slippery Rock State University on May 8.
At Penn, Bono will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. "We never pay commencement speakers. They do it for they greater glory of the award," said Roth.
The Ivy League school says Bono was selected because he's used his celebrity to work to relieve third-world debt, promote AIDS awareness and addressed global disease and hunger issues.
"Some people revel in going and seeing all these fresh-faced graduates and their beaming parents ... and grandma and grandpa. A lot of people really enjoy doing a few of these in a season and it's just really special," said Brian Palmer, president of the National Speakers Bureau in Libertyville, Ill. "People like to be associated with universities."
Schools also seek alumni, politicians and public servants, and frequently, those in the media. Nightline's Ted Koppel is scheduled to speak at the University of California, Berkeley, on May 13.
Media personalities are "popular because they're more in tune with current events and I think a lot of universities want someone to speak to the events of the day," said Mike Garibaldi-Frick, president of Speakers Platform in San Francisco.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will address Ave Maria School of Law in Michigan. When O'Connor speaks at Stanford she'll be speaking not only as a public servant but also an alumna. O'Connor is also speaking at tiny (1,050 students) Centre College in Danville, Kent., where she is friends with a couple of trustees, said spokesman Brant Welch.
"Usually, it's fair to say that our alumni, their connections, and some of our board of trustees, their connections, help with some of the names we get," Welch said. In the past, former president Jimmy Carter spoke.
Presidents and vice presidents, current and past, are big in demand for graduations.
George Bush is speaking at Concordia University in Mequon, Wis., on May 14 and at Louisiana State University on May 21 and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado on June 2.
"The president looks to recognize and honors schools of all sizes," said White House spokeswoman Erin Healy. It's also tradition that the president rotate among the military academies.
Robert Hill, spokesman for the University of Pittsburgh, said its selection process was internal and that the university preferred not to discuss it. Pitt's speaker will be Paul C. Lauterbur, who shared the 2003 Nobel Prize for medicine and is a Pitt alumnus. Lauterbur won for discoveries leading to the development of magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.
At Carnegie Mellon University, students and faculty suggest possible names and the school sends out invitations. Candace Matthews, an alumna, trustee, and a L'Oreal USA Inc. division president, is scheduled to speak this year.
Temple University traditionally doesn't have a formal commencement speaker, though comedian Cosby, perhaps the school's most famous alumnus, usually speaks.
"The thinking was, the focus of commencement is the students and we wanted them to be the spotlight," said spokeswoman Harriet Goodheart. This year, Dennis Archer, president of the American Bar Association and former Detroit mayor, will speak May 20 along with Cosby.
Last August, Cosby addressed incoming students in a program dubbed "Cosby 101," which the school hopes to make a permanent fixture.
"He said waiting until they graduate is way too late. He wants to get them on the way in," Goodheart said.
Cosby is a popular choice, usually speaking at several schools a year. This year, he's speaking at Berklee College of Music in Boston on May 8 and Johns Hopkins University on the same day as Temple's commencement, about 90 miles from Philadelphia.
Jerry Schnydman, executive assistant to the president at Johns Hopkins, said Cosby was nominated by students and ultimately chosen by a presidential advisory committee.
"They just felt that this was a terrific human being who was in the arts," Schnydman said. Cosby will be awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters.
"I just love Mr. Cosby. I think he can relate to anybody at any age," said Maureen Brooks, president of the Denver-based International Speakers and Entertainment Bureau. "He walks his talk when it comes to education."
"Some programs really run off prestige so they're really expected to have someone who will bring some cache," Garibaldi-Frick said.
But famous names don't always translate into stellar speakers, Brooks said.
"There are certain people that are big names that so many people - the students and the parents - just want to walk out because they're so boring," she said.
