Graduation Speakers (1957-2008)
“Party on, Demon Deacons, party on,” were Secretary of State Colin Powell’s memorable words of advice in 2004. A former First Lady, U.S. Senators, Governors, business leaders, a Cardinal and a cartoonist are among the speakers who have shared their wit and wisdom with graduates since the move to the new campus.
2008 – Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. (video)
2007- New York Times columnist David Brooks (remarks)
2006- Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner (remarks)
2005 – Professional Golfer Arnold Palmer (’51) (remarks)
2004 – Secretary of State Colin Powell (remarks)
2003 – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (remarks)
2002 – U.S. Senator John McCain (remarks)
2001 -Former First Lady Barbara Bush (remarks)
2000- Cisco CEO John Chambers (remarks)
1999- Cardinal Francis Arinze (remarks)
1998- White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles (remarks)
1997- IBM CEO Lou Gerstner (remarks)
1996- U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (remarks)
1995 – CNN News Anchor Judy Woodruff
1994 -Former Congressman Jack Kemp
1993- Notre Dame President Emeritus Theodore Hesburgh
1992- Novelist Tom Clancy
1991 -Virginia Governor Doug Wilder
1990 – Millard Fuller, Founder, Habitat for Humanity International
1989 – Benjamin Bradlee, Executive Editor, The Washington Post
1988 – PepsiCo CEO Wayne Calloway (’59)
1987 – North Carolina Governor James G. Martin
1986 – Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau
1985 – Reynolds Professor and Poet Maya Angelou
1984 -Bill Moyers, CBS News, Senior News Analyst
1983 – John William Gilbert, Member, British Parliament
1982 -Harris Llewellyn Wofford, Retired President, Bryn Mawr College
1981 – William Hampton Wagoner (’49), Chancellor, UNC-Wilmington
1980 – Merrimon Cuninggim, Retired president, Salem College
1979 – Peter Jay, British ambassador to the United States
1978 – Shearon Harris (’36, JD ’38), Chairman, Carolina Power & Light Company
1977 – U.S. Representative Frank Thompson
1976 – Harry M. Philpott, President, Auburn University
1975 – U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan (D-Texas)
1974 – Alvin M. Weinberg, Director, Office of Energy Research and Development, and Former Director, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
1973 – Wallace Carroll, Publisher, Winston-Salem Journal and Sentinel
1972 – U.S. Representative Gerald R. Ford (R-Mich.)
1971 – Robert E.R. Huntley, President, Washington and Lee
1970 – Bill Moyers, Former Publisher, Newsday
1969 – President James Ralph Scales
1968 – J. Ollie Edmunds, Chancellor, Stetson University
1967 – Retiring President Harold W. Tribble
1966 – Vittorio Giannini, President, N.C. School of the Arts
1965 – Former N.C. Governor Terry Sanford
1964 – Edgar F. Shannon, President, University of Virginia
1963 – Luther H. Hodges, N.C. Secretary of Commerce
1962 – Liston Pope, Dean of the Divinity School, Yale University
1961 – Josef Nordenhaug, General Secretary, Baptist World Alliance
1960 – Lam Chi-Fung, President, Hong Kong Baptist College
1959 – Frances P. Gaines, President, Washington and Lee College and former president, Wake Forest College (1927-1930)
1958 – Kenneth I. Brown, Executive Director, Danforth Foundation
1957 – Gordon Gray, Director, Office of Defense Mobilization
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