Commencement speakers,
1940-1990 || Commencement speakers,
1991-present
Washington University admitted its first undergraduates in
1857 and awarded its first undergraduate degrees in 1862. The
first commencement ceremony, held June 20, 1862, consisted of a
public address by all five members of the graduating class, and
an address to the graduating class by Chancellor William
Chauvenet. Student addresses, usually in Latin or Greek, were the
norm for commencement ceremonies at this time. The tradition of
having every member of the class speak lasted until approximately
1880. From approximately 1881 until 1905, speeches were given by
selected members of the class, with fewer of these speeches being
given in Latin or Greek as time went on. Beginning in 1905,
commencement took on the form similar to today's ceremony.
The first commencement ceremony on the Danforth (Hilltop) Campus took
place in June 1905. The formal dedication of the Campus
took place at the same ceremony.
Commencement speakers from
1905-1939 were:
- June 15, 1905: David Rowland Francis
- June 20, 1907: James Bryce
- June 18, 1908: Rabbi Leon Harrison
- June 8, 1911: Charles Nagel
- June 13, 1912: Rev. Thomas Lamb Eliot
- June 12, 1913: Paul Elmer More, Aspects of
Reaction
- June 11, 1914: Rev. William C. Bitting, Education and
Daily Life
- June 10, 1915: Rev. John Haynes Holmes
- June 8, 1916: Bishop Daniel Sylvester Tuttle
- June 14, 1917: Herbert Lockwood Willett, The University
and the Nation
- June 10, 1920: Walter Miller
- June 8, 1922: Daniel John Cowling, The Place of Liberal
Arts Ideals in American Education
- June 14, 1923: James Augustin Emery, Educated Men and
Public Affairs
- June 12, 1924: Henry Smith Pritchett, Our Present Day
Ideal of Civil Liberty
- June 9, 1925: Robert Ernest Vinson, A Chapter of the
Controversy
- June 7, 1927: Charles Gates Dawes, The New
Diplomacy
- June 5, 1928: Rev. Christopher Rhodes Eliot, Adventures in
Idealism
- June 11, 1929: John Carleton Jones, The Reserves of the
Educated Man
- June 10, 1930: John Duncan Ernst Spaeth, Science and
Humanism in University Education
- June 9, 1931: Shailer Mathews, The Administration of
Optimism
- June 7, 1932: Rev. William Greenleaf Eliot, Jr., A Free
University in a Free State
- June 6, 1933: Charles Nagel, Robert S. Brookings
- June 12, 1934: Percival Chubb, The Summons to a New
Idealism
- June 11, 1935: Guy Stanton Ford, Protecting an
Investment
- June 9, 1936: Otto Heller
- June 8, 1937: Karl Morgan Block, College and
Character
- June 7, 1938: Martin Hill Ittner, The Function of
Technology in Modern Society
- June 6, 1939: Gordon Jennings Laing, A Liberal
Education
