Here are Mass. colleges’ 2026 commencement speakers

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From Grammy winners to governors, meet the 2026 commencement speakers across Massachusetts.

Left to right: Comedian Conan O’Brien, actress Hilary Duff, and Boston City Councilor At-Large Ruthzee Louijeune will be 2026 commencement speakers at various universities in Massachusetts. (From left to right: Troy Harvey/Bloomberg; Jemal Countess/Getty Images; Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)

By Annie Jonas

April 24, 2026 | 4:01 PM

6 minutes to read

Commencement season is nearly here, and colleges and universities are rolling out their rosters of graduation speakers.

This year’s lineup features a mix of entertainers and executives, scholars and athletes, and public servants and artists.

Here’s who’s speaking at 2026 commencement ceremonies across Massachusetts.

• Babson College will welcome two prominent business figures at its May 16 ceremonies: C. Dean Metropoulos ’67, MBA’68 — a Babson alum who built the family investment firm Metropoulos & Co. and holds a minority stake in the New England Patriots — will address undergraduates; while Adriana Cisneros, chief executive of the multinational Cisneros enterprise, will speak at the graduate ceremony, also on May 16.
• Bentley University has tapped a pair of regional business leaders for its May commencement weekend. Jon Bernstein, PNC Bank’s New England regional president, will address graduates of the McCallum Graduate School of Business at its 51st commencement on May 15. The next day, Sarah Iselin, who leads Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts as president and CEO, will keynote the university’s 107th undergraduate ceremony on May 16.
• Berklee College of Music will bestow honorary Doctor of Music degrees on three Grammy-winning artists at its May 9 ceremony at Boston University’s Agganis Arena: vocalist and songwriter Jill Scott, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Jacob Collier, and Berklee alumnus Vinnie Colaiuta ’75.
• Boston College has chosen Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher for its 150th Commencement Exercises on May 18. Gallagher is the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations — a role that functions as the Catholic Church’s top foreign-policy post.
• Boston University has not yet announced its commencement speaker. The name is expected to be revealed at the Senior Breakfast on May 1.
• Brandeis University will mark its 75th Commencement on May 17 with two high-profile speakers: Sheryl Sandberg, the entrepreneur, philanthropist, and former tech executive who has written extensively on leadership and resilience, and Isabel Wilkerson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author of “The Warmth of Other Suns” and “Caste.”
• Bridgewater State University has not yet announced its commencement speaker. The undergraduate and graduate ceremonies will take place on May 14.
• Bunker Hill Community College will hold its 52nd Commencement on May 21 at MGM Fenway Music Hall in Boston. Boston City Councilor At-Large Ruthzee Louijeune will deliver the keynote address.
• College of the Holy Cross will hear from Charlie Baker — former two-term Massachusetts governor and current president of the NCAA — at its commencement ceremony on May 22.
• Emerson College is bringing back one of its own for the Class of 2026. Henry Winkler ’67, LHD ’78, the Emmy-winning actor, producer, director, and author, will deliver the keynote commencement address on May 9 at the Wang Theatre in Boston. Graduate hooding ceremonies will be held the previous day on May 8.
• Emmanuel College has named Sr. Mary Johnson, SNDdeN ’79, Congregational Leader for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and an Emmanuel alumna, as its 2026 commencement speaker. She will also receive an honorary degree.
• Endicott College will welcome Soledad O’Brien, an award-winning journalist, documentarian, and media entrepreneur, as the speaker at its 86th Commencement on May 16 at Hempstead Stadium.
• Fisher College has invited Josh Kraft, the longtime Boston nonprofit leader who ran for mayor last year, to deliver the commencement address at its May 9 undergraduate ceremony in the Back Bay.
• Fitchburg State University will hear from Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, who will deliver the keynote address at the university’s undergraduate commencement on May 16.
• Framingham State University has chosen Sheena Collier, founder and CEO of Boston While Black, to address undergraduate degree recipients at commencement on May 23.
• Harvard University will bring back one of its most beloved alumni for its 375th Commencement on May 28: Conan O’Brien, the comedian, writer, and television host, will serve as principal speaker and will also receive an honorary degree.
• Massachusetts College of Art and Design will celebrate the next generation of artists at its May 21 commencement at Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston. Dr. Sarah Lewis — a Harvard scholar, author, and founder of the civic initiative Vision & Justice, where she examines the intersection of art, race, and democracy — will deliver the address and receive an honorary degree.
• Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences will feature two speakers at its May 7 ceremonies at Leader Bank Pavilion: TJ Parker, who co-founded the pharmacy startup PillPack, and Megan R. Brown, a senior executive at Pfizer.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology will hear from one of its most distinguished alumni at its May 28 commencement: Lisa Su ’90, SM ’91, PhD ’94, chair and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices.
• Merrimack College has not yet announced its commencement speaker. Commencement ceremonies will take place on May 14 and 15.
• Mount Holyoke College will celebrate commencement on May 24 at Pageant Green, with Beverly Guy-Sheftall, a pioneering Black feminist scholar, as the primary speaker.
• New England Conservatory will feature mezzo-soprano and NEC alumna Denyce Graves ’88 as the commencement speaker. Jazz saxophonist and educator Gary Bartz and Gary Dunning, president and executive director of Vivo Performing Arts (formerly Celebrity Series of Boston), will each receive honorary Doctor of Music degrees. Matthew Shifrin ’21, ’23 MM will speak as the alumni representative.
• New England Law will hold its 2026 commencement on May 15 at the Boch Center Wang Theatre. The Hon. Denise J. Casper, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, will address graduates and receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws.

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  Hilary Duff will be Northeastern University’s 2026 commencement speaker
  

• Northeastern University will hold its commencement ceremonies at Fenway Park on April 29 — notably earlier than most schools. Singer and actress Hilary Duff will address undergraduates, while Alan McKim, founder of environmental services company Clean Harbors, will speak at the graduate ceremony.
• Roxbury Community College will mark its 50th Commencement on May 15. Dr. Suzanne Elise Walsh, president of City University in Seattle and board chair of Achieving the Dream, will serve as the keynote speaker.
• Salem State University has named David R. Masse ’86, a Salem State alumnus and entrepreneur who founded AAM15 Management and Georgetown Capital Management, as the honorary degree recipient and commencement speaker for the Bertolon School of Business. The ceremony takes place May 15.
• Simmons College will feature multiple speakers and honorees at its May 15 commencement. Bestselling author Gregory Maguire ’78 MA, best known for “Wicked,” will speak at the morning ceremony and receive a Doctor of Arts degree. Dr. Anthony Estreet, CEO of the National Association of Social Workers, will speak in the afternoon and receive a Doctor of Law degree. Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll will offer special remarks at the morning ceremony and also receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
• Smith College will award honorary degrees — and invite each recipient to speak — at its May 17 commencement. Honorees include Dawn Staley, the Hall of Fame basketball player, Olympic gold medalist, and transformative University of South Carolina head coach; Chizuko Ueno, a groundbreaking Japanese sociologist and feminist theorist; and Carol Hillman ’49, a longtime environmental advocate and leader in early childhood education.
• Stonehill College will celebrate its 75th Commencement on May 17 with Leo J. Meehan III ’75 as keynote speaker. Meehan is president and CEO of W.B. Mason Company, the office supply giant headquartered in Brockton.
• Suffolk University will hold its 2026 Commencement ceremonies at Leader Bank Pavilion on May 17, awarding honorary degrees to three leaders. Robert Lamb, chair of the Suffolk Board of Trustees, will address the Sawyer Business School ceremony at 9 a.m.; U.S. Representative Ro Khanna will speak at the College of Arts & Sciences ceremony at 1:30 p.m.; and Cheree McAlpine, JD ’94, chief legal officer at Zoom, will address the Law School ceremony at 5:30 p.m.
• Tufts University has chosen Ken Frazier, former president, CEO and executive chairman of Merck (and now chairman of General Catalyst’s health initiatives), to deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2026 on May 17.
• University of Massachusetts Amherst will hold its 156th Commencement on May 15 at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Kimberly S. Budd, the 38th Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, will deliver the keynote address and receive an honorary degree.
• University of Massachusetts Boston has not yet announced speakers for its spring ceremonies. The undergraduate commencement is scheduled for May 28, with graduate commencement and the All-College Doctoral Hooding ceremony both on May 27.
• Wellesley College will hear from Ruth J. Simmons, a trailblazing figure in American higher education and recipient of the National Humanities Medal, at its 148th commencement exercises on May 15.
• Williams College has announced a two-day celebration for its 237th Commencement. On June 6, former ABC News anchor Dan Harris will deliver the Baccalaureate lecture. The following day, on June 7, Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant will serve as principal speaker at the commencement ceremony.
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute will feature two well-known figures at its DCU Center ceremonies. Will.i.am, the artist, technology entrepreneur, and philanthropist, will address undergraduates at the May 15 ceremony. Lisa Barton, president and CEO of Alliant Energy and a WPI electrical engineering alumna, will speak at the graduate ceremony on May 14.

Annie Jonas is a Community writer at Boston.com. She was previously a local editor at Patch and a freelancer at the Financial Times.

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