Past Commencement Speakers
Gettysburg College graduates are inspired to Do Great Work by an outstanding speaker at the Commencement Ceremony. Past Commencement speakers have included a Supreme Court Justice, Pulitzer Prize winner, Nobel Prize for Peace recipient, military leaders, members of state and national government, social justice and humanitarian leaders, and many other representatives from a vast array of backgrounds.
| Year | Recipient(s) | Vocation |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Kate O. Anderson '09 | Songwriter |
| 2025 | Carol Daly Cantele '83 | Hall of Fame Coach |
| 2024 | Debra Martin Chase | Tony Award winning producer |
| 2023 | Wendy R. Sherman | U.S. Deputy Secretary of State |
| 2022 | Stephanie Murphy | U.S. Congresswoman (Florida) |
| 2021 | Michael Brown | Co-founder and senior advisor of City Year |
| 2020 | Lauren W. Bright ’90 | Director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation |
| 2019 | Jerry Spinelli '63 | Author |
| 2018 | Howard Fineman | Journalist |
| 2017 | Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole | Educator, museum professional, and humanitarian |
| 2016 | Cokie and Steve Roberts | Journalists |
| 2015 | Charles Bolden Jr. | Administrator, NASA |
| 2014 | Flora Darpino ’83 | Lieutenant General, Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army |
| 2013 | David Gergen | Political commentator, journalist and former presidential advisor |
| 2012 | Jacqueline Novogratz | Founder and CEO of Acumen Fund |
| 2011 | Gwendolyn Dungy | Executive director of NASPA |
| 2010 | Robert Egger | President and founder of D.C. Central Kitchen |
| 2009 | Judy Woodruff and Al Hunt | TV journalists |
| 2008 | Sandra Day O'Connor | Former Supreme Court Justice |
| 2007 | Harold Prince | American theatrical producer and director |
| 2006 | Bruce Gordon '68 | Former president of NAACP |
| 2005 | Fred Fielding '61 | White House counsel, served on 9/11 Commission |
| 2004 | David W. Hartman '72 | First blind person to graduate from medical school |
| 2003 | Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell | Judge, First Lady of Pennsylvania |
| 2002 | Senator George Mitchell | Former Senator of Maine |
| 2001 | Mel Martinez | Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development |
| 2000 | John Hope Franklin | Historian |
| 1999 | Mary Frances Berry | Professor |
| 1998 | Richard D. Schultz | Executive director of U.S. Olympic Committee |
| 1997 | Bill Cosby | Comedian |
| 1996 | Jonathan Spence | Historian |
| 1995 | Richard Riley | U.S. Secretary of Education |
| 1994 | Andrew Rooney | TV news correspondent |
| 1993 | Randall Robinson | Executive Director of TransAfrica |
| 1992 | Noam Chomsky | Political activist |
| 1991 | James McPherson | Pulitzer Prize winner and historian |
| 1990 | Betty Williams | Winner of Nobel Prize for Peace in 1977 |
| 1989 | Charles E. Glassick | Former president of Gettysburg College |
| 1988 | Joyce Carol Oates | Author |
| 1987 | Garrison Keillor | Humorist |
| 1986 | Joyce Brothers | Psychologist |
| 1985 | John Houseman | Actor |
| 1984 | Margaret Kuhn | National Convener of the Gray Panthers |
| 1983 | Gov. William Scranton | Former Governor of Pennsylvania |
| 1982 | Drew Lewis | U.S. Secretary of Transportation |
| 1981 | Isaac Asimov | Science fiction writer |
| 1980 | Russell W. Peterson | CEO of National Audubon Society |
| 1979 | Joe Paterno | Penn State University football coach |
| 1978 | Judge John Sirica | United States District Court for District of Columbia |
| 1977 | Tom Pettit | Broadcast journalist |
| 1976 | Shana Alexander | Journalist |
| 1975 | James D. St.Clair | Attorney |
| 1974 | Albert H. Quie | Former U.S. Congressman |
| 1973 | Carol K. Bellamy ‘63 | Former N.Y. Senator, director of Peace Corps, UNICEF |
| 1972 | Glenn Olds | Former president of Kent State University |
| 1971 | William F. Buckley | Author |
| 1970 | Hugh Scott | Former U.S. Senator of PA |
| 1969 | James A. Colston | Former president of Bronx Community College |
| 1968 | Charles Lucet | Former French Ambassador to U.S. |
| 1967 | Harold Brown | |
| 1966 | Sanford S. Atwood | |
| 1965 | Harold Brayman | |
| 1964 | A. G. D. Wiles | Former president of Newberry College |
| 1963 | John S. Rice | U.S. Ambassador to Netherlands |
| 1959 | Arthur S. Flemming | Former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare |