On Monday, President Shirley Ann Jackson announced that Harvard professor David Gergen will be the commencement speaker for 2008.
The 202nd commencement ceremony is scheduled to be held at 9:30 am on May 17 at Harkness Field.
At the ceremony, honorary degrees will be presented to Gergen as well as Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman and Charles F. Bolden, Jr., a former astronaut and retired major general of the United States Marine Corps.
Gergen serves as a professor of public service at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also the director of the Center for Public Leadership at the School, and the author of the book Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton.
Additionally, he is editor-at-large for U.S. News and World Report and has made appearances on “Anderson Cooper 360” on CNN as a senior political analyst and on various other shows, such as MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.”
Gergen was director of communications for President Ronald Reagan and worked in President Bill Clinton’s administration as counselor on foreign policy and domestic affairs.
Gergen received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1963 and his law degree in 1967 from Harvard University. He also served in the United States Navy for three and a half years.
