Past commencement speakers

Year

Date announced by The Tech

Commencement speaker and affiliation

2014

Nov. 12

Ellen Kullman, DuPont CEO and chairwoman

2013

Nov. 13

Drew W. Houston ’05, CEO and founder of Dropbox

2012

Dec. 6

Salman A. Khan ’98, founder of Khan Academy

2011

Nov. 9

Ursula M. Burns, CEO of Xerox

2010

Mar. 16

Raymond S. Stata ’57, founder of Analog Devices

2009

Feb. 10

Deval Patrick, Massachusetts Governor

2008

Dec. 7

Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner

2007

Mar. 13

Charles M. Vest, professor of Mechanial Engineering (at the time) and former president of MIT

2006

Dec. 13

Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of Federal Reserve Board

2005

Apr. 12

Irwin M. Jacobs ’57, co-founder/chairman/CEO of Qualcomm

2004

Mar. 9

Elias Zerhouni, Director of NIH

2003

Apr. 1

George Mitchell, former U.S. Senator

2002

Feb. 26

James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank

2001

Mar. 23

Daniel Goldin, NASA Administrator

2000

Mar. 14

Carly Fiorina, President & CEO, Hewlett-Packard

1999

Apr. 2

Tom ’58 & Ray Magliozzi ’72, MIT alums and hosts of NPR’s “Car Talk”

1998

Feb. 24

William Jefferson Clinton, U.S. President, and David Ho, Director of Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center

1997

Jan. 29

Kofi Annan SM ’72, United Nations Secretary-General

1996

Mar. 1

Albert Gore, Vice President of the United States

1995

Apr. 21

Hanna H. Gray, President Emeritus of the University of Chicago

1994

Feb. 15

Karim Aga Khan IV, spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims

1993

Jan. 13

Carlos Salinas de Gortari, President of the Mexico

1992

Mar. 31

Leslie Aspin PhD ’66, Congressman from Wisconsin; chairman of the House Armed Services Committee

1991

Mar. 13

Walter E. Massey, director of the National Science Foundation

1990

Dec. 5

Virgilio Barco ’43, President of the Republic of Colombia

1989

Feb. 14

Paul E. Tsongas, chairman of the Board of Regents of Higher Education of Massachusetts; former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

1988

Feb. 12

A. Bartlett Giamatti, president of the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs; former president of Yale University

1987

Feb. 3

Kenneth H. Olsen ’50, founder and president of Digital Equipment Corp.

1986

Feb. 4

William R. Hewlett SM ’36, vice chairman of the board of directors, Hewlett-Packard

1985

Jan. 23

Lee A. Iacocca, chairman of the board and CEO, Chrysler Corp.

1984

Feb. 7

Shirley Chisholm, former Congresswoman of Brooklyn, NY

1983

Feb. 8

Helmut Schmidt, former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany

1982

Mar. 5

Katharine Graham, chairman of the board and CEO, Washington Post Co.

1981

Mar. 20

Paul E. Gray’54, MIT president elected that academic year