Speakers
Honorary Degree Recipients and Speakers
Extraordinary and impactful national leaders helped celebrate the accomplishments of Michigan State University’s 2023 graduates during its commencement ceremonies this past spring.
Undergraduate Student Speakers
The Senior Class Council will select a graduating senior to represent the Class of 2023 at each Undergraduate Ceremony. Speeches are to be no more than five minutes and should be attention-grabbing, personally meaningful and engaging to your fellow graduating seniors. The Council memo and application for the Fall 2023 semester are available below. Materials must be submitted no later than Wednesday, October 18, 2023 at 5:00 p.m.
Speaker Recommendations
We invite Michigan State University undergraduate and graduate students to submit names of notable persons for consideration as speakers at the central undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies. The nominees should be individuals whose accomplishments and values are exemplary. The speaker selections should enhance the ceremonies without deflecting attention from the graduates, whose academic achievements are being recognized.
Guidelines for selection, as defined by past student committees, include the following:
- Someone having broad appeal. A speaker who will recognize that the commencement audience is a large group of individuals with a diverse range of values, interests and concerns.
- The speaker will deliver an appropriate message. Keep in mind that the commencement address is unidirectional. The audience does not respond.
- Someone who is motivational.
- Someone with name or with national and/or international standing.
- Someone who is considered an exemplary role model.
- Someone who is interesting and engaging.
Lists of nominees will be compiled and shared with the president. Final selections rest with the president of the university. Please be aware that identifying and securing external speakers is a complex process involving many considerations and requiring a firm commitment on the part of those invited.
Please include with your recommendation a brief identification of the individual being nominated and the ceremony (graduate or undergraduate; semester and year) for which you are nominating the person. Be aware that selection and arrangements normally take a minimum of six months to complete.
Email recommendations to commencement@msu.edu
