Class Day

Columbia College Class Day Speaker List
(in no particular order):

• Warren Buffet, Columbia B-School
  CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and businessman extraordinaire. Remember when he backed Goldman Sachs earlier this year? We do.
• Barack Obama, CC ‘83
  He is the President Elect of the United States. Kind of a big deal right now.
• David Paterson CC ‘77
  The first African American and blind man to hold the position. He has thus far illustrated incredible “vision” for the state of New York, and currently is deciding on the senate replacement Secretary of State Designate Hillary Clinton.
• Benjamin Jealous CC ‘94
  Now president of the NAACP, previously served at Amnesty International as the director of the US Human Rights Program.
• Eric Holder CC ’73, Law 76
  The first black Attorney-General Designate, Eric Holder formerly held the post of deputy Attorney-General under President Clinton.
• Maggie Gyllenhall CC ‘99
  Beautiful actress, she is best known for her roles in, Dark Knight, Donnie Darco, Mona Lisa Smile (alongside fellow alumna Juil Stiles), and let’s just say a whole let of other flicks.
• Paul Auster CC ‘69
  Renowned author, he is best known for a series of New York detective novels penned under the pseudonym, Paul Benjamin
• Julius Genachowski
  Obama’s tech and finance guru, he will definitely be appointed to the incoming administrator and is rumored to be the favorite for the newly established position of Chief Technology Officer. Obama likes technology, we like Columbia, we like a Columbia alum running the country’s technology. Simple logic.
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg Law ‘59
  The second female to hold the position of Supreme Court Justice, she was appointed by President Clinton. Prior to serving on the Court, she was the first director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project in the 1970s.
• Seymour Hersh, Parent ‘04
  Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist and author, he contributes regularly to the New Yorker. Best known for his work on Abu Ghraib
• Art Garfunkel, CC 65
  One half of Simon and Garfunkel and a V-Show alum.
• Marcus Brauchli, CC ‘83
  Managing editor of the Wall Street Journal
• Marcellus Wiley, CC ‘97
  Drafted to the NFL in 1997 by the Buffalo Bills, he went on to play for the Chargers, Cowboys and Jaguars. He is now an analyst for NFL Live on ESPN.
• Lawrence Brilliant, M.D, Parent ‘07
  He is the Executive Director of Google.org, Google INC.’s philanthropic branch. While working at the World Health Organization, he focused on eradicating small pox.
• Alexandra Wallace CC ‘88
  Executive producer of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, she is the first woman to lead a nightly newscast in a decade. She has also covered Hurricane Katrina and the death of Pope John Paul II.
• Fred Katayama CC ‘82
  Correspondent for CNN Business News and Money Line, he received an Honorable Mention from the Asian American Journalist Association.
• Terrence Mcnally CC ‘60
  Phi-Beta Kappa while at Columbia, this American playwright has received 4 Tony Awards, Two Guggenheim Fellowships, and a lot more hardware than the Columbia Athletic Department.
• Kenneth Cole, Parent ‘10
  CEO of Kenneth Cole, this clothing designer and social promoter’s name speaks for itself. Check your shirt label.
• Emanuel Ax CC ‘70
  Prominent figure in the classical music scene, this pianist has 7 Grammy Awards, three of which were earned for collaborations with Yoyo Ma
• Vikram Pandit, M.S. in electrical engineering , M.B.A 1977 and 1980 respectively and Ph.D. in finance from Columbia Business School in 1986.
  Columbia Trustee and CEO of yet-to-be bankrupt Citigroup, he joined the firm when it was already in financial turmoil and has made a gallant attempt to bring about stability in these stormy economic times.

Speaker Selection Process

1. During the fall semester all seniors have an opportunity to submit their nominations for class day speaker via this webpage (check back later for a form) or by email (ccsc09@columbia.edu).
2. Using a combination of your nominations and suggestions from the administration, the Senior Class Council will compile an ordered “wish list” of 5-8 speakers.
3. This list will be submitted to the office of Dean Quigley for review.
4. Traditionally Dean Quigley has then extended formal invitations for Class Day Speaker by following the order of our list.

Little known facts

Yes Harvard had JK Rowling, but at Columbia we pride ourselves on only inviting members of the “Columbia Community.” There are several reasons for this, but one key one is that the class day speaker is an honor bestowed on a prominent alumnus and the only opportunity during the graduation ceremonies for such a figure to directly address the student body. Secondly, Columbia does not pay honorariums to the Class Day Speaker, making it all the more important that they have a direct connection to the University.

Gradzone

Gradzone is a site designed by the administration to centralize all the information you need to know about, surprisingly, graduation. This includes the application process for awards, notifications for class day and commencement, and important information on applying for your degree.

Awards

Senior year is full of accolades. Please check out Gradzone for information on becoming a Senior Marshal, as well as the many other prestigious awards bestowed upon seniors!