Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve Chairman who purposely plunged the United States into a recession in order to drastically reduce the inflation rate, will speak at the McDonough School of Business’s commencement. Volcker served under Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987.
“We’re all a little jealous of the MSB for once. Their speaker’s great,” Ryan Gelinas (SFS ‘07), President of the School of Foreign Service Academic Council, said.
Dr. Jessica Tuchman Mathews, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, will speak at the SFS’s graduation ceremony.
Gelinas declined to comment on the SFS’s speaker for this year, saying that he would reserve his judgments until after Mathew’s speech. He did note that Mathews was not on the list of 120 candidates the SFS Academic Council compiled from students’ picks.
“A lot of people that get on that list are either jokes, unrealistic, or people we’ve already had,” Gelinas said, explaining that although Bill Clinton always tops everyone’s lists, he is not eligible because he’s already spoken at the University.
Reverend Jim Wallis, Founder of Sojourners magazine will be speaking at the College’s commencement. A resident of D.C. and a liberal evangelical, Wallis is nationally renowned as a bestselling author, preacher and political activist.
Associate Dean for the College, Anne Sullivan, characterized the process of selecting speakers as “long and complex.” The four schools have slightly different processes for choosing their speakers —the SFS Academic Council polls their seniors while the College Academic Council puts a few student representatives on the College Executive Councilshy;—but all of the nominations must be approved by the Executive Board of Directors. Once candidates are approved, each school’s dean starts making calls to see who they can get.
Sullivan has attended graduations since 1972, and of the many speakers she’s heard, three stand out in her memory – and Bill Clinton isn’t one of them.
“It was a boring speech: too long, way too long,” Sullivan said.
Joseph Corcoran (COL ‘07) expressed disappointment in the College’s selection of Jim Wallis for its speaker.
“The students I’ve talked to have either not known who he was, or thought that he was slightly more obscure than what they would expect of a Georgetown commencement speaker. I don’t think he has had the major impact on society that someone like Volcker has,” Corcoran said, adding, “The MSB and the SFS both have very good speakers this year. I think the tradition of Georgetown College is to get speakers who, like Cardinal Arinze in 2003, appeal to people primarily interested in the University’s religious identity.”
Dr. Derek Yach will speak at the School of Nursing and Health Studies’s commencement. Director of Global Health Policy of PepsiCo since February 2007, Yach was previously an executive director within the World Health Organization. During his time working with the WHO, Yach helped to develop the Health for All Policy, which was adopted in 1998 by the World Health Assembly.
Tim Shannon (NHS ‘07), Vice President of the NHS Academic Council, said that an administrator told him the selection is “a pretty shady process,” but that, based on the faculty members he’s talked to, Yach sounds interesting.
“I’m eager to hear his speech,” Shannon said.
Is there any way to get a copy (audio or video) of this speech? I was there and listened to an amazing speech but can’t remember the name of the person who gave it. I think it could’ve been Paul Volcker but could also have been someone who worked at the university.
Thanks!