Commencement 2023

David Zaslav (LAW’85), President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, Is BU’s 150th Commencement Speaker

Class of 2023 celebrated at the biggest ever Senior Breakfast

Seniors cheered when BU President Robert A. Brown announced that US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson will receive an honorary degree at this year’s Commencement ceremony.

David Zaslav (LAW’85), president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, will deliver Boston University’s 150th Commencement address on Sunday, May 21, on Nickerson Field. 

BU President Robert A. Brown shared the news Thursday morning during the Class of 2023 Senior Breakfast at the George Sherman Union’s Metcalf Ballroom. An estimated 2,500 students were in attendance, making it the largest Senior Breakfast in history. In addition to the ballroom, students were seated in the GSU food court, which was appropriately decked out for the occasion, with white tablecloths, a jazz band, and a big-screen TV that aired the ceremony live. 

The reading of Zaslav’s name received tepid applause from students in the ballroom. But alums’ response on social media immediately after the breakfast was of disappointment—and even anger. Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are currently on strike for fair pay, and as CEO of a major media conglomerate, Zaslav is one of many Hollywood executives at the center of these negotiations.

“How many of your alumni—especially my fellow COM alumni—are on the picket right now, fighting for fair wages while execs like Zaslav sit pretty?” one comment on BU’s Instagram page said. “I’m just saying, if I were graduating this year, my cap and gown would be decorated with some pro-WGA sentiments. That’d be pretty cool to see, especially from COM…” said another alum on Twitter.

Addressing the graduating seniors, Brown said that he never could have imagined that they would have had such a tumultuous college career, referencing the COVID-19 pandemic that sent them home second semester of their freshman year and then led to a “complicated” return that following fall. “Do you know how many PCR tests you had? But you made it!” Brown said.

Zaslav will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at the Commencement ceremony, Brown said. He also announced the other honorary degree recipients: US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (news of her degree received massive applause); renowned vaccine researcher Drew Weissman (CAMED’87, GRS’87); philanthropist and professional clarinetist Edward Avedisian (CFA’59,’61, Hon.’22), who died in December 2022; his wife, philanthropist and musician Pamela Avedisian; and longtime BU trustee Stephen R. Karp (CAS’63), founder and chair of New England Development. Rev. Robert Allan Hill, dean of Marsh Chapel, will give the Baccalaureate speech on Commencement morning in Marsh Chapel.

Musical performances by the Terpsichore a cappella group and the John R. Silber Symphonic Organ kicked off the start of Thursday’s breakfast. Next, event emcee Jason Campbell-Foster, interim associate provost and dean of students, sent a camera crew to check in on the student crowd watching from downstairs, before Hill delivered his invocation. Seniors then enjoyed a meal of spinach and mozzarella strata and chicken apple sausage while listening to throwback songs like Ed Sheeran’s “Beautiful People” and laughing through a slideshow of BU and pop culture highlights over the last four years.

Young alumni speaker Morgan Chalue (CFA’16, MET’20) brought everyone back to the program after they finished eating. “I hope you will find fulfillment in something bigger than yourself, and find meaning in your work, even if that seems hard in your first job,” he said. “Your [BU friends] are a chosen family you can always depend on. I’m proud to be a BU alum and proud to welcome you into the BU community.”

Class Gift committee member Dumebi Onogwu (CAS’23) then announced that the Class Gift—which supports programs like scholarships, student life, and athletics—has already raised a record-breaking $48,434; she encouraged her classmates to keep donating. After a brief rundown of Commencement dos and don’ts (small purses only, pointy heels are not Nickerson Field turf-friendly, and a prompt 12:15 pm arrival, please), and the news that business administration and management major Sumner Jones (Questrom’23) will be the Commencement student speaker, Brown announced the honorary degree recipients. 

Zaslav became fascinated with the ins and outs of entertainment law while a student at the School of Law. He graduated with his Juris Doctor degree in 1985, and practiced law in New York City before joining NBCUniversal in 1989, where he was formative in developing the business channel CNBC and political news outlet MSNBC. In 2006, he became CEO of Discovery Communications and oversaw the launch of specialty channels, including HGTV, Food Network, and Animal Planet. In April 2022, he oversaw the (reported) $40 billion merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery to create Warner Bros. Discovery. His efforts earned him a spot on Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list that same year. 

Zaslav is also known for his charitable work. He partnered with Steven Spielberg (Hon.’09) and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum to create the Auschwitz: The Past is Present committee, which swiftly worked to record the stories of concentration camp survivors and liberators, who are quickly dwindling due to their advanced age.

Jackson was sworn in as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court in June 2022. She is the first Black woman justice and first former public defender to be appointed to the court. The daughter of two public school teachers (her father went back to school and became a lawyer), she attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School before clerking for the Supreme Court justice she eventually replaced, Stephen Breyer (Hon.’95). After working in private practice, Jackson became an assistant federal public defender, and then served four years as a vice chair and commissioner on the US Sentencing Commission.

In 2012, President Barack Obama nominated her to the US District Court for the District of Columbia. She served nine years until President Joe Biden appointed her to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the next year nominated her to the US Supreme Court. She is the third Black justice to serve on the US Supreme Court and its sixth woman. She will deliver the School of Law’s convocation address on Commencement morning and will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws.

Weissman is the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research and the director of the Institute for RNA Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania. Almost two decades ago, he started his lab at UPenn to study RNA and innate immune system biology. His work alongside colleague Katalin Karikó made messenger RNA safe and effective to use, and their findings helped develop the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in 2021. The pair ​​received the Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award that same year, widely regarded as America’s top biomedical research prize. Currently, Weissman and his research team are deploying this same technology to develop cancer therapeutics and vaccines for influenza and HIV. In addition, they are working to develop a “pan-coronavirus vaccine” that could be used to prevent a future pandemic. 

Weissman’s many honors include being elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He was also named one of Time magazine’s Heroes of the Year in 2021. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Science.

Edward Avedisian was a career clarinetist who played with the renowned Boston Pops and Boston Ballet Orchestra. Over the course of more than four decades, he appeared with numerous orchestras, where he backed megastars, including Luciano Pavarotti, Whitney Houston, and even Big Bird. While music was his first love, he was also a self-taught investor, and managed to turn his modest musician’s salary into a fortune, according to his recent BU Today obituary. He was dedicated to supporting philanthropic causes in the United States and Armenia. His family suffered losses in the early 20th century Armenian genocide, which is estimated to have killed 1.5 million people. 

He made headlines in 2022 when he gave $100 million to the University’s medical school in the name of his childhood friend, Aram Chobanian (Hon.’06), president emeritus of Boston University. The Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine Endowed Fund supports scholarships, endowed professorships, and cutting-edge teaching and research. His donation approximately doubled the amount of scholarship aid the medical school can offer. Edward Avedisian was awarded his honorary degree—a Doctor of Humane Letters—in a private ceremony in December 2022. He passed away several days later, surrounded by family.

Pamela Avedisian has spent her life combining her love of music and philanthropy. As an undergraduate at nearby Endicott College, she met Edward, who, at the time, was the school’s choral director. She went on to become a legal secretary at a top Boston law firm for more than 20 years, and still plays piano and organ. 

Avedisian shared her husband’s passion for supporting Armenian causes. She is a longtime member of the Armenian Missionary Association of America’s Boston Orphan & Child Care Committee. 

A new professorship at the College of Fine Arts—the Pamela Avedisian Endowed Fellowship Fund for Performance Music—was bestowed by her late husband. She will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters.

After Karp graduated from BU in 1963, he launched a career in construction and real estate. He convinced his employer at the time to help him successfully develop the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, Mass., one of the first enclosed malls in the Northeast, and went on to found New England Development, which is today one of the nation’s largest commercial development firms. The company has developed outlet centers and malls, airport retail, marinas, golf courses, and planned communities.

A longtime trustee at Boston University, Karp chaired the Finance and Budget, Governance, and Investment Committees during his tenure on the board, as well as serving on the Real Estate Committee. He is a current member of the board of trustees for the International Council of Shopping Centers, and serves on the board of several nonprofits, including Boston Children’s Hospital, Nantucket Cottage Hospital, and Belmont Hill School. He will receive a Doctor of Laws.

Seniors laughed through a slideshow of BU and pop culture highlights over the last four years. Above, Isaiah Crayton (CAS’23) (from left, left photo), PJ Samuels (CAS’23), and Eric Jackson III (ENG’23); and Mia Kikuchi (Sargent’23) (from left, right photo), Emily Feng (CAS’23), and Elaine Park (CAS’23).

At the breakfast, Brown also announced the recipients of the University’s highest teaching honors, the Metcalf Cup and Prize and Metcalf Awards for Excellence in Teaching. The top honor, the Cup and Prize, will be awarded to Karin S. Hendricks, a College of Fine Arts associate professor of music. The Excellence in Teaching awards will go to Joanna Davidson, a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of anthropology and associate director of Kilachand Honors College, and Stephanie Byttebier, a College of General Studies senior lecturer in rhetoric. The three will be honored during the main Commencement ceremony.

Anthony Harrison (CAS’81), president of the BU Alumni Association, and Dhruv Kapadia (CAS’24), Student Government president, announced this year’s Senior Week lineup, which includes a takeover of Time Out Market, an outing to Six Flags theme park, two Red Sox games at Fenway Park, and a carnival and barbecue on the BU Beach. 

Campbell-Foster closed the event by thanking Brown for his service to BU. “Dr. Brown, your leadership, unrelenting pursuit of excellence, and deep Terrier pride has made this slice of Commonwealth Avenue such a wonderful place,” he said. “Congratulations to both you and Dr. Beverly Brown as you head out on your next adventure.”

Seniors can donate to the Class Gift here. Find more information about Commencement on the Commencement website.