Boston University’s 151st Commencement
After a morning marked by a cold drizzle, the rain abated as approximately 3,700 members of the Class of 2024 marched onto Nickerson Field for Boston University’s 151st Commencement, where they were cheered by an estimated 20,000 family members and friends.
BU alum David Grann, the best-selling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, delivered the Commencement address. In his speech, Grann (GRS’94) recounted with humor and self-deprecation, his reporting for a New Yorker magazine story about the efforts by a giant squid hunter to capture one of the ocean’s most elusive creatures. Prior to his remarks, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
Other honorary degree recipients were Rev. Walter E. Fluker, Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Ethical Leadership at BU and the current Distinguished Professor of the Howard Thurman Center at Hartford International University for Religion & Peace, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws; Claudia Goldin, Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University and winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in economics, who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws; and trustee emeritus Kenneth Feld (Questrom’70), former trustee and chair of Boston University’s Board of Trustees and chair and CEO of Feld Entertainment, who received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
