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Class of 2007

Browse commencement speeches from 2007, including addresses by Bill Gates, Frank McCourt, and Charles Vest. Each record links to the available source material, transcript, video, and archive context.

21 addresses 10 themes 6 highlights

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Highlights from 2007

Records with stronger source signals, summaries, transcripts, videos, or visual archive material.

  01     Bill Gates Harvard University Bill Gates reflects humorously on his time at Harvard before dropping out to found Microsoft, then turns to the global inequities in health, wealth, and opportunity he only learned about after leaving. He argues that the barrier to addressing such problems is not lack of caring but complexity, and outlines a method—see the problem, find a solution, measure the impact—for cutting through it. He calls on Harvard and its graduates to dedicate their talent and the new tools of technology to reducing the world's deepest inequities. 
Photo: Bogdan Hoyaux / European Union  /  CC BY 4.0  /  source    InfographicSummaryTranscriptVideoOfficial source   02     Frank McCourt Syracuse University Frank McCourt reflects humorously on his 30-year career teaching high school in New York City, describing how he learned about himself by shedding the 'teacher mask' and admitting his own ignorance. He recounts how his students' constant questions about his life eventually inspired him to write his books after retirement. He closes by urging graduates to free themselves from imposed dogma, to find what they love and do it, rather than chasing security and comfort.    InfographicSummaryTranscript   03     Charles Vest Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT President Emeritus Charles Vest addresses graduates on the themes of opportunity and service, recounting how unexpected opportunities shaped his career, including being rejected for a faculty post and later being asked to serve as MIT's president. He surveys the accelerating pace of technological change and the frontiers of information technology and life science, urging graduates to confront the ethical questions these powers raise. He closes by affirming optimism, arguing that knowledge and skill can make the world well and that embracing service brings fulfillment.    InfographicSummaryOfficial source   04     Dana Gioia Stanford University Dana Gioia argues that American culture increasingly ignores artists, intellectuals, and scientists in favor of celebrity and commercial entertainment, and that this shift impoverishes public life and offers fewer meaningful role models to the young. He contends that education, especially arts education in public schools, is the primary social force that can counterbalance the market's reduction of everything to price, and that its true purpose is to create complete human beings rather than merely more artists. He also faults artists and intellectuals for losing their ability to converse with the broader public, and cites studies linking arts participation and reading to greater civic engagement.    InfographicSummaryVideo   05     Larry Bock University of California, Berkeley Larry Bock, a start-up entrepreneur, shares five life lessons with UC Berkeley chemistry graduates, drawing from personal hardships including vision loss, family tragedies, and a near breakdown. He advises valuing relationships and true accomplishments over material success, embracing happiness at each milestone, balancing chutzpah with humility, and treating failure as preparation for success. He closes by charging graduates to use their chemistry education to solve global problems.    InfographicSummaryOfficial source   06     Madeleine Albright Wellesley College Madeleine Albright addresses the Wellesley College class of 2007, reflecting on her own years at the college and the changed pace of the modern world. She warns of the dark side of globalization, including inequality and environmental harm, and urges graduates to take up the work of leadership. Drawing on the example of a Flight 93 passenger and figures like Gandhi and Mandela, she encourages students to act boldly, defend liberty, and lead with both conviction and respect for others.    InfographicSummaryVideo   

Represented themes

Common ideas classified across this year's speeches.

Purpose & Meaning 7 Public Service & Civic Life 4 Identity & Authenticity 3 Technology & Science 3 Resilience 3 Hope & Optimism 5 Global Responsibility 4 Social Justice & Equality 4 Failure 3 Curiosity & Learning 2

All 2007 addresses

Complete archive records for this year, sorted by institution.

Connecticut College

Edwin O. Smith High School

Harvard University

Howard University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Niagara University

Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider

Niagara University

Rev. Joseph L. Levesque

Niagara University

Ohio Northern University

Rice University

Omid Kordestani

San Jose State University

Alice Greenwald

Sarah Lawrence College

Stanford University

Syracuse University

The Catholic University of America

University of California, Berkeley

Wake Forest University

Madeleine Albright

Wellesley College

Wilkes University

Williams College

Yale University