Commencement Archive

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Class of 2008

Browse commencement speeches from 2008, including addresses by Angela Ahrendts, Billy Collins, and Oprah Winfrey. Each record links to the available source material, transcript, video, and archive context.

20 addresses 10 themes 6 highlights

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Highlights from 2008

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

  01     Angela Ahrendts Ball State University Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts returns to her alma mater to share life lessons drawn from her career in fashion, framing her speech as a personal gift to graduates. She urges them to identify their core purpose and values, pursue their dreams while managing fear, and trust their hearts and intuition. Drawing on her own journey from small-town Indiana to leading Donna Karan and Burberry, she stresses that character and emotional intelligence matter as much as education and technology.    InfographicSummaryTranscriptVideoOfficial source   02     Billy Collins Colorado College Poet Billy Collins delivers a humorous, self-deprecating commencement address that resists conventional advice and clichés about hard work and the future. He explores how we relate to time—dividing perspectives into the pragmatic and the poetic—and argues that the present can only be accessed by slowing down, as poetry teaches. He champions the theme of carpe diem and gratitude for being alive, closing with his poem 'The Lanyard' about filial gratitude.    InfographicSummaryTranscriptOfficial source   03     Oprah Winfrey Stanford University Oprah Winfrey shares three lessons drawn from her life: following your feelings, learning from failure, and finding happiness through service. She recounts her early television career, including being fired for being 'too emotional,' her finishing her college degree, and a crisis at her South African school, using each to illustrate her points. She closes by urging graduates to use their gifts in service of something larger than themselves. 
Photo: U.S. Embassy South Africa  /  Public domain  /  source    InfographicSummaryTranscriptOfficial source   04     Mike Tomlin Saint Vincent College Mike Tomlin frames his commencement address as a pregame speech to the graduating class, acknowledging that graduates are distracted and may not remember his words. He offers advice for playing the 'game of life': recognize and thank those who supported your preparation, trust your training, and understand that early successes or failures don't decide the outcome. He urges graduates to give back to their communities, play with integrity, and continue dreaming big while committing daily to make those dreams reality.    InfographicSummaryVideoOfficial source   05     Rev. David O’Connell Niagara University Rev. David O'Connell, a Niagara University alumnus, offers graduates a set of "rules to live by" for their lives after college. He encourages them to believe in themselves, respect others, put others first, live their faith, and make a difference, framing these within the university's Catholic and Vincentian identity. He emphasizes gratitude and grounds his advice in faith, scripture, and the example of St. Vincent de Paul.    InfographicSummaryTranscript   06     Tony Blair Yale University Tony Blair addresses Yale's Class of 2008, opening with humor about being the first British Class Day speaker before describing the world he sees as Middle East envoy, including the religious and political conflicts of the region and the eastward shift of global power toward China and India. He frames graduates as a global generation facing interdependent challenges like climate change, terrorism, and population growth, and offers personal advice on lifelong learning, friendship, purpose, and leadership. He closes with reflections on parental love and pride, sharing anecdotes from his own student days.    InfographicSummaryTranscript   

Represented themes

Common ideas classified across this year's speeches.

Purpose & Meaning 10 Identity & Authenticity 6 Resilience 5 Failure 4 Mortality & Time 2 Global Responsibility 2 Gratitude & Humility 4 Kindness & Empathy 3 Love & Relationships 3 Public Service & Civic Life 2

All 2008 addresses

Complete archive records for this year, sorted by institution.

Angela Ahrendts

Ball State University

Bentley College

Boston University

Carnegie Mellon University

Colorado College

Drexel University

Barbara Kingsolver

Duke University

Harvard University

Liberty University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Clayborne Carson

Niagara University

Niagara University

Rev. David O’Connell

Niagara University

Rev. David O’Connell

Niagara University

Northwest Institute of Literary Arts

Saint Vincent College

Sarah Lawrence College

Stanford University

Meredith Vieira

Tufts University

Yale University