A list of better choices for Commencement speaker
Wash.U. connections:
Mike Peters
Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist, BFA 1965
Jeff Lebesch
Founder of New Belgium Brewing Company (Fat Tire), which is wind-operated, BS 1979
Hank Klibanoff
2007 Pulitzer Prize winner, Wash. U. alum
Geoffrey Ballard
Alternative energy advocate, Ph.D. from Wash. U. in 1963
Richard Smith
Professor, all-around god
Carl Phillips
Professor, award-winning poet
Other:
Christophe Fournier
President of Doctors Without Borders (organization won Nobel Peace Prize in 1999)
Aung San Suu Kyi
1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner for working to bring democracy to Myanmar/Burma (timely!), given Congressional Medal of Honor last year
Wangari Maathai
First African woman to receive Nobel Peace Prize, environmentalist, transcript of Commencement address in 2006 at Connecticut College: http://www.conncoll.edu/events/speeches/maathai.html
Craig Venter
Human Genome Project, works with alternative energy, one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people
Tom Perrotta
Great author who has written many books and movie about life in America, certainly no worse than Chris Matthews
Michael Chabon
Pulitzer Prize winning author, has written about identity and diversity
Ricky Gervais
Comedian and actor, was in the British version of The Office
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