Audio Recordings & More
Listen to audio recordings of the talks given by Amherst’s 2019 honorary degree recipients, and see the honorary degree citations read by President Martin at the Commencement ceremony.
Commencement Conversations with Honored Guests 2019
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David P. Corey ’74
Recipient of a Doctor of Science honorary degree, David Corey gave a talk entitled, “How We Hear, How We Lose Hearing, and What Can Be Done About It.”
Annie Leibovitz
Recipient of a Doctor of Arts degree, Annie Leibovitz gave a talk entitled, “Life Through a Lens.”
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba
Recipient of a Doctor of Divinity honorary degree, Thabo Makgoba gave a talk entitled, “A New Dawn: Reflections on South Africa’s Democracy.”
Charles C. Mann, ’76, P ’98
Recipient of a Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree, Charles Mann gave a talk entitled, “300,000 Dead Refrigerators: Peril and Promise in the World of 2050.”
Nergis Mavalvala
Recipient of a Doctor of Science honorary degree, Nergis Mavalvala gave a talk entitled, “The 100-Year Quest for Einstein’s Elusive Gravitational Waves.”
Cullen Murphy ’74
Recipient of a Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree, Cullen Murphy ’74 gave a talk entitled, “Cleaning the Sistine Chapel: A Journalist’s Notes (photographs by Robert Polidori).”
Darren Walker
Recipient of a Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree, Walker joined Professor Amrita Basu in a conversation entitled, “From Generosity to Justice: A Better Vision for 21st-Century Philanthropy.”