UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES - GUIDE TO MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS
For more information please contact the University Archivist.
See the University website for Honorary Degree recipients from 1996 to present.
See this Wiki "MU Scoop Wiki" for a list of Commencement Speakers, some with links to speech transcripts.
Below is a working, incomplete list of Marquette University Commencement Speakers. We will be adding speakers to the list.
| Year | Speaker | About |
| 2024 | Dr. Shital Vora (Undergraduate Commencement Address) | CEO and co-founder of Global Brigades |
| 2024 | Peggy Troy (Graduate School and Graduate School of Management Commencement Address) | First female president and CEO of Children’s Wisconsin |
| 2023 | Marlee Matlin (Undergraduate Commencement Address) | Academy Award-winning actress |
| 2023 | John Gurda (Graduate School and Graduate School of Management Commencement Address) | Milwaukee-born writer and historian |
| 2022 | Dwyane T. Wade, Jr. (Undergraduate Commencement Address) | Three-time NBA champion who led Marquette to the Final Four in 2003, Olympic gold medalist, businessman, and philanthropist. |
| 2022 | Thelma A. Sias (Graduate School and Graduate School of Management Commencement Address) | Founder and President of the Sias Group, Former vice president for local affairs at We Energies. |
| 2021 | John Ridley | Director, Oscar-winning screenwriter, and novelist |
| 2020 | No Commencement due to COVID-19. | |
| 2019 | David Brooks | New York Times best-selling author and political commentator |
| 2018 | Jeannie Gaffigan and Jim Gaffigan | Comedians, actors, writers and producers; Jeannie is an alumna |
| 2017 | Sister Maria Marciano, O.P. | Dominican sister from Brazil who serves Haiti's poorest citizens |
| 2016 | Dr. Judith Mayotte | Teacher, author, television producer and humanitarian |
| 2015 | Sister Margaret "Peggy" O'Neill, S.C. | Founder of El Centro Arte Para la Paz in El Salvador |
| 2014 | Rev. James Martin, S.J. | Jesuit priest, writer and Culture Editor of the Jesuit magazine America |
| 2013 | Bill Cosby (Marquette revoked Cosby's honorary degree in 2015) | Actor/Comedian |
| 2012 | Henry L. Aaron | Baseball Legend |
| 2011 | David McCullough | Pulitzer Prize Winning Author |
| 2010 | Wendy Kopp | Founder- Teach for America |
| 2009 | Dick Enberg | Sports Broadcaster & Author of McGuire |
| 2008 | Andrew Natsios | Special Envoy for Darfur |
| 2007 | Steve Rushin | Sports Journalist |
| 2006 | Elaine Chao | U.S. Secretary of Labor |
| 2005 | Cokie Roberts | Broadcast Journalist |
| 2004 | Wayne Sanders | Businessman |
| 2003 | Timothy M. Dolan | Archbishop |
| 2002 | Dr. Stephen Covey | Author |
| 2001 | Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers) | Beloved TV personality |
| 2000 | R.W. Apple, Jr. | Journalist |
| 1999 | The Honorable Janine P. Geske | Director of Resolution Center, Marquette University |
| 1998 | Dr. Howard Fuller | Director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning |
| 1997 | Rembert Weakland | Archbishop |
| 1996 | Tommy Thompson | Governor of Wisconsin |
| 1995 | Mr. Edward Brennan | Chairman and CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Co. |
| 1994 | His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Bernardin | Archbishop of Chicago |
| 1993 | Hon. Frank Shakespeare | Ambassador to the Vatican; Ambassador to Portugal |
| 1992 | Barbara Bush | First Lady of the United States, 1989-1993; wife of President George H.W. Bush |
| 1991 | James Coleman | Economist |
| 1990 | Daniel Pilarczyk | Archbishop of Cincinnati |
| 1989 | William J. Wilson | Professor, University of Chicago |
| 1988 | William Rehnquist | Supreme Court Justices |
| 1987 | Michael Novak | American Catholic philosopher, writer, and diplomat |
| 1986 | Rev. John Powell, SJ | Professor of Theology, Loyola University |
| 1985 | C. Everett Koop | Surgeon General |
| 1984 | Hanna Holborn Gray | President, University of Chicago |
| 1983 | Loret Ruppe | Director of the Peace Corp |
| 1982 | Edmund Muskie | Former Sec. of State, Former US Senator |
| 1981 | Rev. Walter J. Burghardt, S.J. | Theologian |
| 1980 | Most Rev. Francisco F. Claver | Bishop of Malaybay, P.I. |
| 1979 | Rev. John P. Raynor, S.J. | President, Marquette University |
| 1978 | Rev. Walter J. Ong, S.J. | Professor of English and Humanities in Psychiatry at Saint Louis University |
| 1977 | Norman C. Francis | President, Xavier University of Louisiana |
| 1976 | Rev. John P. Raynor, S.J. | President, Marquette University |
| 1975 | Rev. John P. Raynor, S.J. | President, Marquette University |
| 1974 | Rev. John P. Raynor, S.J. | President, Marquette University |
| 1973 | Rev. John P. Raynor, S.J. | President, Marquette University |
| 1972 | Richard C. Gerstenberg | CEO and Chairman of the Board, General Motors Corporation |
| 1971 | Rene J. Dubos | Professor of Microbiology and Experimental Pathology, Rockefeller University |
| 1970 | Choh-Ming Li | Vice Chancellor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| 1969 | Sir Howard Beale, K.B.E., Q.C | Ambassador from Australia to the United States |
| 1968 | Robert D. Murphy | Chairman of the Board, Corning Glass International |
| 1967 | Mr. George W. Ball | Chairman of the Board, Lehman Brothers International, Ltd. |
| 1966 | ||
| 1965 | ||
| 1964 | Robert F. Kennedy (June 7, 1964) | U.S. Attorney General |
| 1963 | Rev. William F. Kelley, S.J. (June 2, 1963) | Marquette University President from 1962-1965 |
| 1962 | Rev. William F. Kelley, S.J. (June 3, 1962) | Marquette University President from 1962-1965 |
| 1961 | Rev. Edward J. O’Donnell, S.J. (June 3, 1961) | Marquette University President from 1948-1962 |
| 1960 | Rev. Edward J. O’Donnell, S.J. gave a "Greeting to the Graduates" - program does not show a formal Commencement Address.. | Marquette University President from 1948-1962 |
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