A photographer captures three decades of graduation moments and emotions.
College seniors celebrate as their degrees are conferred (here, in June 1998—but the emotions are timeless).
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Eliot House roommates Rulonna Neilson of Salt Lake City, Alexandra Brown of Los Angeles, and Gouita Bozorgi of Lake Forest, Illinois (1991)
Photograph by Jim Harrison
President Derek Bok and honorand Jacques-Yves Cousteau observe West Germany’s chancellor, honorand Helmut Schmidt, pause for a pinch of snuff (1979).
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Junichi Hayami traveled all the way from Kyoto, Japan, to see Naomi Fukumori ’91, of Lowell House and Hastings, Nebraska, graduate.
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Professor John Kenneth Galbraith and his wife, Catherine (Atwater) Galbraith (1991)
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Honorand Stephen Hawking (1990)
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Carrot-top Ana Vollmar ’08, of the Dudley House Co-op and Hamden, Connecticut
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Olympic swimmer David Berkoff ’88, of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in his merman wig
Photograph by Jim Harrison
A contemplative Richard Busby, M.B.A. ’92, of Scarsdale, New York
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Exuberant M.B.A.s wave the flags of many nations.
Photograph by Jim Harrison
After delivering the Commencement afternoon address, retiring President Bok is hugged by president-elect Neil Rudenstine (1991).
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Maria V. Mavroudi, Ph.D. ’98, of Berkeley, California, caps her son George.
Photograph by Jim Harrison
There are always flowers at Commencement. This bouquet was delivered in 1984.
Photograph by Jim Harrison
The Harvard Band helps ensure that there is always music at Commencement as well.
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Standing on a chair, Mark D’Andrea ’97 of Winthrop House and Reston, Virginia, makes a beatific gesture.
Photograph by Jim Harrison
High spirits can overcome even a late spring shower (2004).
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Accessories add to the fun for participants and audience alike (2005).
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Making his debut as Commencement caller in 2006, McKay professor of mechanical engineering and Lawrence professor of engineering Frederick Abernathy announced to those assembling in the Old Yard, “My responsibility is to engineer with dignity your orderly march into Tercentenary Theatre.”
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Seniors lining the Yard walkways applaud the dignitaries, professors, and alumni and alumnae who precede them into Tercentenary Theatre (1996).
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Memorial Church overflows with seniors on Commencement morning. Standing in the balcony in 1996 was Michael Preston of Lowell House and Madison, New Jersey.
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Members of the class of 1948 tip their straw hats in a show of fiftieth-reunion pride.
Photograph by Jim Harrison
[extra:Extra]
See the photo gallery at right for additional Commencement images beyond what appeared in print.
Extra Type
extra is inline AlumniWeb App: House and/or Class Year (used in My Magazine)
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Graduation morning unfolds with moments that range from solemnity to frivolity. From every direction, seniors enter the Yard with their House-mates, some marching to the mournful sounds of bagpipes, others dancing in step to the staccato beat of a ragtime combo. After the requisite photos of the honorands are taken, the faculty members begin their slow parade through the rows of imminent graduates lining the walkways. During the exercises, the assembly clutch their programs in an effort to follow the Latin oration and laugh in all the right places, while the student speakers inspire with the sincerity of their rhetoric. In the end, the band plays, the “Harvard Hymn” is sung, and everyone marches off to respective futures (or just to lunch).
Yet beyond all the tradition, costumes, and kinetic energy of the proceedings, what has most impressed me in the 31 years I have photographed this annual rite of passage are the more than 30,000 people who attend—the wonderful tapestry of faces and emotions all gathered together for a short time in this small quadrangle, sharing a bond to Harvard—and to each other.
For despite the very public nature of Commencement, and its seemingly overwhelming scope, it is the countless private, personal moments—three young friends hugging each other and crying; a relative beaming with pride, his camera at the ready; a University president showing his surprise as a head of state breaks for a pinch of snuff—that photographs express so well. And it is these moments that give this centuries-old rite its freshness: they cut through both the momentousness and the levity to reveal the very human meaning of it all.