Contact Us

+1.617.495.6155
news@hbs.edu
Filter Results

Contact Us

+1.617.495.6155
news@hbs.edu
24 May 2024

Harvard Business School Celebrates 114th Commencement

ShareBar

BOSTON—Harvard Business School (HBS) held its 114th Commencement exercises yesterday with a diploma ceremony on its campus in Boston.

After an all-University celebration in Harvard’s Tercentenary Theatre in the morning, 1,004 students received their MBA degrees in front of the School’s Baker Library | Bloomberg Center.

The top five percent of the MBA Class of 2024 (53 students) graduated with high distinction as Baker Scholars (named after the School's initial benefactor, George Fisher Baker). Eighty-seven students earned their diplomas with distinction and 205 earned second-year honors.

Also participating in yesterday’s ceremony were six MBA graduates who were awarded their degrees this past March, with one student graduating with high distinction as a Baker Scholar and two earning second-year honors.

In addition, 19 students in the Doctoral Program earned PhD degrees in the fields of business administration, business economics, and organizational behavior.

View Video

Dean Srikant Datar presented the 2024 Alumni Achievement Awards to Peter O. Crisp (MBA 1960), co-founder and former managing partner of Venrock Associates; John B. Hess (MBA 1977), CEO of Hess Corporation; Desiree Rogers (MBA 1985), co-owner and CEO of Black Opal LLC; Gerald W. Schwartz (MBA 1970), founder and chairman of Onex Corporation; and Gwill E. York (MBA 1984), founding managing director of Lighthouse Capital Partners.

In his Commencement remarks, Dean Datar commended the MBA Class of 2024 for their efforts to sustain community and build understanding following October 7, and reflected on the phrase the class was greeted with at their welcome address in the fall of 2022: Hard work, with humility, for humanity.

View Video

“I see hard work, with humility, for humanity as the human dimensions that bring to life our mission of educating leaders who make a difference in the world. ‘Educating leaders’ requires humility: we cannot educate unless you have a learning mindset, and you cannot have a learning mindset unless you have humility. ‘Making a difference’ is not easy; it requires hard work. ‘In the world’ means ‘for humanity’—changing people’s lives, and society more generally, for the better,” said Datar. “Today, in the face of challenges such as climate change, social and economic inequality, political partisanship, and geopolitical polarization, we need to build resilient organizations for the long term. We need leaders like you who can imbue the values of hard work, humility, and humanity as necessary foundations for such organizations.”
Contacts

Mark Cautela
mcautela+hbs.edu
617-365-9547

About Harvard Business School

Founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University, Harvard Business School is located on a 40-acre campus in Boston. Its faculty of more than 250 offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and PhD degrees, as well as more than 175 Executive Education programs, and Harvard Business School Online, the School’s digital learning platform. For more than a century, faculty have drawn on their research, their experience in working with organizations worldwide, and their passion for teaching, to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. The School and its curriculum attract the boldest thinkers and the most collaborative learners who will go on to shape the practice of business and entrepreneurship around the globe.

LATEST PRESS RELEASES