Feb. 12, 2013: 2013 Commencement Speaker Announcement

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:

I am pleased to announce that Mr. Sunil Gulati, Class of 1981, has accepted the University’s invitation to serve as keynote speaker at our 163rd commencement ceremony on May 19, 2013. Mr. Gulati was recommended by the Class of 2013, and we are delighted he was able to accept.

President of the U.S. Soccer Federation, Mr. Gulati graduated from Bucknell magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and political science. He earned two master’s degrees from Columbia, where he is now Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics. He is so popular as a teacher that students sometimes wait hours to try to register for his courses. He has earned high praise throughout his parallel 30-year career of leadership roles at soccer organizations, including Major League Soccer and the USSF. You may read more about Dr. Gulati’s career here.

I also want to report that the response to last year’s experiment with showing the ceremony live on large projection screens was quite positive. Graduates and their families in particular communicated to us that they appreciated that the screens improved their ability to witness the event, especially from the sides and the back of the quad. So we will use screens again this year.

Best wishes to our seniors as they complete their final semester at Bucknell and prepare for the next great stage of their lives.

Sincerely,

John