2025 Convocation Itinerary

11am: Doors open on the Teagle/Garden Ave side of Barton (must show RSVP)

11am-12:40pm: Class of 2025 Pre-Convocation Celebration with performances

12:40pm: Class of 2025 Photo (be seated by this time!)

1:00pm: Ceremony begins

• Opening
• Welcome
• Remarks from Cornell Leadership
• Convocation Chair Address
• Student Performances
• Guest Speaker Address
• Alma Mater

2:30pm: Event ends

2025 Convocation Guest Speaker Biography

Misty Copeland: First African American Female Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre

Misty Copeland is a Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre, the first Black woman to be promoted to the position in the company's 75-year history in 2015. She has performed some of the most iconic classical ballet roles, including Odette/Odile in Swan Lake; Juliet in Romeo & Juliet; Giselle; Manon; Coppelia; Kitri in Don Quixote; and Firebird, to name a few. 

She has performed alongside cultural icons such as Prince for his Welcome 2 America tour; Taylor Swift at the American Music Awards; Camilla Cabella, Common, Ben Platt, and dancers from the Debbie Allen Dance Academy at the Grammy Awards; as well as the televised Prince Grammy Tribute performing with award-winning recording artist H.E.R. Misty made her Broadway debut in On The Town in 2015 and her major motion picture debut in Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms in 2018.

Misty is an avid philanthropist and in 2022, she launched The Misty Copeland Foundation, with its first signature program BE BOLD, which aims to bring greater diversity, equity and inclusion to dance, especially ballet. She is an ambassador and alum of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and MindLeaps, a Rwanda-based arts program that helps young people get off the streets and into an academic setting to help enhance their lives. 

Misty’s production company, Life In Motion Productions, is focused on offering representative stories of artists - past, present, and future - and normalizing the arts experience for everyone. Her first independently produced project, Flower, is a silent arts activism film using dance to help raise awareness about intergenerational equity. 

She is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including Life in Motion, Ballerina Body, Black Ballerinas, The Wind At My Back, and picture books titled Bunheads and Firebird.

In 2021, Misty was the recipient of the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest honor and in 2023, she received the Trailblazer Icon Award at The Grio Awards, was named to The Root 100 list, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from New York University. In 2024, she received the Innovator Award from the African American Film Critics Association. Prior honors include Glamour’s Women of the Year, Black Girls Rock! Awards, and Time 100 Most Influential People.

Invited Guests/Attendees

Funded by the undergraduate student activities fees, the event will only be open for members of the Cornell community. Undergraduate students from the class of 2025 will have the first priority to reserve their ticket. We will then open up availability to graduate/professional students. Finally, the general student body, staff, and faculty will be able to reserve a ticket if space is available.

2025 Ticket Timeline

You must reserve your free Senior Convocation ticket via CampusGroups before joining us at the event. Students can only reserve 1 ticket for themselves.

• Starting April 28 at 6pm EST: Undergraduate students from the class of 2025 can reserve their ticket
• Starting May 14 at noon EST: Graduate and professional students from December 2023 and May 2024 graduations can reserve their ticket.
• Starting Monday May 19 at noon EST: The general student body, faculty, and staff at the Ithaca campus can reserve their ticket. 

Outside guests & livestream

Outside guests -- including family and the greater Ithaca community -- will not be able to reserve a ticket or attend this Cornell-only in-person event. The Senior Convocation event will be available via livestream on Cornell Video, open to all. The full ceremony will live on Cornell Video for two (2) months with a password shared with the graduating class.

Brief History of Convocation

Senior Convocation began years ago as a small program for graduating seniors hosted by the Cornell University Class Councils student organization. The mission has always been to invite an honored guest to motivate, inspire, and send off the graduating seniors as they close this chapter of their lives. Over the years, what has become the Senior Convocation ceremony has seen many different renditions.

In 2001, the senior class awarded the first Convocation Medallion to our guest speaker. This award recognizes an individual for their meaningful contributions to society, success in instilling the desire to learn, and dedication to undergraduate achievement and excellence.

In its early years, Senior Convocation was held in Barton Hall. In 2004, President William Jefferson Clinton was our speaker and the request for the event necessitated the relocation from Barton Hall to the Schoellkopf Stadium. Convocation lived at Schoellkopf Stadium during Commencement Weekend until 2019. The 2020 Convocation Speaker presented during Alumni Weekend in Fall 2021 in a special ceremony for returning members of the class of 2020. Our Class of 2021 Convocation was held virtually in a pre-recorded production. In 2022, Convocation returned to its roots for a more intimate Barton Hall student-driven event hosted during Senior Days.

Past Convocation Speakers

Here are past Convocation speakers since 2000.

2024: Kumail Nanjiani, Actor, Comedian

2023: Ken Jeong, Actor, Comedian

2022: Constance Wu, Actor

2021: Roxane Gay, Activist, Commentator, Professor, and Writer (virtual speaker)

2020: Leslie Odom Jr., Actor and Singer (virtual speaker)

2019: William Sanford Nye '77, Educator, Engineer, Comedian, Presenter, Author, & Inventor

2018: Ava Marie DuVernay, Activist, Filmmaker, and Producer

2017: Joseph R. Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States

2016: James Franco, Actor

2015: Gabrielle Giffords '96 of the U.S. House of Representatives & Mark Kelly Astronaut

2014: Ed Helms, Actor

2013: Cory Booker, 38th Mayor of Newark, NJ

2012: Michael Bloomberg, 108th Mayor of New York City, NY

2011: Rudy Giuliani, former 107th Mayor of New York City, NY

2010: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 116th Congress

2009: David Plouffe, Campaign Manager, Political Strategist

2008: Maya Angelou, Poet

2007: Soledad O'Brien, Newscaster

2006: Martin Luther King the III, Activist

2005: Wesley Clark, former General of United States Army

2004: Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States

2003: James Carville, Political Strategist

2002: Danny Glover, Actor, and Human Rights Activist

2001: Janet Reno '60, former U.S. Attorney General

2000: Charles E. Schumer, U.S. Senator