Undergraduate Commencement Speakers in the 1920s

1920 - June 15

George E. Vincent, Ph.D.

Vincent, president of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1917 to 1929, was a sociologist. At CAC he spoke of "The Community Spirit".


1921 - June 11

Charles Reynolds Brown

Brown was a Congregational minister, dean of Yale Divinity School and an author.


1922 - June 10

Remsen Brinckerhoff Ogilby

Ogilby was president of Trinity College in Hartford.


1923 - June 9

Samuel McChord Crothers

Crothers was a theologian, missionary and author.


1924 - June 7

Benjamin Tinkham Marshall

Marshall was the second president of Connecticut College for Women (now Connecticut College). He served from 1917 to 1928. His topic for commencement was "Ideals in Practical Education".


1925 - June 13

James L. McConaughy

McConaughy was president of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. at the time he gave his address in 1925. He successfully ran for governor in 1946. He died in office March 7, 1948.


1926 - June 12

James Gordon Gilkey

Gilkey was pastor of the South Congregational Church of Springfield, Massachusetts from 1917 to 1954.


1927 - June 11

Charles Hyde Warner

Warner was dean of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University. The Sheffield School as Connecticut's first land-grant institution, from 1862 ro 1893 when the General Assembly, concerned that only seven farmers had graduated under the land-grant system in the preceding years, bestowed land-grant status on Storrs Agricultural College, which later became Connecticut Agricultural College. For the annual alumni reunion held during commencement week, all six members of the Class of 1887 returned to the Storrs campus for their 40th reunion.


1928 - June 9

Henry S. Graves

Graves, provost and dean of forestry at Yale University, was the second chief of the U.S. Forestry Service from 1910 to 1920.


1929 - June 8

Rabbi Stephen S. Wise

Stephen Samuel Wise, Rabbi of the Free Synagogue in New York City, was an activist and author.

 

Information on the History of Commencement pages was researched and compiled by Mark J. Roy