Wellesley College and MassBay have joined Babson College in making public their 2018 commencement speakers. Drum roll please…

Wellesley College, Commencement — Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate of the Unted States, will deliver remarks at Wellesley College’s Commencement exercises. Photo credit: Rachel Eliza Griffiths / Blue Flower Arts

Tracy K. Smith, poet laureate of the United States and the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities and director of the creative writing program at Princeton University, will speak at Wellesley’s 140th Commencement Exercises on Friday, June 1, at 10:30am.

Smith’s work explores a diverse range of topics, from faith, grief, and loss, to dystopia and Afrofuturism, to deep space and life on other planets, to America’s troubled racial history and the legacy of slavery. In her role as poet laureate, Smith aims to expand the audience for poetry through rural outreach, traveling to communities writers might not usually visit.

As we reported in an earlier post, Babson’s speakers at the College’s May 19 ceremonies will be president and CEO of UNICEF USA, Caryl M. Stern; and co-founder and CEO of Endeavor Linda Rottenberg. Stern will receive an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree and will deliver the commencement address at the undergraduate ceremony at 10am. Rottenberg will be receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree and will give the commencement address at the graduate ceremony at 3pm.

Attorney General Maura Healey will speak at MassBay’s Commencement ceremony. Photo credit: Healey’s office

MassBay will welcome Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey as the keynote speaker for the College’s 56^th Commencement ceremony on Thursday, May 17 on the Wellesley Hills campus. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to address graduates at a school with such a strong commitment to preparing students for lives of active citizenship and cutting-edge careers,” Healey said.

In addition, MassBay will honor the Attorney General with the Distinguished Service Award. The MassBay Distinguished Service Award is given out to individuals for their advocacy and service to MassBay and the communities we serve.

Sworn in as Attorney General in January 2015, Healey has tackled issues touching the lives of residents across Massachusetts including the heroin and prescription drug abuse epidemic, escalating health care costs, workers’ rights and student loan costs.