United States presidential scholar and best-selling author Michael Beschloss is set to deliver Penn’s Commencement speech for the Class of 2026.
Penn will grant Beschloss — who has published nine books on the American presidency — an honorary doctor of letters degree, according to a March 3 announcement made by Vice President and University Secretary Medha Narvekar. Penn’s 270th Commencement, scheduled for May 18 at Franklin Field, will grant degrees to graduates, recognize honorary recipients, and feature remarks from Beschloss and University officials.
Beschloss currently serves as a presidential historian at NBC News and as a PBS contributor. His most recent book — titled “Presidents of War: The Epic Story, from 1807 to Modern Times” — published in 2018, earned a spot on the New York Times bestseller list.
He has also held appointments at the Smithsonian Institution, Oxford University, and Harvard University. Beschloss has received the National Archives Foundation’s Records of Achievement Award, the Order of Lincoln, and an Emmy Award for his Discovery Channel series “Decisions That Shook the World.”
“In his highly successful, decades-long career as author and media contributor, Mr. Beschloss has pursued the study of leadership and educated us all on many important historical figures,” Penn President Larry Jameson wrote in a Tuesday announcement. “His scholarly research, writing, and insights offer an indispensable source of knowledge for better understanding the past and appreciating how it shapes the present and future.”
Jameson also highlighted Penn’s celebration of “our country’s 250th anniversary of independence,” adding that “we look forward to his perspectives and guidance for the centuries ahead.”
Over the course of this year, Penn and the city of Philadelphia have planned a series of performances, conferences, and exhibitions to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Beschloss described himself as “not by nature a very partisan person” and claimed he was a registered Independent in a 2022 interview with Politico.
“I am deeply conservative in terms of preserving institutions of democracy,” he said at the time.
“But if you and I had talked earlier, and we had been told that in the near future, democracy was going to be in danger and a President might be eager to tear apart just about every major institution of democracy that you care about, including free and fair elections as well as the rule of law — would you speak out?" he added about 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump. “I would have said yes, I certainly would.”
According to the announcement, four other individuals will join Beschloss in receiving honorary degrees: Carolyn Bertozzi, James Corner, Claudia Goldin, and Ann Hobson Pilot.
Bertozzi — who received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2022 — founded the field of bioorthogonal chemistry and is currently a professor at Stanford University. She will receive an honorary doctor of sciences degree.
She is also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Inventors, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and National Academy of Medicine.
1986 Penn graduate and Stuart Weitzman School of Design professor emeritus James Corner — the visionary behind New York’s High Line transformation — will receive an honorary doctor of arts degree.
In 2023, Goldin received a Nobel Prize for her research into women’s labor market outcomes. Now a professor at Harvard, Goldin previously taught at Penn for over a decade. She has also served as president of the American Economic Association and Economic History Association. Penn will grant Goldin an honorary doctor of laws degree.
Pilot is a renowned harpist who played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 40 years. Set to receive an honorary doctor of music degree, Pilot was the first Black principal player to play for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the first Black female principal player in a major orchestra. Her work and life have been featured in two documentaries: “A Musical Journey” filmed in South Africa, and “A Harpist’s Legacy, Ann Hobson Pilot and the Sound of Change.”
Isha Chitirala is a News Editor at The Daily Pennsylvanian and can be reached at chitirala@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies economics and political science. Follow her on X @IshaChitirala.
