Award-winning presidential historian and scholar Michael Beschloss will be receiving an honorary doctor of letters degree at Penn’s 270th Commencement.
(Image: Stephen Voss)
Historian, bestselling author, and scholar Michael Beschloss will deliver the 2026 University of Pennsylvania Commencement address on Monday, May 18, at Franklin Field. The announcement was made today by Vice President and University Secretary Medha Narvekar.
“I am extremely pleased that Michael Beschloss, one of our nation’s most important historians, will be addressing the Class of 2026 at Commencement,” says Penn President J. Larry Jameson. “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. 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. As we celebrate our country’s 250th anniversary of independence, we look forward to his perspectives and guidance for the centuries ahead.”
An award-winning presidential historian and author, Beschloss also serves as NBC News presidential historian and as a PBS contributor. His most recent book, “Presidents of War: The Epic Story, from 1807 to Modern Times,” was a New York Times bestseller. His prolific career began with “Kennedy and Roosevelt,” which originated as his senior honors thesis at Williams College. He is also the author of “Presidential Courage,” “The Conquerors,” “The Crisis Years,” and two volumes chronicling the White House tapes of President Lyndon Johnson: “Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963–1964,” and “Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964–1965.”
Beschloss has held appointments at the Smithsonian Institution, Oxford, and Harvard. Among numerous honors, he has received the National Archives Foundation’s Records of Achievement Award, the Order of Lincoln, and an Emmy for the Discovery Channel series “Decisions That Shook the World.”
At the Commencement ceremony, Beschloss will be receiving an honorary doctor of letters degree.
The other 2026 Penn honorary degree recipients will be Carolyn Bertozzi, James Corner, Claudia Goldin, and Ann Hobson Pilot.
“We are excited to welcome five eminent individuals to this year’s Commencement, including historian Michael Beschloss, who will present the keynote address to our graduates and guests,” says Julie Platt, chair of the Trustee Honorary Degrees and Awards Committee. “Our honorary degree awardees have made stellar contributions to their respective fields—history, economics, music, science, and landscape architecture. We are thrilled to honor them as shining examples of the values that Penn holds dear, including curiosity, discovery, and the pursuit of a better future for all.”
A 2022 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry, Carolyn Bertozzi founded the field of bioorthogonal chemistry. The Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Bertozzi’s research spans chemistry and biology with an emphasis on developing new therapeutic modalities aimed at disease related glycobiology—the study of the structure, function, and biology of carbohydrates or glycans. Her lab has developed targeted enzyme therapeutics for immune oncology, and glycoproteomic technologies for disease biomarker discovery, point of care diagnostics for tuberculosis, and ultrasensitive antibody detection methods that are being used to diagnose early onset diabetes and viral infections. Her academic work has sparked 12 biotechnology companies. Bertozzi is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Inventors, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Institute of Medicine. In addition to the Nobel Prize, other honors include the Heineken Prize, Welch Award, Lemelson MIT Prize, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the 2024 Priestley Medal. Bertozzi will receive an honorary doctor of sciences degree.
James Corner isa world-renowned landscape architect, urban designer, educator, and author, best known for creating New York City’s High Line, a once-abandoned elevated railway that he transformed into an urban promenade and garden. Corner is the founder of Field Operations, a New York City based global design studio focused on the design of dynamic urban public spaces and environments. A professor emeritus of landscape architecture and urbanism at Penn’s Weitzman School of Design, his many honors include the prestigious International Federation of Landscape Architects’ Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award for Excellence; the ASLA National Design Medal; the Richard Neutra Award for Design Excellence; the American Academy of Arts & Letters Award in Architecture; and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award. Corner's influential books include “The High Line,” “The Landscape Imagination,” and “Taking Measures Across the American Landscape.” A Penn alumnus, Corner earned both a masters of landscape architecture and a certificate in urban design from the University of Pennsylvania. He will receive an honorary doctor of arts degree.
The 2023 Nobel Laureate in the Economic Sciences, Claudia Goldin, is recognized for her research which has advanced the understanding of women’s labor market outcomes. Goldin is the Samuel W. Morris University Professor and Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Previously, Goldin was a faculty member in the Economics Department in the School of Arts & Sciences at Penn from 1979 to 1990. She directed the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Development of the American Economy program from 1989 to 2017 and now co-directs the NBER Gender in the Economy group. Goldin is the author of many books, including “Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women,” “The Race between Education and Technology,” and “Career & Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey Toward Equity.” Goldin has served as president of the American Economic Association and Economic History Association. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of several leading scholarly societies. Goldin will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree.
Ann Hobson Pilot is an internationally renowned harpist who played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) for 40 years. A Philadelphia native, Pilot was the BSO’s first Black principal player and the first Black female principal player in a major orchestra. Pilot has performed with many American orchestras as a soloist, as well as with orchestras in Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, and Argentina. 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.” A longtime teacher and mentor, Pilot taught at Boston University and the New England Conservatory of Music from 1973 to 2013. Among her many awards is the prestigious Gold Baton from the League of American Orchestras. Before retiring from the BSO, Pilot opened the 2009 season at the BSO and Carnegie Hall performing the premiere of “On Willows and Birches, Concerto for Harp and Orchestra,” composed by John Williams. Pilot will receive an honorary doctor of music degree.
Event details, including how to view the event online, are available on Penn’s 2026 Commencement page.
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