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2024 Commencement Highlights

It's a wrap! Congratulations to the class of 2024 and see you next year!

Watch the Recorded Livestream

Our Speakers

Dr. Rajiv J. Shah

President of The Rockefeller Foundation
Keynote Address

Waiki Law

Master’s of Arts, International Affairs
Student Speaker

Dr. Rajiv J. Shah Biography

Dr. Shah serves as President of The Rockefeller Foundation, a global institution with a mission to promote the well-being of humanity around the world. The Foundation applies data, science, and innovation to improve health for women and children, create nutritious and sustainable food systems, end energy poverty for more than a billion people worldwide, and enable meaningful economic mobility in the United States and around the world.

In 2009, he was appointed USAID Administrator by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Dr. Shah reshaped the $20 billion agency’s operations in more than 70 countries around the world by elevating the role of innovation, creating high-impact public-private partnerships, and focusing U.S. investments to deliver stronger results. Shah secured bipartisan support that included the passage of two significant laws – the Global Food Security Act and the Electrify Africa Act. He led the U.S. response to the Haiti earthquake and the West African Ebola pandemic, served on the National Security Council, and elevated the role of development as part of our nation’s foreign policy. Prior to his appointment at USAID, Shah served as Chief Scientist and Undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the United States Department of Agriculture where he created the National Institute for Food and Agriculture.

In October 2023, Dr. Shah published Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens with Simon & Schuster’s Simon Element imprint. In the book, Dr. Shah shares a dynamic new model for realizing transformative change, inspired by his own work and that of The Foundation on some of the biggest humanitarian efforts of the 21^st century.

Shah founded Latitude Capital, a private equity firm focused on power and infrastructure projects in Africa and Asia and served as a Distinguished Fellow in Residence at Georgetown University. Previously, he served at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he created the International Financing Facility for Immunization which helped reshape the global vaccine industry and save millions of lives.

Raised outside of Detroit, Michigan, Dr. Shah is a graduate of the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the Wharton School of Business. He has received several honorary degrees, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, and the U.S. Global Leadership Award. He is married to Shivam Mallick Shah and they have three children.

Waiki Law's Biography

Originally from Hong Kong, Waiki Law came to the US as an international student. Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and business from Penn State, she embarked on a journalism career in New York City and Los Angeles, where she covered crime, immigration, and socio-economic issues, including exposing cases of racial harassment and abuse against Asian Americans in the military.

Her advocacy extended beyond reporting as she pushed for the Service Member Anti-Hazing Act in Congress, subsequently signed into law by President Obama.

Grateful for the opportunities afforded to her, Waiki chose to serve by joining the US Army and was deployed to Afghanistan amidst the final stages of US withdrawal to evacuate Afghan allies. 

Driven by the belief that some world events are too big to ignore, she pursued graduate studies in International Affairs and remains steadfast in making an impact in the face of global challenges.

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