Class Day Lecture: Class Day 2019: Awards Ceremony and Address

Teju Cole is the photography critic of the New York Times Magazine and the Gore Vidal Professor of the Practice of Creative Writing at Harvard. He is pictured outside Widener Library at Harvard University. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

Photo by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

The Harvard Graduate School of Design’s 2019 Class Day Awards Ceremony and Address will take place from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 29, in the Gund Hall Backyard.

The GSD has named Teju Cole as its 2019 Class Day speaker. Teju Cole is a novelist, essayist, photographer, and curator. His books include Open City, Blind Spot and, most recently, Human Archipelago. He has been honored with the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Internationaler Literaturpreis, the Windham Campbell Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among many other prizes. His photography has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, and he was the photography critic of the New York Times Magazine from 2015 until 2019. He is the Gore Vidal Professor of the Practice of Creative Writing at Harvard.

Schedule Overview

Class Day – Wednesday, May 29

  • 10:00 am – 2:00 pm: Class photos and ceremony rehearsal for graduates, by department/program:
    10:00 am: Architecture
    10:45 am: Landscape Architecture
    11:30 pm: Urban Planning and Design
    12:15 pm: MDes
    12:45 pm: MDE, DDes
  • 3:30 pm: GSD Awards Ceremony and Class Day Address by Teju Cole; Gund Hall back yard tent (no tickets required; seating opens at 3:00)
  • 5:00 pm: Reception for graduates and their guests; Gund Hall (no tickets required)

Please visit the GSD’s Commencement page for more information about Class Day and Commencement week activities. You may also wish to view the university-wide Commencement site.

Anyone requiring accessibility accommodations should contact the Public Programs Office at (617) 496-2414 or [email protected].

#GSDEVENTS