At NU, Powell Kicks Off Area Commencement Speeches

May 04, 2012

Benjamin Swasey

Northeastern University commencement, at Boston's TD Garden (sferranti/Instagram)

On Friday, former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell delivered the commencement address at Northeastern University's 110th ceremony, where he urged the graduating class, in part, to "make public service a part of your life.

"Do something that gives you satisfaction every day and makes our society a better place," Powell added, according to the Boston Globe.

Northeastern kicked off the slew of Boston-area undergraduate commencements that pack May and June every year. Here's a partial list of local commencements and speakers:

Boston College - May 21 - Journalist Robert Woodruff
Boston University - May 20 - Google Chairman Eric Schmidt
Emerson - May 14 - Journalist David Gregory
Emmanuel - May 12 - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Anne Hawley
Harvard - May 24 - Journalist Fareed Zakaria
Lesley - May 19 - Education advocate Kati Haycock and The Rev. Gloria White-Hammond
MIT - June 8 - Khan Academy founder Salman Khan
Simmons - May 18 - Journalist Maria Hinojosa
Suffolk - May 20 - Ambassador to Spain Alan Solomont
Tufts - May 20 - Humanitarian and Navy SEAL Eric Greitens
UMass Boston - June 1 - Former U.N. Security Council President Anwarul Karim Chowdhury
Wellesley - May 25 - Journalist Melissa Harris-Perry

This program aired on May 4, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.