Printable texts of available commencement speeches are linked. Recent student speeches and Baccalaureate speeches are also available at http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/commence/
| Speaker | Year | Title |
| Martin Chalfie & Tulle Hazelrigg | 101st Commencement 2019 | Developmental Biologists, Chalfie-2008 Noble Prize in Chemistry |
| Jazmine Hughes '12 | 100th Commencement 2018 | New York Times Editor and Author |
| Colson Whitehead | 99th Commencement 2017 | Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist |
| Rukmini Callimachi | 98th Commencement 2016 | New York Times investigative journalist and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist |
| Eric Schlosser |
97th Commencement 2015 | Award-winning journalist, producer and playwright |
| Noah Feldman |
96th Commencement 2014 | Bemis Professor of International Law, Harvard Law School |
| Howard Gordon |
95th Commencement 2013 | Emmy-winning television writer and producer |
| Louis B. Susman | 94th Commencement 2012 | United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James in London |
| Cynthia Enloe '60 | 93rd Centennial Commencement 2011 | Research professor of International Development, Community and Environment, Clark University |
| Jeffrey Sachs | 92nd Commencement 2010 | Economist, leading expert on globalism, poverty and sustainability |
| Martha Nussbaum | 91st Commencement 2009 | Philosopher and advocate for liberal arts and sciences education |
| Tavis Smiley | 90th Commencement 2008 | Public radio and television host, author, philanthropist and community advocate |
| Robert D. Ballard | 89th Commencement 2007 | Deep-sea explorer |
| Wangari Maathai | 88th Commencement 2006 | Nobel Prize-winning environmental activist; veterinary science professor |
| Estelle Parsons '49 | 87th Commencement 2005 | Academy award-winning actor |
| Anita DeFrantz '74 | 86th Commencement 2004 | Olympic medalist, lifetime member and former vice president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) |
| Wally Lamb | 85th Commencement 2003 | American novelist |
| Joyce Carol Oates | 84th Commencement 2002 | American author |
| Wynton Marsalis | 83rd Commencement 2001 | Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz musician |
| E. O. Wilson | 82nd Commencement 2000 | Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist |
| Frank McCourt | 81st Commencement 1999 | Pulitzer Prize-winning Author |
| Honorable Andrew Young | 80th Commencement 1998 | US House of Representatives, former Ambassador to the United Nations |
| Harris Wofford | 79th Commencement 1997 | CEO, Corp. for National Service (AmeriCorps) |
| Tom Brokaw | 78th Commencement 1996 | Journalist, television news anchor |
| Russell Baker | 77th Commencement 1995 | Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and journalist |
| Kimba Wood | 76th Commencement 1994 | US District Court Judge |
| Eugene V. Gallagher | 75th Commencement 1993 | Professor of Religious Studies, Connecticut College |
| William Kane Reilly | 74th Commencement 1992 | Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency |
| Alvin F. Poussaint | 73rd Commencement 1991 | Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School |
| Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr. | 72nd Commencement 1990 | USN Admiral (Ret.), Professor of Geopolitics, University of Oklahoma |
| Leonard Lauder | 71st Commencement 1989 | President and CEO, Estee Lauder, Inc. |
| Guido Calabresi | 70th Commencement 1988 | Dean, Yale University School of Law |
| Marian Edelman | 69th Commencement 1987 | Civil rights leader |
| James Wooten | 68th Commencement 1986 | Journalist, writer, commentator |
| Andy Rooney | 67th Commencement 1985 | American radio and television writer, commentator |
| Charlayne Hunter-Gault | 66th Commencement 1984 | TV journalist |
| Lewis Thomas | 65th Commencement 1983 | Physician, educator, author, dean of Yale Medical School and New York School of Medicine |
| Honorable Christopher Dodd | 64th Commencement 1982 | US senator |
| Honorable Patricia Wald '48 | 63rd Commencement 1981 | Judge, US Court of Appeals |
| Alan Alda | 62nd Commencement 1980 | Actor, writer, director |
| Archibald Cox | 61st Commencement 1979 | Lawyer, Professor, Harvard University |
| Dr. Henry Steele Commager | 60th Commencement 1978 | Professor Emeritus of History, Amherst College |
| John Kenneth Galbraith | 59th Commencement 1977 | Professor of Economics, Harvard University |
| George Plimpton | 58th Commencement 1976 | American journalist, author, editor |
| Isaac Asimov | 57th Commencement 1975 | Author |
| R. Buckminster Fuller | 56th Commencement 1974 | Architect, Mathematician |
| Honorable Lowell P. Weicker | 55th Commencement 1973 | US Senator |
| Ralph Nader | 54th Commencement 1972 | Consumer advocate |
| Honorable Ella T. Grasso | 53rd Commencement 1971 | US House of Representatives; first woman governor of Connecticut |
| John Doar | 52nd Commencement 1970 | American lawyer, civil rights activist; Bedford-Stuyvesant Development and Services Group |
| Whitney Moore Young, Jr. |
51st Commencement 1969 | American civil rights leader; National Urban League, Inc., NY, NY |
| Edwin O. Reischauer | 50th Commencement 1968 | Professor, Harvard University and U.S. Ambassador to Japan |
| Rosemary Park | 49th Commencement 1967 | President, Barnard College; former president, Connecticut College |
| Kingman Brewster, Jr. | 48th Commencement 1966 | President, Yale University |
| August Heckscher | 47th Commencement 1965 | Twentieth Century Fund |
| Honorable Edith Green | 46th Commencement 1964 | US House of Representatives |
| Honorable Stewart L. Udall | 45th Commencement 1963 | Secretary of the Interior |
| Honorable Abraham A. Ribicoff | 44th Commencement 1962 | Former governor of Connecticut; Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare |
| Dr. Henry Steele Commager | 43rd Commencement 1961 | American historian, Amherst College |
| Laurance S. Rockefeller | 42nd Commencement 1960 | Philanthropist |
| William C. DeVane | 41st Commencement 1959 | Dean, Yale College, Yale University |
| John W. Gardner | 40th Commencement 1958 | President, Carnegie Corporation of NY |
| Mark Van Doren | 39th Commencement 1957 | Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Columbia University |
| George F. Kennan | 38th Commencement 1956 | American adviser, diplomat, political scientist, historian; Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ |
| Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. | 37th Commencement 1955 | Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian, Department of History, Harvard University |
| Erwin D. Canham | 36th Commencement 1954 | Editor, Christian Science Monitor |
| Earl J. McGrath | 35th Commencement 1953 | Former US Commissioner of Education |
| G. Keith Funston | 34th Commencement 1952 | President, New York Stock Exchange |
| Harry Allen Overstreet | 33rd Commencement 1951 | Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, College of the City of New York |
| Dr. Ralph J. Bunche | 32nd Commencement 1950 | Director, Department of Trusteeship and Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories, UN; first person of color to receive the Nobel Peace Prize |
| Dr. Howard Mumford Jones | 31st Commencement 1949 | Professor of English, Harvard University |
| Norman Cousins | 30th Commencement 1948 | American journalist, world peace advocate, editor, "The Saturday Review of Literature" |
| Eugene O'Neill, Jr. | 29th Commencement 1947 | Son of the American playwright; Classics scholar, Department of Greek, Yale University |
| Karl T. Compton | 28th Commencement 1946 | Physicist; President, MIT |
| Honorable C. Wilbert Snow (Feb.) Dr. Benjamin Wright (Sept.) |
27th Commencement 1945 | Lieutenant Governor, Conn.; Professor of Government, Harvard University, respectively |
| E. Alverna Burdick (Feb.), C. Mildred Thompson (June), Mary Foulke Morrisson (Sept.) | 26th Commencement 1944 | Respectively: Dean of Students; Dean of Vassar College; Secretary of the Board of Trustees |
| Henry Wallace | 25th Commencement 1943 | Vice President of the United States |
| Mary Foulke Morrisson | 24th Commencement 1942 | Nationally known women's rights activist, Secretary of the Board of Trustees |
| Arthur T. Vanderbilt | 23rd Commencement 1941 | Former President, American Bar Association |
| Honorable Katherine F. Lenroot | 22nd Commencement 1940 | Children's rights activist, U.S. Dept. of Labor |
| James Grover McDonald | 21st Commencement 1939 | President, Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences; first U. S. ambassador to Israel |
| Alice Hamilton | 20th Commencement 1938 | Pioneer in toxicology and occupational health. First woman appointed to the faculty at Harvard University |
| Marion Edwards Park |
19th Commencement 1937 | Classics scholar, defender of academic freedom; President of Bryn Mawr College |
| Christian Gauss | 18th Commencement 1936 | Influential literary critic; Dean at Princeton University |
| Honorable Josephine Roche | 17th Commencement 1935 | Social reformer, labor activist; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury |
| George E. Vincent | 16th Commencement 1934 | Rockefeller Foundation. Education reformer; past president of University of Minnesota and the Chautauqua Institution |
| Harvey N. Davis | 15th Commencement 1933 | President, Stevens Institute of Technology |
| Judge Florence Ellinwood Allen | 14th Commencement 1932 | Among the first women to serve as a federal judge; early activist in women's suffrage movement |
| Frank Aydelotte | 13th Commencement 1931 | President, Swarthmore College |
| Jane Addams | 12th Commencement 1930 | A leader in women's suffrage and world peace movements; first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Price. |
| William Ernest Hocking | 11th Commencement 1929 | Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University |
| William Starr Myers | 10th Commencement 1928 | Professor of history and politics, Princeton University |
| Henry Sloan Coffin | 9th Commencement 1927 | President, Union Theological Seminary, NYC |
| Ada L. Comstock | 8th Commencement 1926 | President, Radcliffe College; one of the first presidents of the American Association of University Women |
| James T. Shotwell | 7th Commencement 1925 | American diplomat, Columbia University |
| Honorable Royal S. Copeland | 6th Commencement 1924 | US Senate, New York |
| Lindsay Roberts | 5th Commencement 1923 | Professor of Government, Columbia University |
| Reverend W. Douglas Mackenzie | 4th Commencement 1922 | President, Hartford Theological Seminary |
| Reverend Charles Reynolds Brown | 3rd Commencement 1921 | Yale University |
| Reverend Samuel McChord Crothers | 2nd Commencement 1920 | Minister, First Parish, Cambridge, Mass., popular essayist |
| Ralph Barton Perry | 1st Commencement 1919 | Harvard University |