Dear Rice Community,
Thank you for assisting in the search for Rice’s May 2025 Commencement Speaker! When making a recommendation, please bear in mind that the speaker should have broad appeal to a wide audience as our students, their families, faculty members, and staff come from a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences.
In addition, it is important to note that as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, Rice cannot pay the large fees required to book celebrity speakers. Thus, unless you have a personal connection to a sought-after, highly-paid speaker that might bring them to campus for a lesser fee, it is unlikely we would be successful in our bid.
Nominations are due by Wednesday, October 25, 2024.
When making your recommendation, please adhere to the following requirements:
- Use this naming convention: [First Name] [Last Name] without any other titles. We would like to be able to sort responses by name to find those that naturally rise to the top.
- Provide a brief synopsis of the speaker.
- Explain how they align with Rice’s mission or goals.
- Tell us why you believe this person would be a good candidate as a Commencement Speaker.
- If they have spoken at a similar public/private event before, please provide a link to a video.
- Let us know if you have a personal connection to this individual. If yes, would you be willing to assist in connecting us with the individual? (We will not share your connection outside this committee.)