MIT celebrated its 2021 Commencement in an online ceremony featuring taped tributes from around the world to the Class of 2021, a musical composition created specially for the event, and a moving and deeply personal address from civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson.
For only the second time in its history, MIT celebrated its Commencement in an online ceremony. This year's event featured taped tributes from around the.
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Six MIT affiliates have been selected for the newest cohort of the prestigious Knight-Hennessy Scholars program. Kofi Blake, Orisa Coombs, Jierui Fang ’20, Max Kessler ’20, Claire Lazar Reich ’17, and Kyle Swanson ’18, MEng ’19 will begin graduate studies at Stanford University this fall.
Founded in 2018, the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program seeks to cultivate a diverse, multidisciplinary community of future leaders and prepare them to address global challenges. The highly competitive fellowship, which fully funds graduate studies in any field at Stanford University, attracts applicants from around the globe.
In addition to funding, Knight-Hennessy Scholars receive leadership development training, mentorship, and experiential learning opportunities. Since the program’s inception, 11 MIT affiliates students and alumni have been awarded Knight-Hennessy Scholarships.
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Six MIT affiliates have been selected for the newest cohort of the prestigious Knight-Hennessy Scholars program. Kofi Blake, Orisa Coombs, Jierui Fang ’20, Max Kessler ’20, Claire Lazar Reich ’17, and Kyle Swanson ’18, MEng ’19 will begin graduate studies at Stanford University this fall.
Founded in 2018, the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program seeks to cultivate a diverse, multidisciplinary community of future leaders and prepare them to address global challenges. The highly competitive fellowship, which fully funds graduate studies in any field at Stanford University, attracts applicants from around the globe.
In addition to funding, Knight-Hennessy Scholars receive leadership development training, mentorship, and experiential learning opportunities. Since the program’s inception, 11 MIT affiliates students and alumni have been awarded Knight-Hennessy Scholarships.
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Bryan Stevenson, a civil rights lawyer acclaimed for his work confronting bias against the poor and people of color in the U.S. justice system, will deliver the address at MIT’s 2021 Commencement exercises on Friday, June 4.
Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama, which has won legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults.
Stevenson has argued and won multiple cases at the United States Supreme Court, including a 2019 ruling protecting condemned prisoners who suffer from dementia and a landmark 2012 ruling that banned mandatory life-imprisonment-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger. He and his staff have won reversals, relief, or release from prison for over 135 wrongly condemned priso