About the Student Speaker

The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development will salute its bachelor, master's degree and sixth-year certificate candidates at ceremonies on Wednesday, May 13, 2009, at Radio City Music Hall. These ceremonies are a formal recognition of academic achievements and the special contributions graduating students have made to our NYU community. As part of the program, one graduating senior and one graduating graduate student will be selected to speak on behalf of his/her class.

If you would like to be considered for this special honor, please plan to submit the text of a graduation speech. The deadline for this submission will be determined in early Fall 2008. No specific format or topic is preferred. The speech may be serious, humorous, personal or more general, but it may be no more than 3 minutes long. The selection committee is, however, interested in a speech that will resonate with the entire audience - including the graduates of our undergraduate and graduate programs in education, health, communication, and the arts, as well as parents, faculty and staff.

To be eligible to apply you must:

• Be a Steinhardt student eligible for September 2008, January 2009 or May 2009 graduation.

• If you are an undergraduate student, be able to attend the NYUSteinhardt Baccalaureate Ceremony on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 11:30 am.

• If you are a graduate student, be able to attend the NYUSteinhardt Valedictory Ceremony on Wednesday, May 13, 2008 at 3:30 pm.

• Be able to present your speech before the NYUSteinhardt Student Affairs Committee in early February (specific date to be determined).

• Submit a hard copy of your speech with your full name, contact information and student identification number in late January (specific date to be determined) to:

Student Speaker Award
NYUSteinhardt
Office of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Pless Hall, Second Floor
82 Washington Square East
New York, NY 10003-6680

A committee will review all eligible applications that are received by the deadline, and finalists will be contacted in late January. Finalists will present their speeches before the Student Affairs Committee in early February. The Student Affairs Committee will select and notify the Student Speaker and the Alternate Student Speaker.

Click on the appropriate link to download an instruction sheet: undergraduate students or graduate students