Anne-Marie Slaughter to Deliver Commencement Address

Anne-Marie Slaughter, who helped renew the national debate on the continued barriers to genuine male-female equality, will deliver Tufts University’s commencement address on May 18.

Slaughter is the president and CEO of the New America Foundation, a public policy institute and idea incubator based in Washington and New York. She is also the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. From 2009 to 2011 she served as director of policy planning for the U.S. Department of State, the first woman to hold that post. Prior to her government service, Slaughter was the dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School.

In 2012, following her decision to leave the State Department the previous year, Slaughter wrote an article titled “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” for the Atlantic. It quickly became the most-read article in the history of the magazine and helped rekindle the national conversation about the myth of the work-life balance for professional women.

“As a distinguished scholar, academic leader and advocate for innovation in public policy and national affairs, Anne-Marie Slaughter represents the multifaceted excellence and civic engagement to which Tufts is committed,” said Tufts President Anthony P. Monaco. “She is also one of the most thoughtful and widely quoted commentators on the issues of personal and professional equality for women in contemporary America. We are anticipating her commencement address with great interest.”

Slaughter has written or edited six books and more than 100 scholarly articles. She was the convener and academic co-chair of the Princeton Project on National Security, a multiyear research project aimed at developing a new, bipartisan national security strategy for the United States.

After leaving the State Department, she received the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award for her work leading the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, as well as meritorious service awards from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe.

Slaughter writes a monthly column for the online commentary site Project Syndicate. She provides frequent commentary for mainstream and new media outlets and curates foreign policy news for more than 90,000 followers on Twitter (@SlaughterAM). Foreign Policy magazine has named her to its annual list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers multiple times. She received a B.A. from Princeton, an M.Phil. and D.Phil. in international relations from Oxford and a J.D. from Harvard. She is married to Andrew Moravcsik; they live in Princeton, N.J., with their two sons.

At commencement, which begins at 9 a.m. on the academic quad of Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus, Slaughter will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. Four other distinguished men and women will also receive honorary degrees:

James Lawson, the social activist, architect of the nonviolence movement in pursuit of civil rights, educator and religious leader. Described by Martin Luther King, Jr., as one of the “noble men” who deeply influenced the struggle for equal rights, Lawson has shown over five decades how the power of nonviolence can effect profound social change. Lawson will receive an honorary doctor of public service degree.

Jill Lepore, J87, the historian and award-winning author. She is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History, Harvard College Professor, chair of Harvard’s History and Literature Program and a staff writer for the New Yorker. Her books and essays focus on the histories of war and violence and of language and literacy. Lepore will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.

Haruki Murakami, novelist. Acclaimed not only in his native Japan but also internationally for fiction that is humorous and surreal, Murakami has earned numerous literary prizes and been praised as being “among the world’s greatest living novelists” by the Guardian. Murakami will receive an honorary doctor of letters degree.

James Stern, E72, A07P, financier, philanthropist and chairman emeritus of the Tufts Board of Trustees. Stern, the chair of the Cypress Group LLC, is the youngest person ever elected to the Tufts board, having begun his service at age 32. He served 31 years on the board, including a decade as chairman, endowing multiple professorships and student scholarships and spearheading two successful capital fundraising campaigns. Stern will receive an honorary doctor of business administration degree.

In addition, on May 17, Rajiv Shah, the administrator of USAID, will address Fletcher School graduates during their Class Day ceremonies.