Actor and stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld will be the commencement speaker for the Class of 2024, Duke announced in a video Saturday evening at the Duke-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill men’s basketball game.
Seinfeld earned a degree in communications and theater in 1976 from Queens College, City University of New York. The recipient of three Golden Globes and 10 Primetime Emmy Awards, he is best known for the sitcom “Seinfeld,” which he co-created with Larry David and played a fictionalized version of himself in.
Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica, currently serve as national chairs of Duke’s Parents Committee, and as parents program chairs for the Duke Annual Fund. They are parents to a current Duke student and a Duke alumna. Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld founded the Good+Foundation in 2001, which aims to combat family poverty.
“I am delighted that Jerry Seinfeld will be our 2024 commencement speaker. Jerry is a pioneering entertainer and producer and a gifted observer of human nature who has an extraordinary ability to bring people together through humor,” President Vincent Price wrote in a Duke Today announcement. “I look forward to the insights and wisdom he will share during our celebration of the Class of 2024.”
This year’s commencement ceremony for the Class of 2024 will begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 12 in Wallace Wade Stadium. Seinfeld is set to receive an honorary doctor of arts degree during the ceremony, along with four other recipients.
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Jazper Lu is a Trinity junior and managing editor of The Chronicle's 119th volume.
Audrey Wang is a Trinity junior and data editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume. She was previously editor-in-chief for Volume 119.