An asterix (*) denotes that the full text of the address is available. All others are summaries or excerpts. A caret (^) denotes an external link to that year’s address.
| Year | Month | Speaker(s) | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1899 | June 15 | Hampton L. Carson* | |
| 1900 | June 13 | William L. Prather* | |
| 1901 | June 12 | James M. Beck* | The Student of Wittenberg and his Dram of Eale |
| 1902 | June 18 | Nicholas Murray Butler* | |
| 1903 | June 17 | Horace Howard Furness* | |
| 1904 | June 15 | David McConnell Steele* | |
| 1905 | June 14 | George Harris* | |
| 1906 | June 13 | John Bach McMaster* | |
| 1907 | June 19 | John A. Johnson* | The University Man’s Opportunity |
| 1908 | June 17 | Edgar Fahs Smith* | Our University |
| 1909 | June 16 | Josiah H. Penniman* | The Best in University Training |
| 1910 | June 15 | Philander C. Knox* | The Spirit and Purpose of American Diplomacy |
| 1911 | June 21 | Thomas R. Marshall* | The University Man |
| 1912 | June 19 | Joseph Swain* | Privileges and Duties of American Citizenship |
| 1913 | June 18 | Edward P. Cheyney* | |
| 1914 | June 17 | Jean J. Jusserand* | |
| 1915 | June 16 | Felix E. Schelling* | |
| 1916 | June 21 | Bliss Perry* | |
| 1917 | June 20 | Charles Franklin Thwing* | |
| 1919 | June 19 | Leonard Wood* | |
| 1920 | June 16 | Edgar Fahs Smith* | Farewell Address |
| 1921 | June 15 | Ernest Martin Hopkins* | The Improvability of Man |
| 1922 | June 14 | Josiah H. Penniman, Cornelius Weygandt, and Alfred Stengel* | |
| 1923 | February 16 | Warren Powers Laird* | Art and Life |
| 1923 | June 20 | Josiah H. Penniman, Thomas P. McCutcheon, and Edwin R. Keedy* | |
| 1924 | February 16 | Charles R. Turner* | |
| 1924 | June 18 | Solomon S. Huebner and Walton Brooks McDaniel* | |
| 1925 | February 14 | J.P. Wickersham Crawford* | |
| 1925 | June 17 | Rodney H. True and O.H. Perry Pepper* | The University Man as Citizen (True) |
| 1926 | February 13 | Robert Belle Burke* | |
| 1926 | June 16 | Edgar A. Singer and George W. McClelland* | |
| 1927 | February 12 | Arthur Willis Goodspeed* | |
| 1927 | June 15 | William E. Lingelbach* | Universities and Progress |
| 1928 | February 18 | Josiah H. Penniman* | |
| 1928 | June 20 | Frederic L. Ballard* | |
| 1929 | February 16 | Harold Pender* | |
| 1929 | June 19 | St. George L. Sioussat* | Frontiers for the Future |
| 1930 | June 18 | Cheesman A. Herrick* | University of Pennsylvania’s Service to City and Commonwealth |
| 1931 | June 17 | Thomas Sovereign Gates* | The Human Side of Higher Education |
| 1932 | June 22 | Harlow Shapley* | A Running in Trails |
| 1933 | February 18 | W. Brooke Stabler | |
| 1933 | June 21 | Horace Stern | |
| 1935 | June 19 | Isaiah Bowman | |
| 1937 | June 9 | Cordell Hull | |
| 1939 | February 18 | Joseph Henry Willits | |
| 1939 | June 14 | Josiah H. Penniman | |
| 1940 | February 17 | Frank Pierrepont Graves | |
| 1941 | February 15 | Felix Muskett Morley | |
| 1941 | June 11 | Archibald MacLeish* | Phophets of Doom |
| 1942 | February 14 | Douglas Southall Freeman | |
| 1942 | June 2 | Rex Stowers Clements | |
| 1942 | September 16 | Oliver James Hart | |
| 1943 | February 6 | Henning Webb Prentiss, Jr. | The Cult of Competency |
| 1943 | June 2 | John Edwin Pomfret* | National Morale |
| 1944 | March 4 | Ralph Barton Perry | Idealism in Politics |
| 1944 | October 31 | Charles Francis Jenkins | |
| 1945 | June 28 | Arthur T. Vanderbilt | |
| 1945 | October 30 | Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve | |
| 1946 | February 28 | J. Robert Oppenheimer | |
| 1946 | June 27 | Tai-Chi Quo | |
| 1946 | August 29 | Herbert Funk Goodrich | |
| 1947 | March 15 | Chester Irving Barnard | |
| 1947 | June 18 | Roger Adams | |
| 1947 | August 28 | Earl Grant Harrison | |
| 1948 | February 7 | George Keith Funston | |
| 1948 | June 9 | James Francis Byrnes | |
| 1949 | February 12 | James Foster Dulles | |
| 1949 | June 15 | Detlev Wulf Bronk | |
| 1949 | August 24 | William Wilcox Edel | |
| 1950 | February 11 | Paul Grey Hoffmann | |
| 1950 | June 14 | Thomas Knight Finletter | |
| 1951 | February 10 | George Keith Funston | |
| 1951 | June 13 | James Rhyne Killian | |
| 1951 | September 19 | Robert Strausz-Hupé | |
| 1952 | February 16 | Boyd Lee Spahr | |
| 1952 | June 18 | Henry Merritt Wriston* | |
| 1953 | February 7 | Harry Elmer Humphreys, Jr. | |
| 1953 | June 10 | Milton Stover Eisenhower* | |
| 1954 | February 13 | Dag Hammarskjöld | |
| 1954 | June 16 | Gayson Louis Kirk and Charles E. Wyzanski | Man’s Right to Knowledge and the Free Use Thereof (Kirk) |
| 1955 | February 12 | Oveta Culp Hobby | |
| 1955 | June 15 | Franklin David Murphy | |
| 1956 | February 11 | Earl Warren | |
| 1956 | June 13 | Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. | |
| 1957 | February 9 | George Michael Leader | |
| 1957 | June 12 | Frank Cyril James | |
| 1958 | February 8 | Willy Brandt | |
| 1958 | June 11 | Robert Dechert | The Export of Ideas |
| 1959 | June 10 | Robert Stevenson Aitken | |
| 1960 | February 13 | George Bogdan Kistiakowsky* | |
| 1961 | June 5 | Crawford Hallock Greenewalt* | |
| 1962 | May 21 | Clarence Douglas Dillon and Felix Houphouet-Boigny* | |
| 1963 | May 20 | Francis Keppel* | Reflections on an Image |
| 1964 | May 18 | William Warren Scranton* | |
| 1965 | May 24 | John Bruce* | |
| 1966 | May 23 | Robert Clifton Weaver* | |
| 1967 | May 22 | Raymond P. Shafer* | |
| 1968 | May 20 | William S. Paley* | |
| 1969 | May 19 | Barbara Ward Jackson* | |
| 1970 | May 18 | Martin Meyerson* | |
| 1971 | May 24 | David Riesman* | |
| 1972 | May 22 | John H. Knowles* | Virtues and Values in American Life |
| 1973 | May 21 | Roy Jenkins* | |
| 1974 | May 20 | Milton J. Shapp* | |
| 1975 | May 18 | Gerald R. Ford* | |
| 1976 | May 28 | Warren E. Burger* | What Do You Want From Your Century? |
| 1977 | May 22 | Hubert H. Humphrey* | |
| 1978 | May 22 | Patricia R. Harris* | The University and the City |
| 1980 | May 19 | Noel Annan* | |
| 1981 | May 18 | Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.* | |
| 1982 | May 17 | Sol M. Linowitz* | |
| 1983 | May 23 | Ellen H. Goodman* | |
| 1984 | May 21 | W. Wilson Goode* | |
| 1985 | May 20 | Donald T. Regan* | |
| 1986 | May 19 | Michael S. Brown* | |
| 1987 | May 18 | Riccardo Muti* | La Vita Buona |
| 1988 | May 16 | Patricia Schroeder* | |
| 1989 | May 22 | Mike Wallace* | |
| 1990 | May 14 | Barbara Pierce Bush* | |
| 1991 | May 21 | Ted Koppel* | |
| 1992 | May 18 | Ismail Mahomed* | |
| 1993 | May 17 | Hillary Rodham Clinton*^ | You Will Look for the Right Balance… |
| 1994 | May 19 | Henry G. Cisneros*^ | Proud to be Part of the Family |
| 1995 | May 22 | Jane Alexander* | |
| 1996 | May 21 | Tom Brokaw*^ | |
| 1997 | May 19 | William H. Cosby*^ | |
| 1998 | May 18 | Jimmy Carter*^ | The Things You Cannot See |
| 1999 | May 17 | Robert E. Rubin*^ | A Healthy Respect for Uncertainty |
| 2000 | May 22 | Seamus Heaney*^ | Transcending Boundaries |
| 2001 | May 21 | John McCain*^ | Confronting Challenges |
| 2002 | May 13 | James Lehrer*^ | Risk It |
| 2003 | May 19 | Desmond Tutu*^ | We All Are Family |
| 2004 | May 17 | Bono*^ | Because We Can, We Must |
| 2005 | May 16 | Kofi Annan*^ | A Future “In Larger Freedom” |
| 2006 | May 15 | Jodie Foster*^ | Filling your Life with your Passions |
| 2007 | May 14 | James A. Baker*^ | Go Forth—Be Leaders |
| 2008 | May 19 | Michael R. Bloomberg *^ | Sharing ‘Four Virtues to Lead By’ |
| 2009 | May 18 | Eric E. Schmidt*^ | The Courage to be Unreasonable |
| 2010 | May 17 | Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.*^ | Putting Life in Perspective |
| 2011 | May 16 | Denzel Washington*^ | Fall Forward |
| 2012 | May 14 | Geoffrey Canada*^ | The Common Good |
| 2013 | May 13 | Joseph R. Biden, Jr.*^ | A Chance to Write a New Chapter |
| 2014 | May 19 | John Legend*^ | Love Yourself, Love Your Work, Love the People Around You |
| 2015 | May 18 | Samantha Power*^ | Serving Community and Changing the World |
| 2016 | May 16 | Lin-Manuel Miranda*^ | The Stories We Tell |
| 2017 | May 15 | Cory A. Booker*^ | Making a World of Change for Everyone |
| 2018 | May 14 | Andrea Mitchell*^ | Be Curious, Open-Minded and Engaged—Never Stop Learning |
| 2019 | May 20 | Bryan Stevenson (address not published) | |
| 2020 (virtual)† | May 18 | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie*^ | |
| 2020 (in person)† | May 22-23, 2021 (tentative) | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie |
† Penn’s traditional commencement on campus was not possible in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Instead, there was an online celebration for the Class of 2020, and an in-person ceremony is tentatively planned for the weekend of May 22-23, 2021. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is scheduled to make an address at the in-person ceremony, and offered congratulations during the virtual celebration.