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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1897 | June 9 | Wayne MacVeagh | |
| 1898 | June 8 | John B. McPherson | |
| 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, 2022 | Angela Duckworth*^ | |
| 2021 | May 17 | Laurene Powell Jobs*^ | |
| 2022 | May 16 | Ken Burns*^ |
† 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, held on May 18. An in-person Commencement ceremony was later held on May 22, 2022.