General Motors CEO Mary Barra will be the commencement speaker for the Class of 2022, Duke announced Tuesday afternoon.
Barra is the first woman to lead a major auto company. She received an honorary degree from Duke in 2018 and is a member of the University’s Board of Trustees. While serving as CEO of General Motors, her focus for the company has been working towards an all-electric future that prioritizes inclusivity and accessibility.
Barra was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by TIME magazine in 2021. She has also been ranked near the top of the “Most Powerful Women in Business” lists published by both Forbes and Fortune magazines, and she ranked ninth on Fortune's “World’s Greatest 50 Leaders” list in 2020.
“[Barra] models the type of business leadership needed today. She combines an acute intellect with the ability to bring out the best in others through her considerable emotional intelligence and decency,” Fuqua Dean Bill Boulding said in a press release.
“I am thrilled to welcome Mary Barra and to honor these extraordinary leaders at commencement in May,” President Vincent Price said in a press release. “They have made contributions in a diverse range of fields that have transformed countless lives, and I know that they will inspire our graduates to pursue careers of principle and purpose.”
This year’s commencement ceremony for the Class of 2022 will begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 8 in Wallace Wade Stadium.
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Leah Boyd is a Pratt senior and a social chair of The Chronicle's 118th volume. She was previously editor-in-chief for Volume 117.