On May 20, 2019, members of the Class of 2019 will receive their degrees from the Yale School of Management.

Graduates participate in both the University Commencement Ceremony and the Yale SOM Diploma Ceremony on Commencement Day, as well as other events during the preceding weekend.

View the Yale University commencement schedule for Saturday, May 18 through Monday, May 20.

Yale University Commencement Exercises

10:00 a.m. Academic Procession, 10:30 a.m. University Commencement

Yale SOM Diploma Ceremony

12:45 p.m.

Join the conversation: #Yale2019

The Yale School of Management hosted its 42nd Commencement on May 20, awarding diplomas to 505 members of the Class of 2019 in the sunny courtyard of Edward P. Evans Hall.

The graduating class included 339 students in the full-time MBA program, 68 in the Master of Advanced Management program, 56 in the MBA for Executives program, 10 in the Master’s Degree in Systemic Risk program, and 32 in the Master’s Degree in Global Business and Society program.

Edward A. Snyder, the Indra K. Nooyi Dean and William S. Beinecke Professor of Economics and Management, congratulated the graduating class, calling them a source of hope in a world beset by major global crises.

“We have great hope because of you,” he said. “With you, we can stay on the side of optimism. In you, we see hope of all kinds and miracles.”

Snyder expressed confidence that graduates would act for the good of society in their careers. “You know how to compete. You know how to cooperate. You know how to seek truth and light,” he said. “Move the spirit of Yale SOM and carry your reputations wherever your life’s work takes you.”

Class speaker Robert Hawkins, a graduate of the MBA for Executives program, said that he and his classmates have learned to see the world as much bigger than themselves and their personal ambitions. They are out to “improve,” not “rule,” the world, he said.

“This is a relatively subtle shift in perspective many of us have gone through in our time at Yale,” Hawkins said. And it’s a critical component in business success today, he added.

“Customers are demanding accountability from the companies they do business with,” Hawkins said. “Profits cannot be the only motive… SOM graduates are uniquely positioned to lead their organizations in an environment where the bottom line is not the only metric that matters.”

The second class speaker was Udit Rastogi, a graduate of the full-time MBA program. He said that Yale SOM’s diverse community has prepared his class to lead in a globalized world.

Rastogi, a native of India, recalled being atop a mountain in Peru on an SOM trip with 15 classmates. “I realized that the Udit from two years ago could not have imagined being there, yet alone claimed friendships from all around the world,” he said.

People of different nationalities, races, genders, and ages are becoming more connected, and so is business, Rastogi noted.

“As graduates of the most global business school in the world, we are going to be the flag bearers in how we all talk to each other, listen to each other, and treat each other,” he said, encouraging his classmates to remember that “our values don’t define our actions. Our actions define our values.”