2022 Commencement Speaker Announced

Columbia Mailman School's 2022 Commencement ceremony will take place in person on Tuesday, May 17, at the Armory on West 168th Street. The estimable Gina McCarthy, who served as the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will deliver the Commencement keynote address.

Dean Linda P. Fried said:

“I am deeply grateful to everyone who is making it possible for us to safely celebrate our incredible 2022 graduates in person, and to welcome their families and friends to our campus. As President Bollinger announced earlier this week, the University Commencement ceremony will also take place in person on Wednesday, May 18, 2022, on the Morningside campus. Further details on both ceremonies will be shared in the coming weeks. 

This year’s Commencement has special meaning because we will celebrate many students who began their studies in 2020, in the early months of the pandemic. We are thankful for their fortitude and their commitment to their education, and to the Columbia Mailman community. 

The impact of climate change on human health is one of the most urgent and complex public health crises we will face in our lifetimes—one with implications for generations to come. Across our School, faculty, staff, and students are working to anticipate and mitigate the impact of climate change and to ensure climate justice for those who are the most vulnerable.

We are pleased to present Gina McCarthy with our School’s Visionary Leadership Award at Commencement. McCarthy, who currently leads the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy as the first National Climate Advisor, is one of the nation’s most trusted and accomplished voices on climate issues. She has been at the forefront of environmental and public health progress in leadership roles for more than three decades, including as the 13th Administrator of the EPA, appointed by President Obama, and then as President and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council.  McCarthy has advised five administrations of both Democratic and Republican Massachusetts governors on environmental matters, and she served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. 

In her time leading the EPA, McCarthy pursued innovative global collaborations with the United Nations and the World Health Organization and oversaw successful efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, mitigate air pollution, conserve critical water sources, and safeguard vulnerable communities from chemical hazards. She spearheaded the Obama-Biden Administration’s Clean Power Plan, which set America’s first-ever national standards for lowering carbon emissions from power plants and helped pave the way for the Paris Climate Agreement. Prior to her role with the NRDC, McCarthy was a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and currently serves as chair of the board of directors of the Harvard Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment.”