Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
Undergraduate Commencement Speaker.

Gina McCarthy: An independent thinker, consensus builder, and informed expert, McCarthy served as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Obama administration. While there, she led efforts to meet historic public health and environmental protection goals at the agency, establishing the nation’s Climate Action Plan and signing the Clean Power Plan, which set the first national standards for reducing power plant emissions. That plan signaled the nation’s commitment to climate action and imparted momentum to the international Paris Climate Agreement.

In 2017, McCarthy was named a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School and a Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she is a professor of Public Health Practice and director of the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment. McCarthy also works as an advisor to Pegasus Capital Advisors, a private equity fund that invests in wellness and sustainability.