Harvard Magazine

Happy Commencement, alumni! 🎓🎓

Harvard Magazine staff members, along with photographer Stu Rosner, captured some of the pomp and confetti throughout Harvard University's 375th Commencement week. See photos here!

Harvard 2026 Commencement Photo Album | Harvard Magazine A gallery of photographs from the Commencement celebration for the class of 2026

Homeschooled as a child, Mychal Threets “grew up” in the libraries of Solano County, California. He began his career there shelving books, before eventually becoming a supervising librarian in the same system.

At the 2026 Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) convocation ceremony, Threets, a social media star and the host of the Reading Rainbow reboot on PBS, recounted that origin story to illustrate the role libraries can play in shaping individual lives. In conversation with HGSE Dean Nonie Lesaux, he also spoke about the enduring social and civic role of public libraries.

Mychal Threets Brings ‘Library Joy’ to Harvard | Harvard Magazine The librarian and social media star gave the keynote address for Harvard Graduate School of Education’s convocation.

"A few weeks ago, I told a friend that the only thing that could go wrong today was the bad weather,” deadpanned graduating Harvard Law School student Patrick Healy at the start of his remarks at Wednesday afternoon’s Harvard Law School 2026 Class Day ceremony. “Like many times in the past three years, I was wrong.”

Until about 24 hours earlier, Healy had expected to be introducing the event’s scheduled keynote speaker, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’07, J.D. ’12. But on Tuesday evening, Wu cancelled plans to speak, citing an unwillingness to cross the picket line of an ongoing strike by Harvard’s graduate student union.

And so Healy became the accidental headliner of a ceremony that wound up being almost entirely about the students themselves—their awards, achievements, and aspirations for the future.

Law School Class Day Carries On Without Michelle Wu | Harvard Magazine Striking graduate students picketed the event, which focused on student achievements and aspirations.