May 2016 commencement speaker will be Anne-Marie Slaughter

Writer and women's rights advocate Anne-Marie Slaughter will deliver the May 2016 commencement address in Kenan Stadium. 

Slaughter's roles as a public servant and writer have sparked national discussions about issues like gender equality in the workplace.

“I am so honored to be the Commencement speaker,” Slaughter said in a press release. “I come from 200 years of North Carolinians and my great-grandfather William Alexander Hoke’s papers are stored at the University.”

Ron Strauss, the executive vice provost, oversaw the committee that chose Slaughter. 

“She’s not someone everyone has asked to make a commencement address, which makes her a really interesting choice,” Strauss said. “The people who are not on the speaker circuit make the best speakers — they’re fresher and more engaged.

Strauss said Slaughter's work addresses the kind of issues that will be of great interest to students.

Her article "Why Women Still Can’t Have it All," published by The Atlantic in 2012, became the most read article in the magazine’s history, hitting over 700,000 views just a few days after it was published. 

“Carolina is incredibly fortunate to welcome an exceptional thinker and leader like Anne-Marie Slaughter to share her wit, wisdom and experience,” Chancellor Carol Folt said in a press release. 

“She is a dedicated public servant devoted to solving real life challenges related to work, family and leadership — issues especially relevant to our graduating seniors."

Folt said she heard Slaughter speak a few years ago and found her “absolutely magnetic.”

“She greatly inspired me and I know students will be moved and motivated by her message,” she said. 

Slaughter has degrees from Princeton, Harvard and Oxford Universities. In the early 2000s, Slaughter served in leadership roles at Princeton and Harvard Universities before working in the federal government. 

In 2009, Slaughter was the first woman to be named the director of policy planning for the U.S. Department of State. She has written or edited six books, and she writes articles for a number of publications. 

Slaughter is currently the President and CEO of New America, a non-partisan think tank that tries to resolve problems that affect the public. She is the Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. 

“She’s had an incredibly distinguished career,” Strauss said.

The commencement ceremony will take place May 8.

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