Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense

2016 is going to be quite a year for graduation ceremonies at Baltimore-area colleges and universities. Perhaps because of all the high-profile media attention the city got over the past year, weโ€™ve wound up with an impressive slate of speakersโ€“from Academy Award nominees to bestselling authors to politicansโ€“ planning on imparting their wisdom to eager graduates this year. 

Here are some of the speakers who we expect will be particularly interesting and/or illuminating:

Johns Hopkins โ€“ Spike Lee, filmmaker extraordinaire, on May 18.

UMBC โ€“ Drew Faust, president of Harvard, on May 19.

Bowie State โ€“ John Lewis, Congressman and civil rights activist, on May 23.

Loyola University Maryland โ€“ Wes Moore, best-selling writer of The Other Wes Moore, on May 21.

University of Maryland โ€“ Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Amour (and a former Terp himself), on May 18.

Washington College โ€“ David Rubinstein, co-founder and co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, on May 21.

Stevenson University โ€“ Brad Synder, Afghanistan vet and paralympic swimmer, on May 19.