For Immediate Release: June 8, 2006
Contact:  Jennifer Centra, jcentra@hbs.edu, (617) 495-6155

HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL CELEBRATES 96th COMMENCEMENT

MBA graduates celebrate during the HBS diploma ceremony Photo: Stuart Cahill

BOSTON - Harvard Business School’s 96th Commencement exercises were held today on its campus in Boston. This year’s graduates included 900 MBA candidates from more than 65 different countries, as well as three students who received doctorates in business administration. In addition, HBS, in conjunction with the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, awarded 4 Ph.D. degrees—one each in the fields of business economics, information technology and management, organizational behavior, and health policy.

Forty-five MBA graduates -- or the top five percent of the Class -- left the two-year, full-time program with high distinction as Baker Scholars, named after the School's first benefactor, George F. Baker. Another 55 received their diplomas with distinction.

Members of the Class of 2006 also excelled in their job searches. Approximately 96 percent of them received a job offer by graduation day -- as compared to 94 percent for the Class of 2005.

Hank Paulson (MBA 1970/G) speaks at Class Day Photo: Stuart Cahill

As part of Class Day festivities yesterday, Henry M. (Hank) Paulson, Jr., a member of the MBA Class of 1970, Chairman and CEO of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and recently nominated to be the next Secretary of the Treasury, addressed the graduates as well as their families and friends. Jin (PJ) Kim – who was chosen by his classmates as the student speaker and who will also receive a degree from the Kennedy School of Government – reflected on his years at HBS and what he learned both inside and outside the classroom.

The Class also honored six faculty members for excellence in teaching and advising: Professor of Management Practice Nabil El-Hage (who teaches Finance II in the first-year required curriculum), Professor David Moss (Business, Government, and the International Economy in the required curriculum), Associate Professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee (Strategy in the required curriculum), Associate Professor Bharat Anand (Corporate Strategy in the second-year elective curriculum), Associate Professor Frances Frei (Managing Service Operations in the elective curriculum), and Associate Professor Jan Rivkin (Advanced Competitive Strategy in the elective curriculum).