WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Cécile McLorin Salvant, Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist, will be the principal speaker at Williams College's 237th Commencement Exercise on Sunday, June 7, 2026. 

 

The day before, Dan Harris, former ABC News anchor and correspondent, will deliver the college's baccalaureate lecture. 

 

Salvant is a composer, singer and visual artist is passionate about storytelling and exploring connections between vaudeville, blues, folk traditions, theater, jazz and baroque music. 

 

An eclectic curator, unearthing rarely recorded, forgotten songs with strong narratives, power dynamics, twists and humor, she was once described as "a unique voice supported by an intelligence and full-fledged musicality, which light up every note she sings" by the late Jessye Norman.

 

She won the Thelonious Monk competition in 2010 and received Grammy Awards for three consecutive albums: "The Window," "Dreams and Daggers," and "For One To Love." In 2020, she received the MacArthur fellowship and Doris Duke Artist Award. Her debut and follow-up Nonesuch Records projects, "Ghost Song" (2022) and "Mélusine" (2023), each received two Grammy nominations. 

 

Salvant's latest work, Ogresse, arranged by Darcy James Argue, is a musical fable in the form of a cantata that blends several styles of composition resulting in an expansive sonic landscape.

 

Harris is an author, podcaster and entrepreneur. For 21 years, he worked as an anchor and correspondent for ABC News, hosting such shows as "Nightline" and the weekend editions of "Good Morning America." Harris has reported from all over the planet, covering wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and producing investigative reports in Haiti, Cambodia and the Amazon. 

 

After having a nationally televised panic attack on "Good Morning America," Harris discovered meditation, and then wrote the best-selling book "10% Happier" as a way to encourage fellow skeptics to give the practice a shot. 

 

After that first book, he started the "10% Happier" podcast in which he interviews celebrities, entrepreneurs, authors, scientists and meditation teachers about how to do life better. 

 

Harris lives outside New York City with his wife, son and a rotating cast of rescue cats. 

 

Salvant will speak during commencement exercises beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday, June 7, on the Williams Quad; Harris will speak at 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 6, in Chapin Hall. 

 

Processions will precede each exercise and the president's reception will follow commencement on the Chapin Hall Lawn. 

 

For more information about Williams' 2026 Commencement ceremonies, visit commencement.williams.edu.