Catherine Snow Named 2025 Convocation Speaker

The Harvard Graduate School of Education announced that Professor Catherine Snow will address the graduating class of 2025 at its Convocation ceremony on May 28.

“Catherine Snow is a rare and remarkable force — truly incomparable,” says Dean Nonie Lesaux. “It’s hard to think of a colleague who has made a greater impact on HGSE and the global field of education than Catherine.”

A pioneering researcher of language and literacy, Snow’s contributions to the science and understanding of reading transcend the “Reading Wars” that have dominated discourse around the topic in recent decades. In a landscape bisected by advocates of whole language and phonics, she chaired the committee that ushered a blockbuster report to the desks of educators across the country. The report, 1998’s Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, made the case that the majority of reading problems faced by adolescents and adults could have been avoided or resolved in their early childhood years and “raised new questions for fruitful inquiry and research” wrote Professor James Kim in 2008’s When Research Matters.

Much of that inquiry research were addressed in another report Snow oversaw, Reading for Understanding, which went on to argue that comprehension was also critical for young readers, not just to read accurately and fluently by third grade.

Snow’s career on Appian Way spans more than four decades, having joined the Ed School in 1978 as a visiting associate professor. She was named professor of education in 1987. Snow was awarded HGSE’s Morningstar Family Teaching Award in 2004.

“Reflecting on my own journey at Harvard, I vividly recall arriving more than two decades ago as a young assistant professor and feeling inspired by Catherine and her brilliance,” says Lesaux. “She effortlessly showed how scholarly excellence blends seamlessly with genuine dedication to student growth, how service and institution-building can be an instinct rather than an obligation, and how laughter is crucial at any moment.”

Described by peers and former advisees as a “commanding presence,” a “selfless team player,” a “guiding and stabilizing figure,” Snow is also known for having a “distinctive and stylish fashion sense,” as detailed in a Harvard Ed. Magazine feature last fall.

A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as the National Academy of Education, Snow holds honorary degrees from the University of Nijmegen (2006), University of Oslo (2008), and University of Toledo (2010). A member of nearly a dozen editorial boards, her list of research grants, consultant work, and professional service over her lengthy career is simply too long to list here.

Snow’s commencement address will also mark her retirement from teaching at the end of the 2024–25 academic year. After 45 years educating on Appian Way, Snow will move to a role as emeritus research professor.

“It is a great honor to be asked to address the graduating class and their families and supporters,” says Snow. “It could also be a bit intimidating, though my general impression is that folks don't remember much about the speeches they hear at commencement.”

Famous for her humor, Snow was quick to counter her own observation by reflecting on past commencement ceremonies she did remember. She noted that former Dean Jim Ryan’s 2016 speech,  “Wait, What?,” was particularly memorable.

Snow offered few hints about what the theme of her own address might be, though she did note “the value of dialogue” is “not unlikely to show up” in her final remarks. She also noted she’s looking forward to the annual tradition of meeting new graduates' families and friends who supported them over the many months and years of hard work as they pursued their education at HGSE.

“I always love the opportunity to meet graduates' families,” says Snow, “and trying to figure out before we are introduced which parents go with which young adults.”

HGSE Convocation will be held Wednesday, May 28 at 3:30 p.m. in Radcliffe Yard.