2019 College Graduation Speakers

Stacey Snider, C’82, PAR’19, the only woman to have run two major movie studios, and Hannah Sweeney, C’19, will speak at the 2019 graduation ceremony for the College of Arts & Sciences on May 19. Snider most recently served as Chairman and CEO of Twentieth Century Fox Film, overseeing all areas of the studio, including its five production divisions, global marketing, distribution, and home entertainment. Snider has also held executive positions at DreamWorks Studios, Universal Pictures, TriStar Pictures, and Guber Peters Entertainment. She currently serves on the boards of City Year, UCLA School of Law, and Harvard-Westlake School. She is a member of the Penn Arts & Sciences Board of Overseers, The Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, and the Parent Leadership Committee.

Sweeney came to Penn from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, as a QuestBridge Scholar. She majored in political science with a concentration in international relations, and minored in gender studies, religious studies, and German. She served in the Undergraduate Assembly and as an original board member of the first-generation/low-income student movement PennFirst. A Wharton Public Policy Grant recipient and B.A. Rudolph Public Service Scholar, Sweeney has interned with the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Human Rights Council. She received the prestigious Thouron Award, which she will use to obtain a Masters in Human Rights at the London School of Economics. She hopes to pursue a future in international human rights and refugee law.