Goucher College Announces 2024 Commencement Speaker
Baltimore County Executive John “Johnny O” Olszewski Jr., Ph.D., Class of 2004, will
deliver the keynote Commencement address at Goucher College’s Class of 2024 Commencement
ceremony. As a Goucher graduate, Olszewski has strong ties to the Goucher community
and previously served as a Goucher College Board of Trustees member. In addition,
Dr. Ruth Gottesman will receive an honorary degree for her unprecedented philanthropy.
The 133rd Goucher College Commencement ceremony will be held on Friday, May 24, 2024,
at 10:30 a.m. on the Margaret M. Winslow Great Lawn. Goucher College President Kent
Devereaux will preside over the ceremony.
“The creativity, hard work, and entrepreneurial spirit of Goucher’s Class of 2024 have led these graduates to international experiences, internships, hands-on research, community-based learning, and so many more incredible opportunities that will help shape their future success. There is much to celebrate,” says President Devereaux.
A former public-school teacher and member of the Maryland House of Delegates, Olszewski was elected as the 14th Baltimore County executive in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. In the legislature, Olszewski served as the chairman of the Baltimore County House Delegation and was the youngest person ever elected to that position. In that capacity, he helped lead unprecedented progress for the county in areas such as economic development and school board reform.
“Like many Goucher graduates, Johnny is a remarkable example of putting Goucher’s mission into practice through public service, social responsibility, and bringing an interdisciplinary approach to solving complex problems for the communities in which we live,” says President Devereaux.
Dr. Ruth Gottesman will receive the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, for her historic philanthropic commitment to higher education, providing free access for generations of medical students with her $1 billion gift to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Gottesman embodies Goucher’s legacy of philanthropy, and her connection to Goucher College is familiar, as her mother, Eleanor Kohn Levy, is a graduate of the Class of 1922, and her aunt, Carrie Kohn Wyman, graduated in the Class of 1925. Additionally, at least 14 Goucher College post-baccalaureate premedical students have gone on to attend Albert Einstein College of Medicine on their paths to becoming doctors.
For more information about this year’s Goucher graduation, visit the Class of 2024 Commencement ceremony page.