NATE SILVER TO SPEAK AT NEW SCHOOL COMMENCEMENT
THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVES 77TH COMMENCEMENT ON MAY 24TH

May 24, 2013, 2:30 p.m.
New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center

The Signal and the Noise author Nate Silver will deliver the keynote address at The New School's 77th Commencement

NEW YORK, March 18, 2013- The New School has announced that Nate Silver, author of The New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight blog and the recent bestseller The Signal and The Noise, will address graduates and guests at its 77th commencement exercises. New School President David E. Van Zandt will lead the ceremony, which will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan on May 24, 2013 at 2:30 p.m.

"The New School has earned a reputation of producing graduates who challenge received wisdom," said Silver, whose rigorous statistical analysis of polls produced a near-perfect prediction of the 2012 presidential election. "I am honored to address a community with a legacy of informed, critical thought and free expression across disciplines."

The class of 2013 will be one of The New School’s largest, with nearly 3,100 expected graduates from 76 countries. This year’s commencement will include graduates at all levels in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, public policy, management, and the performing arts, including the first class of graduates of two new degree programs: the Bachelor of Science in Urban Design and the Master of Science in Media Management.

"Across disciplines, this years' graduates embody The New School's commitment to finding innovative approaches pressing contemporary issues," said Van Zandt, the university's eighth president. “I look forward to celebrating our students’ and alumni’s passion and imagination, which grounds The New School in its founding principles of social engagement and creative innovation.”

In addition to Silver, honorary degrees will be given to three individuals whose fresh perspectives and early-career contributions exemplify The New School’s commitment to public action and enlightened thinking: Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr, co-founder of Hunch, and one of Time magazine’s 2006 “Time 100,” which lists the world’s 100 most influential people; Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab, a prominent advocate for global internet freedom and one of Business Week’s 2008 “25 Most Influential People on the Web”; and Khalil Gibran Muhammad, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library and author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime and the Making of Modern Urban America.

For more information on the 2013 commencement, please visit http://www.newschool.edu/commencement/.

The New School, a leading progressive university in New York City, was founded in 1919 as a center of intellectual and artistic freedom. Today The New School is still in the vanguard of innovation and experimentation in higher education, with more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, public policy, management, the arts, and media, and thousands of adult learners in continuing education courses. Committed to public engagement, The New School welcomes thousands of New Yorkers yearly to its celebrated public programs and maintains a global presence through its online learning programs, research institutes, and international partnerships. Learn more at www.newschool.edu.

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