Harvard's 352nd Commencement featured the academic procession, undergraduate and graduate student orations, the music of Commencement, and brief interviews with graduating seniors.

Also included are the awarding of 6,349 degrees to graduates of the college and graduate schools, culminating with the conferring of eleven honorary degrees by President Lawrence H. Summers. Recipients include former president of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo; economist Gary S. Becker; Peabody professor of music emeritus Elliot Forbes; educator Norman C. Francis; artist Ellsworth Kelly; geneticist Mary-Claire King; computer scientist Donald E. Knuth; art historian Linda Nochlin; novelist Philip Roth; Harvard Corporation member emeritus Robert G. Stone Jr.; and scientist and corporate executive P. Roy Vagelos.