Angela Duckworth

The Baccalaureate speaker for the May 14 ceremony will be Angela Duckworth, the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the founder and scientific director of the Character Lab, a nonprofit whose mission is to advance the science and practice of character development.

The Baccalaureate Ceremony is a 50-minute interfaith program that includes music, readings, prayers and the guest speaker. There will be two ceremonies in Irvine Auditorium  to accommodate everyone who would like to attend. Students whose last names begin with A through K are invited to attend the 1:30 p.m. ceremony. Students whose last names begin with L through Z are invited to attend the 3 p.m. ceremony. Tickets and academic regalia are not required.

Dr. Duckworth studies grit and self-control, two attributes that are distinct from IQ and yet powerfully predict success and wellbeing. A 2013 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Dr. Duckworth has advised the White House, the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, and Fortune 500 CEOs. Currently, she serves as a faculty director for Wharton People Analytics, an initiative that helps organizations adopt the latest insights from social science research.

Prior to her career in research, Dr. Duckworth founded a summer school for low-income children that was profiled as a Harvard Kennedy School case study and, in 2012, celebrated its 20th anniversary. She has also been a McKinsey management consultant and a math and science teacher in the public schools of New York City, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Dr. Duckworth completed her undergraduate degree in advanced studies neurobiology at Harvard, graduating magna cum laude. With the support of a Marshall Scholarship, she completed an MSc with Distinction in neuroscience from Oxford University. She completed her PhD in psychology as a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow at Penn.

Dr. Duckworth has received numerous awards for her contributions to K-12 education, including a Beyond Z Award from the KIPP Foundation. Her first book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, debuted May 3, 2016 as an immediate New York Times bestseller.