The first comic actor to give a Senior Convocation address on the Hill—“The Office” star Ed Helms, in 2014—only played a Cornell alum. The 2026 speaker actually is one.
Jane Lynch, MFA ’84, is an Emmy winner with a slew of credits, from Best in Show to “Glee” to “Only Murders in the Building” (on which her recurring role, as the Steve Martin character’s stunt double, culminated in being offed as the fourth season’s homicide victim).
During her trip to campus to speak at the invitation of the senior class, the theater arts grad didn’t just give a talk in Barton Hall.
She also climbed to the top of McGraw Tower and tried her hand at playing the Chimes; got a tour of Kroch Library, where she viewed vintage yearbook photos of her Cornell performances; visited the A.D. White Reading Room; got serenaded by the Hangovers; and interacted with some very thrilled seniors.
Serge Petchenyi/Cornell University
From left, Xi Yang, PhD '10, senior lecturer of finance in the SC Johnson College of Business; Christine Ye; Christine Ye Award recipient Margaret E. Foster, doctoral candidate in communication; Cornelia Ye Award recipient Naman Agrawal, doctoral candidate in neurobiology and behavior; Cornelia Ye; and Derina Samuel, associate director of graduate student development at the Center for Teaching Innovation.
NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
Artist concept of the gas giant planet WD 1856 b orbiting a white dwarf star. The planet is 7 times larger than the Earth-sized white dwarf it orbits. WD 1856 b has methane and hazes in its atmosphere, which would give it a similar color to Saturn's moon Titan. The white dwarf formed from a star that died 5 billion years ago, and has been cooling ever since, giving it an orange colour similar to the Sun.
Sreang Hok/Cornell University
Dressed in clean-room suits, the Warrior-Scholar Project’s STEM boot camp cohort toured the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility.
