Five-time Emmy winner and Golden Globe awardee Jane Lynch MFA ’84 will take the stage at this year’s Senior Convocation Ceremony to deliver the keynote address, the Senior Convocation Committee announced at Ho Plaza on Monday.
The Senior Convocation Ceremony is an annual celebration led by the student-run Senior Convocation Committee that honors Cornell’s graduating class with student performances and speeches from a well-known keynote speaker, University leadership and a Cornell student. This year’s ceremony will take place in Barton Hall at 1 p.m. on May 21.
Lynch, who earned a master of fine arts at Cornell in 1984, will make her return to campus having won multiple major entertainment awards.
In 2011, Lynch won the Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a television show for her role as Sue Sylvester in Glee, already having secured an Emmy for outstanding guest actress for the same role in 2010. She made an appearance in every episode of the musical comedy series, which ran from 2009 to 2015.
In addition to her Glee stardom, Lynch has acted in other popular shows, including Only Murders in the Building, Two and a Half Men and iCarly. She won Emmys for her roles in Dropping The Soap in 2017 and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in 2019, and has been nominated for an Emmy 14 times in total.
Besides her acting experience, Lynch has also taken on game show hosting. From 2013 to 2020, she hosted Hollywood Game Night, a game show that pairs ordinary people with a team of celebrities to take on a series of challenges. Lynch won Emmys in 2014 and 2015 for hosting the show. Now, she hosts Celebrity Weakest Link, a game show where celebrities compete to raise money for charity.
Cornell’s recent convocation ceremonies have seen performers as keynote speakers, including ballerina Misty Copeland in 2025 and comedian-actors Kumail Nanjiani and Ken Jeong in 2024 and 2023, respectively. But activists and political figures have also stepped up to the podium, including Roxane Gay in 2021, former President Joseph Biden in 2017 and Maya Angelou in 2008. Scientist Bill Nye ’77 addressed the seniors in 2019.
The keynote speaker is chosen by the student-led Senior Convocation Committee, who sent out an interest form to the Class of 2026 in the fall.
This year, Lynch was chosen to satisfy students’ demand for a “fun, light-hearted, high-energy event,” said Chinaza Politis ’26, chair of the committee, in an interview with the Cornell Chronicle.
“We’re super excited about Jane Lynch,” Politis told the Chronicle. “She was always one of the people we kept top of mind this year. One of the things we as a committee really wanted was an alum, just to embody that Big Red spirit.”
Varsha Bhargava is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is the managing editor for the 144th Editorial Board and was a news editor for the 143rd Editorial Board. She can be reached at vbhargava@cornellsun.com.
