Commencement weekend brought rainbows, tears, and a dance party with Steve Carell

While all convocation and commencement weekends are memorable, some manage to stand out more than others.

2025 was one of those years.

Grammy and Tony Award-winning singer and actress Heather Headley brought the house down as the School of Communication convocation speaker on Saturday, June 14 at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The SoC alum (who left campus before graduating when a pathway to Broadway beckoned) delivered the convocation address to graduates, but not before belting out a jaw-dropping rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” prompting tears, chills, and uproarious applause from all those in attendance.

Keeping with the song’s theme, Headley then told the graduates, “You see, a rainbow is a symbol of promise…the promise doesn’t mean that there’s life without challenge. The rainbow actually comes after the challenge. It’s a reminder that hard times don’t break us. They remind us of what we can see and accomplish if we only persevere. If you just endure the storms.”

E. Patrick Johnson, SoC’s dean, made “empathy” the focus of his remarks, calling it “liberating” and the cornerstone of the collaborative work students and faculty do in the School of Communication.

“We tend to talk a lot about building independence in our students,” he said, “but I believe a more useful tool is interdependence: being responsible for yourself but also in care of and communion with others.”

Student speaker Angelena Browne (C25), who was tasked with introducing Headley, told her classmates, "Northwestern provided us with a support system like no other—a group of people that will look out for a fellow wildcat no matter what corner of the world we’re in. People who will continue to support us through the good and the bad and push us to be the best versions of ourselves." 

Before wrapping up the event, Headley returned to the podium to lead the crowd in “Alma Mater,” another occasion for tears and cheers as a memorable morning came to a close.

But the graduates were not done.

The 167th Northwestern University Commencement Exercises kicked off the following morning at Chicago’s United Center, and a viral moment with speaker Steve Carell catapulted Dean Johnson into the national spotlight.

Watch the dean boogie down with Steve Carell. 

Watch the entire School of Communication convocation ceremony.