This afternoon, Columbia College and SEAS announced that their Class Day speakers will be playwright Katori Hall, CC ’03, and EpiBone CEO Nina Tandon, SEAS ’09, Columbia Business School ’12, respectively.

Two-time Tony Award nominee Katori Hall (CC ’03) will be the speaker for the Columbia College Class Day ceremony. Hall is best known for her play The Mountaintop, which won the Oliver Award for Best New Play in 2010. Hall has also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play The Hot Wing King. She is currently the show-runner on the television series P-Valley. 

At Columbia, Hall received a degree in African American Studies and Creative Writing. She received top departmental honors from the Institute for Research in African-American Studies and the John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement for her career achievements. 

Nina Tandon (SEAS ’09, CBS ’12) will be the speaker for the SEAS Class Day ceremony. Tandon is the CEO and co-founder of EpiBone, a biomedical engineering company that grows human bones for skeletal bone reconstructions. She has been named a Global Thinker by Foreign Policy and one of the top 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company. Tandon is a Wired Innovation Fellow, Senior TED fellow, and has won a Marie Claire Women on Top Award. Tandon graduated from SEAS with a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, having also attended Columbia Business School and working as a postdoctoral research fellow.

SEAS Class Day will take place on Monday, May 15; CC Class Day will take place on Tuesday, May 16.

Email sent to CC students on April 4 at 2:20 pm: 

Dear Fellow Members of the Columbia College Class of 2023,

We are excited to announce that Katori Hall CC’03 will be the speaker for the 2023 Class Day ceremony. As a Columbia alumna, Hall has achieved immense success in the theater and film industries as an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Hall embodies the values of our university and we are honored to have her share her insights with us on Class Day as we celebrate the end of our time at the College and the beginning of our time in Columbia’s robust alumni community.

Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Katori Hall is best known for her play The Mountaintop, which starred Samuel L. Jackson as Martin Luther King Jr. and won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2010. A two-time Tony Award nominee, Hall has also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play The Hot Wing King, and she is currently the show-runner on the popular television series P-Valley.

Hall graduated with a degree in African American Studies and creative writing. At the time of graduation, Hall received top departmental honors for her work through the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. She has been recognized by Columbia in her professional career as well, earning the John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement.

Hall is a great example of someone who has utilized the work she accomplished at Columbia to create an incredibly successful career. Her first play, Hoodoo Love, was adapted from a prompt she responded to in a Columbia assignment. She revised the play’s content while working toward an MFA at Harvard; Hoodoo Love would go on to be selected for the Cherry Lane Theater Mentor Project and premiered off-broadway in 2007.

We are thrilled to welcome Katori Hall as our Class Day speaker and look forward to her inspiring words on this momentous occasion.

Sincerely,

The Columbia College Class of 2023 Class Council

Nicolas Turrill, President

Gabriel Herrera, Vice-President

Sina Ahdoot, Representative

Dani Dassum, Representative

Annie Tan, Representative

Email sent to SEAS students on April 4 at 2:02 pm:

Dear Senior Class,

Graduation is right around the corner. Soon, we will be starting the next chapter of our lives, where we continue to innovate, push scientific boundaries, and utilize our skills as engineers for humanity to bring about meaningful change.

We are incredibly excited to announce that Nina Tandon will be our Class Day Speaker this year. Nina Tandon is a powerful inspiration for how we can use our engineering skills to create new inventions that revolutionize the scientific and technological fields. Nina Tandon is CEO and co-founder of EpiBone, an innovative biomedical engineering company that has discovered how to grow human bones for skeletal bone reconstructions. Nina has been recognized for her outstanding research and leadership, being named a Wired Innovation Fellow, a Global Thinker by Foreign Policy, and one of the top 100 most Creative People in Business by Fast Company, in addition to winning a Marie Claire Women on Top Award and countless other accolades.

Nina is a member of the Columbia Engineering community, having graduated from SEAS with a PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 2009, as well as the business school in 2012. She also has acted as a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia.

We cannot wait to hear Nina speak at our class day, which will be taking place Monday May 15, from 12:30-3:30 PM. As a Senior TED fellow, she will undoubtedly deliver a speech to remember! :)

Best,

Your Senior Class Council

Kennedy Salamat, Matthew Lange, Athena Pagon, Arianna Pahlavan

Katori Hall cover image via Hall’s website

Nina Tandon cover image via EpiBone’s website