Actress and writer Mindy Kaling ’01 will serve as the Commencement speaker for the Class of 2018.
Kaling is known for portraying Kelly Kapoor on NBC’s sitcom “The Office,” for which she also served as a writer, director and producer. Her work as a writer for “The Office” earned her an Emmy nomination, making her the first woman of color to receive such a distinction. She also wrote, directed, produced and starred in her television show “The Mindy Project”; voiced the character of Disgust in the Academy Award-winning 2015 film “Inside Out”; and has written two New York Times best-selling books. In 2018, she played Mrs. Who in the film "A Wrinkle in Time."
While an undergraduate student at the College, Kaling majored in theater, winning the Eleanor Frost Playwriting contest in 1999. She created and wrote a comic strip that poked fun at campus life, “Badly Drawn Girl,” for The Dartmouth, in addition to serving as a contributing writer for the humor publication the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern. She was also a member of the improvisational group Dog Day Players and the all-female a capella group the Rockapellas.
This year's Commencement will take place on June 10.
