Actor, writer, director, and producer Jon Favreau, a Flushing native who attended Queens College from 1984 to 1987, received an honorary doctorate of fine arts at today’s 99th commencement exercises. (Click here for video of Favreau accepting his degree.) Favreau’s work in such films as Elf, Zathura, Iron Man and Iron Man 2, Cowboys and Aliens, Chef, The Jungle Book, and The Lion King is known around the world. He is a key industry influencer through the Marvel Cinematic Universe. New York State Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, who delivered the commencement address, and Judith Heumann, posthumously, were recognized with the Queens College President’s Medal. Delgado, who was appointed and then elected lieutenant governor in 2022, is the first person of Latino descent to hold statewide office in New York. Recognized throughout the world as a powerful voice, activist, and inspiration in the struggle for disability rights, Heumann was so influential that she was often described as “the mother of the disability rights movement.” Rick Heumann, Judith Heumann’s brother, accepted the medal on her behalf.

Please click here to download honoree photos with Queens College President Frank H. Wu, who presided over the ceremony. More details are available here.

The college awarded just over 5,100 undergraduate and graduate degrees in total this year to candidates from summer and fall 2022, and winter and spring 2023. An estimated audience of 8,000 was in attendance at the ceremony, which took place on the campus quadrangle.