Lerone A. Martin will deliver Stanford’s 2026 Baccalaureate address, the University announced on Monday.
“It’s such a wonderful opportunity for me because I’ve learned so much in the short time I’ve been here. And so it’s an opportunity to share some of the things that I’ve learned and also show the appreciation and gratitude I have for Stanford,” Martin said.
Martin, the director of The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor in Religious Studies and African American Studies. He is also the author of two books: “Preaching on Wax” and “The Gospel J. Edgar Hoover. He is also the author of the forthcoming “Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr,” which explores Martin Luther King’s childhood in the context of his later activism, set to be published in May. Martin will serve as the next chair of the Religious Studies Department.
“[It was] one of those moments where you get an email, and you read it, and you close your computer. And you’re like, ‘Wait a minute, what? Did I read that correctly?’” said Martin.
“With Lerone Martin as our Baccalaureate speaker, we are inviting our graduates into a moment of deep reflection held alongside celebration,” said Reverend Tiffany Steinwert, the University’s dean for religious and spiritual life, in a statement to the Stanford Report. “Dr. Martin helps us see the past is not behind us but alive within us, shaping the questions we ask and the futures we imagine.”
Martin, who grew up as the youngest of five in Fostoria, Ohio, obtained a Master’s Degree in Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary before pivoting towards academia. After obtaining a Ph.D. at Emory University and serving as the director of graduate studies of American culture at Washington University in Saint Louis, he arrived at Stanford in 2022 as the director of the MLK Jr. Research & Education Institute.
“I think the research and the work that he does is super powerful, making sure that civil rights history is disseminated to the public,” said Billy Meneses ’26, a major advisee of Martin. “I’m excited to see what message he’ll have for other students.
In addition to his scholarship, Martin is the recipient of several awards, including the W.C. Pennington Award, the National Endowment for the Humanities and a fellowship from The American Council of Learned Societies, among others.
Martin described his own teaching as a “dialogue with students,” which has allowed him to learn from his classes as well. “Many of my classes, I set them up where we’re talking about one central topic, but it’s from very different perspectives,” he said.
In writing his Commencement speech, Martin hopes to draw on the lessons he learned from writing “Young King.”
“The book focuses on King’s maturation. It focuses on the events that made the man and not the events that made him famous,” said Martin. “And I really want to draw from that, and offer some wisdom and ideas for young adults about the world King found himself in when he was roughly the age that most of the students will be in the audience.”
Ultimately, however, Martin believes that spiritual and moral growth are “timeless,” citing how young adults “are really searching for the answers to the big questions.”
Previous Baccalaureate speakers include art history professor Alexander Nemerov, University of Southern California’s Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni and Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl. 2026 Baccalaureate ceremonies will begin on June 13 at 10:00 a.m. in Frost Amphitheater.
This story has been updated to include comments from Lerone A. Martin and students.