To: The Wellesley College Community
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Announcing Wellesley’s 2024 Commencement Speaker
Date: May 6, 2024
I’m pleased to announce that Michelle Au ’99, a member of the Georgia House of Representatives and a physician, author, and gun safety advocate, will deliver the address at Wellesley College’s 146th commencement ceremony on Friday, May 17. The event will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Severance Green, and it will be livestreamed on the Wellesley Live website.
Au serves in Georgia’s 50th House District and previously was a member of the Georgia State Senate, where she was that body’s first East Asian member and first Asian woman. She is the only pro-choice physician in the Georgia General Assembly.
As an anesthesiologist for more than 10 years in Atlanta, Au has witnessed the failings of the public health system, and she decided to run for office to bring greater equity and access to health care. While running for State Senate, Au worked on the front lines during the COVID pandemic. After the Georgia state legislature approved new maps for legislative districts that drastically changed the racial and partisan makeup of her district, Au ran for and won a seat in the Georgia House of Representatives.
During her time as a legislator, Au, a Democrat, has found ways to reach across the aisle to Republicans to make progress on the issue of gun violence by focusing on its impact on children’s health. She has also advocated for expanding Medicaid in Georgia, which is one of only 10 states that has not yet done so.
Au has been a staunch defender of her community. Just one day before a mass shooting that resulted in the murder of eight people, including six Asian American women, in the metro Atlanta area in March 2021, Au had given a speech asking her fellow senators to “fully consider us as part of our communities” and “recognize that we need help, we need protection, and we need people in power to stand up for us against hate.” As a champion of Asian American and Pacific Islanders’ (AAPI) rights and concerns, she helped form and is the chair of Georgia’s bipartisan General Assembly AAPI Caucus, the largest state AAPI caucus in the continental U.S.
Au lives a life of service and civic purpose. She is a natural leader who steps up when she sees change is needed for her community and her state. A self-described “proud second-generation Chinese American” who grew up in New York City, Au was a member of College Government at Wellesley and graduated magna cum laude. The mother of three children, she is the author of This Won’t Hurt a Bit (And Other White Lies): My Education in Medicine and Motherhood, a memoir.
Michelle Au exemplifies the power and purpose of a Wellesley alumna, and I know she will inspire our graduates.
I look forward to celebrating their accomplishments with all of you, and our seniors’ family and friends, on May 17.
