Yes! It’s that time of year again:  those shiny and vaguely medieval gowns, tassels, chilled champagne in plastic cups, pictures with family, and the solemn and inspiring words of a business luminary.  Class of 2010 - the light at the end of the tunnel might seem dim at the moment, but you’ll be snacking on cheese cubes and bidding farewell to your business school before you know it…

Here’s a taste of the lineup for this year’s MBA commencement keynotes (the links below will direct you to the commencement speaker announcement):

1.  HBS - Ann Moore, Chairman and CEO of Time Inc.

2.  Wharton - Utah Governor John M. Huntsman, Jr.

3.  UC Berkeley Haas - Mort Zuckerman, editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report

4.  Kellogg School of Management - Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric

5. Tepper School of Business (Carnegie Mellon) - Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com

6.  McDonough School of Business (Georgetown) - Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and CEO of American Express.

Congratulations class of ‘08!

HBS announced its decision yesterday to appoint Anjali Raina to serve as Executive Director of its India Research Center (IRC) in Mumbai, India (see AScribe Newswire article). The IRC was established in 2006 to support the school’s efforts to research economy and business related matters in India and South Asia generally.

Also in recent news, the 12th annual Wharton India Economic Forum concluded successfully last Saturday, 3.22.08. The event, organized around the theme “India ¦ Imagine” drew a diverse array of business professionals and luminaries, including the former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who delivered the closing speech.

The push to establish a presence in Asia (including India) is not exclusive to Harvard. INSEAD and Chicago GSB both have campuses in Singapore. Other business schools have established programs dedicated to Asian studies, such as Haas, which launched its Asia Business Center this year. For more on the rise of Asian business schools, check out this CNN article discussing global program rankings.