First, along with then-Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen, he proposed a deficit reduction package early in the first term of the Clinton Administration which Levy says contributed significantly to the latest period of gradual, low-inflation growth.

Upon Bensten's retirement in 1995, Rubin left the NEC and got the nod from President Clinton to replace the outgoing secretary.

Although Rubin was initially caught off-guard by the Mexican peso devaluation, he managed to string together a series of policy successes, according to Ullmann and Levy--most notably, the circumvention of the federal debt cap on government spending--which infuriated Republicans in Congress and led some to consider impeachment proceedings against him.

More recently, however, congressional opposition to fast-track trade authority, waning support for the IMF and demands for the reform of the Internal Revenue Service have blunted Rubin's progress.

"I'd say [Rubin] has started a losing streak," Ullmann says.

Regardless of Rubin's current situation, Kemp and other HBS students are looking forward to Rubin's speech.

The three-year-old event--held on the Aldrich Lawn next to the Baker Library on the day before Commencement--is designed specifically to be relaxing.

"We're going to have a barbecue, we're going to have cohorts and we're going to have the Secretary of the Treasury speaking," Kemp says.