It’s 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, and the 160th �ֲ���ý Commencement procession has just set off from Alumni Walk. It will wind along campus walkways en route to the Historic Quad and its final destination, Coram Library. 

Jeremy Caron of Lewiston has been waiting in his wheelchair on the Quad for nearly three hours. He got there early to secure a location where he could easily see and greet the �ֲ���ý seniors he’s come to know over the last four years.

For many, Commencement is a whirlwind, one-time visit to �ֲ���ý. But for some like Caron, who choose to attend year after year, it is an annual touchstone, a chance to support the graduates while reconnecting with a community that has shaped their lives and created a lifetime of memories.

Not far from Caron, a trio of octogenarian �ֲ���ý retirees — Judy Marden ’66, her classmate Bill Hiss ’66, and Elaine Freeman — watch the proceedings from a prime perch, the steps of Hathorn Hall. Collectively, they’ve seen around 150 Commencements.

Marden joined the �ֲ���ý Advancement staff shortly after her own graduation, which was held in the Armory a few blocks from campus. (Lore has it that the Armory was an especially stuffy venue because the circus and its elephants had just left town.) By the mid-1970s, Marden had assumed a new position created by President Thomas Hedley Reynolds, “liaison officer for college functions.” A veteran World War II tank commander, Reynolds might’ve pulled the job title from an Army handbook. 

A big part of Marden’s job was to run Commencement and Convocation, plus summer programs, which she did with help from Freeman, a director in Facility Services. Marden also advised the �ֲ���ý Outing Club. 

Decades later, the twin �ֲ���ý events help anchor and give meaning to Marden’s annual trip around the sun. “My year ends with Commencement and begins with Convocation,” she says. “If it did not, it would have no form.”

Ever since Reynolds introduced the tradition, a bagpiper has led the �ֲ���ý Commencement procession. (Reynolds was also responsible for relocating Commencement from the Armory to the Quad.) On Sunday, the piper’s arrival on the Quad reminds Marden and Freeman of a Commencement task back in the day: appearing with goblets and scotch so Reynolds could share a down-the-hatch drink with the piper at the end of the ceremony.

For Hiss, a retired �ֲ���ý admission dean who forged the college’s famed test-optional admission policy, attending Commencement is an act of bearing witness. “Commencement is about �ֲ���ý doing, and continuing to do, what America needs. It’s that simple,” he says. 

Meanwhile, down on the Quad, Caron awaits the procession. He hasn’t missed a �ֲ���ý graduation since 2006, but he’s more than just a Commencement regular. He attends scores of campus events each year, especially Bobcat sports. Which ones? “Every single one,” he says. That’s around 125 contests annually. “I love sports, and I always tell the athletes that I’ll support them through thick and thin,” he says. “I want to celebrate all their hard work and effort.”

By 9:45, the seniors are nearing Caron’s spot on the Quad. The procession route is full of parents standing elbow to elbow taking pictures and the passing grads, seeming to tower above Caron in his wheelchair. But no matter: They spy their loyal fan, break from the ranks, and reach out for a fist bump, handshake, or hug.

That included Zach Rosenthal ’26, a politics and history double major from Chicago who handled game-day operations for �ֲ���ý Athletics as a student worker. Seeing familiar �ֲ���ý faces like Caron’s on Commencement day was “really cool,” he said later. “It’s cliché, but it’s a full-circle moment. You see these people all the time throughout the past four years, and to see them at the final stop of your academic journey is really special.”

Caron was born without the use of his legs. At age 10, he learned to use an adaptive bicycle, and he’s been an avid biker ever since, including riding in the annual Dempsey Challenge for cancer support. Asked to offer advice to seniors, Caron reflects on his own experience. “There are times you have to adapt,” he says. 

Longtime Lewiston resident Ernie Ashton, a retired local elementary school teacher, has been a driver for the Bobcat Express student shuttle for 23 years. Ashton wasn’t shuttling on Sunday, but there’s no way he would miss graduation. “It’s a pleasure to be here year after year. I just love them,” he says. “You watch these kids for four years, and they do such a great job. They keep me young.” 

He likes to talk up Lewiston to his passengers on the shuttle, “places they should see before they leave,” like Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary and Veterans Memorial Park by the Androscoggin River. “And they do.”

This March, Paul Menice retired as head of Campus Safety after 36 years of service to the college. He’s seen and supported students at their best and worst. “Everyone makes mistakes when they’re young,” he says. When he sees students at Commencement, he sees maturity and appreciation. “It’s a highlight, getting hugs and handshakes, and them saying ‘thanks.’”

Another local at Commencement is Russ Dillingham, an award-winning photographer for Lewiston’s Sun Journal. He’s on the job today, but the event tugs at his heart. “I grew up over there,” he says, pointing to Campus Avenue, where there used to be wood-frame residences, replaced in recent years by college buildings like Bonney Science Center and Chu and Kalperis halls.

When he was a child, Dillingham wore corrective leg braces. A �ֲ���ý student who babysat the Dillingham children would bring Russ over to campus for walks. He got stronger, and his legs straighter. “I’m pretty sure that’s why I can walk straight today,” he says. He enjoys covering Commencement. “It’s relaxed, friendly, and joyful.”

On a walkway near Carnegie Science Hall is Peter Slovenski, son of legendary �ֲ���ý track coach Walter Slovenski. Retired after coaching track at Bowdoin for 34 years, Slovenski stopped by to support graduate Zach Jawor ’26 of Lewiston, one of his very best counselors at his Slovenski Camps on Panther Pond in Raymond.

Slovenski remembers being awed as a little kid by towering �ֲ���ý athletes of the day, figures like Howard Vandersea ’63 or Thom Freeman ’63. “As the years go by, as you see more and more students being able to grow into adults at a place like �ֲ���ý, you realize it’s less about individuals. More of a relay race, passing it forward.”

One of Walt Slovenski’s former �ֲ���ý runners, Tom Leonard ’78, is another Commencement stalwart. An accomplished amateur photographer based in North Granby, Conn., Leonard travels around the Northeast each year from his home to photograph Bobcat athletes in action. Commencement is the final meet of the year, as it were. “Today recognizes the fact that all �ֲ���ý students have accomplished something incredibly meaningful,” Leonard says. 

“When I was a student, I don’t know if I appreciated the scene as much as I do as an old person,” he adds. “I mean, my God, look at all these people who helped get these kids to where they are today. And that’s a beautiful thing.”

The skies were changeable but the mood was resoundingly upbeat on Sunday, May 31, as 480 members of the Class of 2026 celebrated their �ֲ���ý graduation surrounded by family and friends, and bolstered by speeches that dwelled on bright promises, both those already delivered and those to come.

From the bestselling author of the All Souls series, Deborah Harkness, speaking to the alchemy of a liberal arts education to a beloved classmate who talked of encountering a true institutional belief in diversity, the steps of Coram Library rang out with words of awe and appreciation for the Class of 2026. The new graduates were surrounded by family, friends, faculty, staff, well wishers from the community, and what were an unusual number of dogs. (Even the celebrity going almost incognito in the audience took note of at least one of them.)

President Garry W. Jenkins opened the ceremony with a review of some of the remarkable accomplishments of the group, which represented 41 states, as well as the District of Columbia, and 30 countries. He described athletic triumphs, including those who have been named All Americans. “And a small handful of you were even crowned NCAA National Champions,” he said. “And just this weekend, national runner-up.” (Women’s rowing.) 

“An astounding number of you have been recognized with prestigious national honors,” he continued. “Two of you are Goldwater Scholars. One of you is a Truman Scholar. One of you is a Watson fellow and a whopping 15 of you are Fulbright Scholars.” One of the biggest cheers of the morning was for the 59 members of the class who were the first in their families to graduate from college.

This group of 480 individuals was bound together by some special shared qualities, Jenkins said. “For me, the headline qualities are heart and humanity. You possess within you uncommon, unlimited, unparalleled, heart and humanity.”

“Class of 2026, you all make my heart sing because whatever you do, I know you will do it with heart and humanity. And in so doing, you will elevate both the realities and aspirations of those around you, making this world a better place. You have all you need to succeed in whatever you choose. And whatever you choose, wherever life takes you, your college will always be here for you.”

Delivering the senior speech, Sebenele Lukhele ’26 of Manzini, Eswatini, spoke of what drew him to �ֲ���ý, a place he enrolled in without visiting first. Back in high school, he was looking for an institution that offered more than just an academic education — one that would challenge “not only how we think, but also the very core of who we are.” He came upon �ֲ���ý’ mission statement and the message immediately resonated.

“This specific line stood out for me: ‘With ardor and devotion, we engage the transformative power of our differences, cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action,’” Lukhele said. “As an international student and a person of color preparing to move thousands of miles away from home, those words felt more than just empty rhetoric. They felt like a promise. A promise that I would find not only an education here at �ֲ���ý, but also a community, a sense of belonging, a place to feel at home.”

Arriving on campus in 2022, Lukhele watched that promise come to life. He moved in alone but soon found company in his peers, many of whom, like Lukhele, had chosen �ֲ���ý because of its promise of community.

And this community was not homogenous; it was full of people who were different from each other, whether in nationality, identity, or other background. Such differences, Lukhele explained, are, elsewhere, sometimes approached with apprehension. But at �ֲ���ý, true to the college’s mission statement, Lukhele watched differences be embraced, as students with various backgrounds strived to understand and connect with each other.

“Being surrounded by these differences does not automatically create a community,” Lukhele said. “Diversity is easy to celebrate. It is something we highlight and take pride in as individuals, but coexistence, the act of meaningfully living alongside difference, see, that is much harder. It requires effort, passion, and a willingness to be uncomfortable.”

The gift that �ֲ���ý has given the Class of 2026, Lukhele said, is the knowledge of how to foster this coexistence. Knowing how to communicate across differences and transform “fear into curiosity and eventually action,” Lukhele said, is particularly important as graduates prepare to live in today’s world.

“The world we’re entering is not simple,” Lukhele said. “It is increasingly diverse but also deeply divided. Too often difference is treated as something that separates us rather than something that can bring us together. What �ֲ���ý has given us is the ability to choose differently, to stay in conversations that are uncomfortable, to listen when it should be easier not to, and to see others not as strangers, but as part of a shared human experience.”

�ֲ���ý awarded three honorary degrees Sunday. H. Scott Bierman ’77, a leading economist in the study of game theory, president emeritus of Beloit College, and a former member of the �ֲ���ý Board of Trustees, received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Seema Hingorani, an investment executive at Morgan Stanley and founder of the nonprofit Girls Who Invest, received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. (Due to a family emergency, a planned honorand, Ru Gunawardane ’95, a biologist who has led groundbreaking research efforts in cell biology and drug therapies, will receive her Doctor of Science degree at a later date.) 

Sunday’s third honorary degree was conferred upon Deborah Harkness, who received a Doctor of Letters degree. For more than 30 years, Harkness taught the history of science, medicine, and magic, and recently retired as professor emerita of history at the University of Southern California. During that time, she published five novels in her All Souls series, including her debut novel, The New York Times best-selling A Discovery of Witches, which was also adapted into an enormously popular television series by the same name. 

She holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University and a P.h.D. from the University of California, Davis. During her doctoral studies, she researched the history of magic and science in Europe, particularly in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, not unlike her All Souls protagonist, Diana Bishop, a brilliant student of alchemy and history.

In making Bishop a graduate of �ֲ���ý, Harkness has said that she was partly exploring a “road not traveled.” While Harkness graduated from Mount Holyoke College, she had applied to �ֲ���ý. 

She began her Commencement address with a reference to that long ago (and successful) application. “It was 44 years ago that I came to �ֲ���ý as a prospective student,” she said. “And I am so grateful that today, I finally am a �ֲ���ýie after all those years.”

The role of any Commencement speaker is traditionally to send graduates off with some “rousing words about their glowing future,” Harkness said. But she faced a task complicated by the fact that “we are amidst what pundits, headlines, and influencers assure us are unprecedented times of chaos and uncertainty.”

The tricky thing about inviting a historian to give a Commencement address during “unprecedented times,” she said, is that they’ll offer counterarguments dating back centuries. 

“A historian will regale you with countless examples dragged out of the past that prove there is nothing unprecedented under the sun,” Harkness said.

Her own example from the past centered around the year 1671, when two things were happening simultaneously in the world. In Virginia, the governor, Sir William Berkeley, railed against a new invention, the printing press, and increased access to education. He resisted the uncertainty of changing times. “Modern neuroscientists can explain why the governor of Virginia was so anxious back in 1671,” Harkness said. “It turns out the human mind is simply not wired for ambiguity.”

Watch the 160th �ֲ���ý College Commencement. Speaker Deborah Harkness’ address begins at the 56-minute mark.

But that same year, in England, a young man in his 20s named Isaac Newton was installed as a member of the Royal Society, a new London club established to investigate the mysteries of nature.

Newton, father of modern science, “was also a liberal arts student and an alchemist,” she said. And instead of resisting uncertainty, Newton took an approach that the Class of 2026 knows well, she said: “relentless curiosity.”  Newton persisted with his alchemical questions, and they permeated every aspect of his thought, including his laws of motion and gravity.

She imagined Newton giving the Class of 2026 advice: “First, you must start the great work with what is, not what once was or what might one day be. Every alchemist from Nicolas Flamel to Isaac Newton began thinking they weren’t worthy and they weren’t ready to face the uncertainty for them. You too must have faith that all you require in your ambitious great work is lying within you waiting to be activated.”

Expect that the great work of your life will be messy, she said, channeling Newton’s approach to experimenting. Question everything as you undertake it. Lean into your �ֲ���ý education. “The liberal arts, you see, have their own special kind of alchemy,” she said. And most important, “You must keep going.” 

That spirit of keeping going played out as the ceremony moved into the tradition of graduates walking across the Coram stage, moving through the alphabet from A to Z. As the students with last names beginning with Cs began their walks, rain began to fall. 

Fortunately, the crowd had come prepared, with layers. One woman put the puffer coat she’d brought back on. Umbrellas went up. The music star Gracie Abrams, who had come to see her cousin Abby Waisler ’26 of Venice Beach, Calif., graduate, relied on a Red Sox ball cap and a thick fleece to keep her warm and dry. 

It was one of the many dogs attending Commencement that had alerted some fans to her presence. Abrams had posted a photo on her Instagram story of an extremely jowly — and cute — white and gray bulldog, along with the Commencement program. 

Predictions were for it to drizzle for the coming hour. Maybe even the dogs would have been bothered by that. Instead it stopped after 10 minutes, just the right kind of uncertainty.

Deborah Harkness, historian and best-selling author of the All Souls series of novels, will deliver the �ֲ���ý College Commencement address on Sunday, May 31, 2026.

For more than 30 years, Harkness taught the history of science, medicine, and magic, recently retiring as professor emerita of history at the University of Southern California. During that time, she published five novels in her All Souls series, including her debut novel, The New York Times best-selling A Discovery of Witches, which was also adapted into an enormously popular television series by the same name. Harkness will receive a Doctor of Letters degree. She will be joined by three other honorary degree recipients:

• H. Scott Bierman ’77, a leading economist in the study of game theory, president emeritus of Beloit College, and a former member of the �ֲ���ý Board of Trustees, will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
• Ru Gunawardane ’95, a biologist who has led groundbreaking research efforts in cell biology and drug therapies, will receive a Doctor of Science degree.
• Seema Hingorani, an investment executive at Morgan Stanley and founder of the nonprofit Girls Who Invest, will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

“We are delighted to be honoring four outstanding and accomplished individuals alongside the Class of 2026,” said �ֲ���ý President Garry W. Jenkins. “Each of them has a unique �ֲ���ý connection — and each of them has made impressive and meaningful contributions to the world and to human understanding.”

The 160th Commencement ceremony begins on Sunday, May 31, at 10 a.m. on the Historic Quad, with a livestream available on the �ֲ���ý College website and social media platforms.

H. Scott Bierman ’77

H. Scott Bierman ’77 has built a distinguished career not only as an economist and educator, but also as a leader in higher education. As the 11^th president of Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., he served from 2009 until his retirement in 2023. This followed 27 years at Carleton College, during which time Bierman was the inaugural Ada M. Harrison Chair of Teaching Social Sciences and Professor of Economics and served as dean of the college (2005-2009). 

Bierman graduated from �ֲ���ý in 1977, earning a bachelor of arts degree in economics and mathematics. He then earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1985 at the University of Virginia. While on the Carleton faculty, he taught courses in economics of the public sector, industrial organization, game theory, and behavioral economics. Bierman’s Game Theory with Economic Applications, which he co-wrote in 1992, is considered an essential contribution to the field. 

Bierman brought his liberal arts college experience, as both faculty and senior academic administrator, to his work as a member of the Board of Trustees at �ֲ���ý for three five-year terms. Shortly after retiring from the board, Bierman served as special advisor to the presidential search committee that brought Garry W. Jenkins to �ֲ���ý. 

Ru Gunawardane ’95 

Throughout her career as a biologist, Ru Gunawardane ’95 has led research efforts exploring novel drug therapies and technology to treat disease. She is currently the executive vice president and director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science, a role that combines her experience in both academic and biotechnology settings with her passion for cell biology. 

Located in Seattle, Wash., the prominent nonprofit research institute is focused on studying how information encoded in human genes becomes cells, how these cells create organs and tissues, and how cells change when they are diseased, with the goal of driving advancements in cancer therapies and regenerative medicine. Gunawardane leads a highly multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and other specialists working together to understand the basic principles of how cells organize themselves and transition across cell states. 

Gunawardane has served as executive vice president and director at the Allen Institute since 2020. She joined the institute at its inception in 2015 as the director of stem cells and gene editing. In this role, she led the creation of the Allen Cell Collection, a publicly available set of gene-edited human stem cells that was the first of its kind. 

Earlier, Gunawardane worked in both large pharmaceutical and start-up environments, including Amgen and Ambit Biosciences, on projects exploring drug treatments pertaining to oncology, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. She majored in biochemistry at �ֲ���ý, then earned her Ph.D. in biology from Johns Hopkins University. She completed her postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, where she studied breast cell migration and invasion.

In recent years, Gunawardane has often met with �ֲ���ý STEM Scholars to share advice about the importance of networking with alumni, pursuing internships, and exploring other opportunities to prepare for careers in science.

Deborah Harkness

Deborah Harkness is a professional historian and the author of The New York Times best-selling All Souls novels, published in 39 countries and languages. 

Harkness is now a professor emerita of history at the University of Southern California, where she retired from her role as a full-time professor in 2025 after 21 years with the university. At USC, she taught courses on European history and the history of science. Earlier in her career, she taught medical history at the Northwestern University Medical School, the history of science and medicine at the University of California, Davis, paleography at the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies in Oxford, England, and early modern European history at Colgate University.

She published A Discovery of Witches, the first book in what would become the All Souls series, in 2011, prompted by wondering to herself, “If there really are witches and vampires, what do they do for a living?” All Souls’ lead character is a �ֲ���ý alumna: Diana Bishop, a historian of alchemy and Yale professor who also attended Oxford — not dissimilar from Harkness herself, who has spoken about having applied and been accepted to �ֲ���ý. After their wide success in print, the books were adapted into a multi-year television series that premiered in 2018. 

Prior to her novels, Harkness published two works of historical scholarship: John Dee’s Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature (Cambridge University Press, 1999) and The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution (Yale University Press, 2007). She has received numerous accolades for her work, including fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Humanities Center.

Harkness earned her bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College, her master’s degree from Northwestern University, and her P.h.D. from the University of California, Davis, during which she researched the history of magic and science in Europe, particularly from 1500 to 1700. Her research has taken her to libraries around the world, including Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, which plays a central role in All Souls. Harkness is also an advocate for ovarian cancer awareness; she was diagnosed with the disease in 2021 and has publicly shared her experience throughout treatment.

Seema R. Hingorani

Seema R. Hingorani has used her expertise to lift up girls and women and to create access to opportunity. Hingorani has thirty years of investment experience across both the private and public sectors. She is currently a managing director, senior client advisor, and member of the Operating Committee at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. As a member of the senior leadership team at Morgan Stanley, she focuses on strategic client relationships, investment talent development, and diversity initiatives. 

Hingorani is also the founder and board chair of Girls Who Invest, a national nonprofit organization that aims to balance the gender inequity in portfolio management and executive leadership in the investment management industry. Founded in 2015, Girls Who Invest provides not only educational programs, and a meaningful paid internship for talented and interested young women, but also provides a robust, ongoing support community. Over the past ten years, more than 4,000 college women have participated in the program, with three out of four remaining in the finance industry, increasing opportunity and laying a foundation to address significant gender underrepresentation in the leadership of finance. 

Hingorani earned degrees in psychology and philosophy at Yale University and an MBA in finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.