commencement – Page 2

Wesleyan has announced the speaker and honorary degree recipients for its 189th Commencement. The date of Commencement was previously announced as May 30th; however, given current pandemic conditions, the University is reviewing other options for the last week of May. The University is currently planning to hold the ceremony in-person on Wesleyan’s Middletown campus, though off-campus guests will be restricted to virtual attendance given the ongoing threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. More details about the ceremony and a definitive date for Commencement will be announced by the end of March. Reginald Dwayne Betts, an award-winning poet, memoirist, and teacher,…

Wesleyan University held its 188th Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 24. President Michael Roth ’78 delivered live, on-campus remarks to a large virtual audience and a small gathering of socially-distanced in-person groups of graduates and onlookers. Photos are below: (Photos by Olivia Drake) (more…)

Wesleyan University will hold its 188th Commencement ceremony virtually at noon EDT on Sunday, May 24. The virtual proceedings will be led by President Michael Roth ’78 and will include remarks from award-winning author and Commencement speaker Jacqueline Woodson, pastor and social justice advocate Rev. Dr. William Joseph Barber II, and accomplished actor and political activist Bradley Whitford ’81, all of whom will receive honorary degrees from the University. The recipients were selected for their significant contributions to civic life in the United States, including the example they set in spurring others to productive dialogue and action and in keeping…

Every spring, Wesleyan recognizes outstanding faculty with three Binswanger Prizes for Excellence in Teaching. This year's recipients include Gloster Aaron, associate professor of biology, Robyn Autry, associate professor and chair of sociology, and Keiji Shinohara, artist-in-residence. Made possible by gifts from the family of the late Frank G. Binswanger Sr., Hon. ’85, these prizes underscore Wesleyan’s commitment to its scholar-teachers, who are responsible for the University’s distinctive approach to liberal arts education. (more…)

At the University’s 188th Commencement on May 24, Wesleyan will present the Baldwin Medal, the highest award of the Alumni Association, to Rob Rosenthal, John Andrus Professor of Sociology, Emeritus. The Baldwin Medal pays tribute to the late Judge Raymond E. Baldwin ’16, the only man to have held the offices of Connecticut governor, U.S. senator, and chief justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. First awarded Sept. 20, 1981, during the opening convocation of Wesleyan's Sesquicentennial, the Baldwin Medal is the highest honor Wesleyan's alumni body presents for extraordinary service to Wesleyan or for careers and other activities that have…

Wesleyan's 188th Commencement Ceremony, honoring the graduating Class of 2020, will be held through a virtual setting at noon on May 24. (View the Commencement website here.) The commencement address, honorary degree recipients, and the senior class address will be pre-recorded and offered for viewing on Commencement Sunday. The conferral of degrees and remarks made by Wesleyan President Michael Roth '78 will be presented live. The Binswanger Awards for Teaching will be presented on a future occasion. The Class of 2020 will be invited back to campus next year for an in-person ceremony. "We will miss the marching, the music,…

At the University’s 188th Commencement on May 24, Wesleyan will present honorary degrees to three recipients whose work exemplifies inclusive engagement. Jacqueline Woodson, an award-winning and best-selling author, is this year’s speaker. Actor and political activist Bradley Whitford ’81 and William Joseph Barber II, a social justice advocate and pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church, will also be honored. The recipients were chosen on the basis of their significant contributions to civic life in the United States, including the example they set in bringing new voices into the public sphere and spurring others to productive dialogue and action. “I am honored…

Wesleyan will present three honorary doctorates at the University’s 185th Commencement on May 28. The distinguished writer Claudia Rankine will deliver the Commencement address. Wesleyan will also honor Jo Handelsman, former associate director for science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Cristina Jiménez, executive director and co-founder of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country. The Baldwin Medal, the highest award of the Alumni Association, will be presented to John ’62 and Gina Driscoll. Claudia Rankine Poet, essayist and playwright, Claudia Rankine is the recipient of numerous awards for work described…

Wesleyan will present three honorary doctorates at the University’s 184th Commencement on May 22, 2016. Bryan Stevenson, a staunch advocate for racial justice who has fought against inequities in our judicial system, will deliver the Commencement address. Wesleyan will also honor Patti Smith, a legendary singer and writer celebrated for her path-breaking music and powerful memoirs, and Kwame Anthony Appiah, a philosopher known for his compelling work on cosmopolitanism, identity and ethics. The Baldwin Medal, the highest award of the Wesleyan Alumni Association, will be presented to John Usdan ’80, P’15, P’18, P’18.

Wesleyan will honor three remarkable leaders in their fields with honorary degrees at the university’s 183rd Commencement on May 24, 2015. Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, an award-winning composer, lyricist, writer and actor, will present the Commencement Address. Wesleyan also will award honorary degrees to Beverly Daniel Tatum ’75, president of Spelman College and an expert in race relations and higher education, and Michael Price, the longtime executive director of Goodspeed Musicals. Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02 Lin-Manuel Miranda is the Tony and Grammy-winning composer-lyricist of Broadway's In the Heights, which received four 2008 Tony Awards, with Miranda receiving a Tony Award for Best…

Theodore M. Shaw ’76, one of the nation’s leading proponents of civil rights, will present Wesleyan’s Commencement address on May 25, the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s address here. Wesleyan also will award honorary degrees to Helena Chmura Kraemer, whose work in biostatistics has had a transformative impact on medicine and psychiatry, and to Hayden White, a distinguished theorist of history. Theodore Shaw ’76 For decades Ted Shaw has been one of the nation’s strongest advocates for equity and inclusion in our society. In courts throughout the nation, including the U.S. Supreme Court, he has argued cases involving voting…

President Michael S. Roth announced Wesleyan’s 2012 honorary degree recipients as follows: I’m pleased to announce that U.S. Senator Michael Bennet ’87, a leading advocate for education reforms that support great teaching, will deliver the commencement address at the university’s 180th Commencement in May. Our other honorary degree recipients at Commencement are also in the Wesleyan family: Glenn Ligon ’82, a multi-talented, nationally recognized artist; and Cecile Richards P’13, whose leadership of Planned Parenthood has helped to make the world safer and healthier. Michael F. Bennet ’87 Michael F. Bennet was elected to his first full term as U.S. Senator…

Wesleyan Announces Its 2021 Honorary Degree Recipients

Graduating Seniors Attend President Roth’s Commencement Remarks on Campus

Civic Activists Headline 2020 Virtual Commencement Ceremony

Aaron, Autry, Shinohara Honored with the Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching

Rosenthal to Receive Baldwin Medal

Wesleyan to Hold Virtual Commencement Ceremony on May 24

Wesleyan Announces 2020 Honorary Degree Recipients

Commencement Speaker, Honorary Degree Recipients Announced

Bryan A. Stevenson Named Commencement Speaker, Honorary Degree Recipients Announced

Miranda ’02, Tatum ’75, Price to be Honorary Degree Recipients at Wesleyan’s 183rd Commencement

Civil Rights Proponent Shaw ’76 to Deliver 2014 Commencement Address; Kraemer, White to Receive Honorary Degrees

Bennet ’87, Ligon ’82, Richards P’13 Named 2012 Honorary Degree Recipients