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Message to Faculty and Staff — April 26, 2017

by Office of the President

Dear faculty and staff,

I write to share the announcement of our 2017 honorary degree recipients and to invite all of you to participate in the events and celebrations of Bowdoin’s Commencement weekend.

This year, the College will confer four honorary degrees at our Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 27. The recipients are Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anthony “Tony” E. Doerr ’95; Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History and president emeritus, University of Chicago, Hanna Holborn Gray; Immigrant Resource Center of Maine founder and executive director Fatuma Hussein; and Grammy-winning musician and conservationist Charles “Chuck” Leavell.

In what has become an important tradition, several of the honorands will participate in special events leading up to Commencement. Starting on Friday afternoon, May 26 there are four opportunities to hear from them.

  • 1:00 pm-1:45 pm        Tony Doerr in Pickard Theater
  • 2:00 pm-2:45 pm        Chuck Leavell in Kanbar Auditorium in Studzinski Recital Hall
  • 3:00 pm-3:45 pm        Fatuma Hussein in Kanbar Auditorium in Studzinski Recital Hall
  • 4:30 pm-5:45 pm        Hanna Holborn Gray in Watson Arena (Baccalaureate ceremony)

The commencement ceremony itself will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 27, 2017, on the terrace of the Walker Art Building. In the event of severe inclement weather, the ceremony will be moved to Watson Arena. Faculty and staff marching in regalia should be at Hubbard Hall at 9:05 a.m. to line up for the procession.

Commencement is an occasion that brings us all together to celebrate with our newest graduates and to wish them well in their future endeavors. I hope you will be able to participate in the celebratory events of the weekend, including Baccalaureate and the lobster bake for seniors and their families on Friday and the Commencement ceremony and luncheon on Saturday, and I warmly invite you to all of these events. Please go tobowdoin.edu/commencement for details and for a full schedule.

I look forward to sharing Bowdoin commencement with you.

Clayton