Skidmore, RPI reveal graduation speakers
Both colleges plan ceremonies in May for class of 2022
Skidmore College will bestow honorary degrees upon director, playwright, and activist-in-art Moisés Kaufman and novelist, literary scholar, and philosopher Charles Johnson at its 111th commencement Saturday, May 21, at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Kaufman, founder and artistic director of the Tectonic Theater Project, was awarded the 2015 National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama.
The author of 26 books, Johnson’s career includes work as a short-story writer, philosopher, cartoonist and illustrator, author of children’s literature, and screenplay and teleplay writer.
Lisa Grady-Willis, teaching professor and associate director of the Intergroup Relations Program, as well as affiliate faculty member in Black Studies, was selected as the Skidmore faculty commencement speaker. An educator, administrator, and artist, her work in intergroup relations is informed by a background in Africana studies and arts for social change.
College President Marc Conner, Skidmore Board of Trustees Chair Nancy W. Hamilton ’77, Alumni Association President Robert F. Resnick ’88, and class of 2022 President Mark Alcantara will join Kaufman, Johnson and Grady-Willis in offering their congratulations to the graduating class.
RPI honorees
In Troy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will honor two doctors working in President Joe Biden's administration during its 216th commencement in May.
Dr. Francis S. Collins, acting science adviser to the president, and Richard
N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, will be awarded honorary doctorates from the university during the May 21 ceremony.
The two will also join RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson for the traditional colloquy, a public discussion on global challenges among the institute community at the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center May 20.
Jackson finds the two honorees exemplify her vision for “The New Polytechnic” — an emerging paradigm for higher education that envisions the university as a crossroads for collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and geographical regions, harnessing the power of modern tools and technologies to address the complex problems of the world.