Williams College Celebrates 228th Commencement
On Sunday, June 4, 2017, Williams College President Adam F. Falk conferred bachelor’s degrees on 525 seniors. Master of Arts degrees were awarded to 13 students in the Program in the History of Art, and 30 fellows from the Center for Development Economics received M.A. degrees in Policy Economics.
See our Commencement 2017 Facebook photo album and our social feed dedicated to #Williams2017!
The Ceremonies
The Speeches
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Commencement speaker
- Billy Collins, Baccalaureate speaker
- Jeffrey Rubel, Class Speaker, “From Sharp Shard to Beautiful Treasure”
- Melanie Subbiah, Phi Beta Kappa Speaker, “What Sometimes Goes Unnoticed”
- Caroline White-Nockleby, Valedictorian, “Inflection Points”
Honorary Degree Citations
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Doctor of Letters
- William C. Dudley ’89, Doctor of Laws
- Gavin A. Schmidt, Doctor of Science
- Gina McCarthy, Doctor of Laws
- Billy Collins, Doctor of Letters
Emeriti Citations
- William K. Wootters, Barclay Jermain Professor of Natural Philosophy, Emeritus
- William G. Wagner, Brown Professor of History, Emeritus
- Jefferson Strait, John B. McCoy and John T. McCoy Professor of Physics, Emeritus
- Christine Larson Mason, Assistant Professor of Physical Education, Emerita
- Eugene J. Johnson, Amos Lawrence Professor of Art, Emeritus
- Darra Goldstein, Willcox B. and Harriet M. Adsit Professor of Russian, Emerita
- Ilona D. Bell, Samuel Fessenden Clarke Professor of English, Emerita