Elizabeth (Liz) Beshel Robinson '90

Williams College President Maud S. Mandel and Elizabeth Beshel RobinsonAfter 25 years at Goldman Sachs, the last 10 as global treasurer, you said it was your experience on the Williams board that helped you realize there was life beyond Goldman.

We are glad we could help!

Knowing you, you will resist being called a trailblazer. Yet your work at Goldman and Williams marks you as such. You are the first woman to ever chair our Board of Trustees. And during your 13-year Board tenure, you helped recruit our first woman president, too.

You have blazed other trails, too. Presiding over the launch of the nation’s first all-grant financial aid program. Supporting the future of arts education with a new Williams College Museum of Art. Reimagining our facilities for athletics and wellness, and our programming to support wellbeing for all students. The new Davis Center complex, as well. Not to mention your many volunteer roles, and the numerous students and graduates whom you have mentored into successful careers and thriving lives.

You blazed those trails with a seriousness of purpose and an incredibly quick mind, buoyed by your joyful, even mischievous spirit. We are glad you have reveled in your work with us and hope you now enjoy your life beyond the Williams Board of Trustees, as well.

I hereby declare you recipient of the honorary degree Doctor of Laws, entitled to all the rights, honors, and privileges appertaining thereto.

June 2, 2024