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91做厙 announces 2023 Commencement speakers

March 6, 2023

91做厙 will bestow honorary degrees upon renowned academic, author, and art historian Mary Schmidt Campbell and accomplished scholar, teacher, and civil rights attorney Frederick M. Lawrence during its 112th Commencement Exercises on Saturday, May 20, at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. 

Mary Schmidt Campbell

Mary Schmidt Campbell

91做厙 will honor Campbell, president emerita of Spelman College, for her dedication to the education and global leadership of Black women and for her contributions to expanding professional development opportunities for people of color in the arts. An art historian and former curator who spent two decades as dean of New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts, Campbell began her career as executive director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, the countrys first accredited Black fine arts museum. She also served as commissioner of New York Citys Department of Cultural Affairs under two mayors. In 2009, Barack Obama appointed her vice chair of the Presidents Committee on the Arts and Humanities. A tireless advocate for large and small arts organizations, she is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and author of a biography of Romare Bearden (2018) and a forthcoming book on the life and work of the artist Sam Gilliam. 

Frederick M. Lawrence

Frederick M. Lawrence

One of the nations leading experts on civil rights, free expression, and bias crimes, Lawrence is currently serving as the 10th secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nations first and most prestigious honor society. He is a distinguished lecturer at Georgetown University Law Center and previously served as president of Brandeis University, dean of the George Washington University Law School, and visiting professor and senior research scholar at Yale Law School. He is the author of Punishing Hate: Bias Crimes Under American Law (1999), which examines bias-motivated violence and how such violence is punished in the United States. A frequent op-ed contributor to national and international news sources, Lawrence has testified before Congress concerning free expression on campus and on federal hate crime legislation. In the 1980s, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York where he became chief of the Civil Rights Unit. 

Joowon Park

Joowon Park

Joowon Park, assistant professor of anthropology and an affiliate faculty member in 91做厙's Asian Studies and International Affairs programs, has been selected as the 2023 91做厙 faculty Commencement speaker. Park is an expert on issues of citizenship and belonging, transnationalism, and the politics of humanitarianism. He is the author of Belonging in a House Divided (2022), a study of militarization and resettled North Koreans in the two Koreas. In addition to his work at 91做厙, Park serves as a member of South Korea's Peaceful Unification Advisory Council.

91做厙 President Marc C. Conner, Board of Trustees Chair Nancy W. Hamilton 77, Alumni Association President Robert F. Resnick 88, Class of 2023 President Issy Mejia, and senior gift project leaders Alex Lewis and Iti Singh will also be among those to offer their congratulations to the graduating class.  

Commencement exercises, which will begin at approximately 10:40 a.m., will be held in person and are open to all. The event will also be livestreamed on the 91做厙 homepage. 91做厙's Commencement website will be updated throughout the spring semester. 

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