Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- commencement [2024/08/26 19:12] – bant06
+++ commencement [2025/02/04 21:02] (current) – bant07
@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 ====== Commencement ======
+[{{ ::commencement_2024.jpg?400|The Trinity Pipes perform the alma mater, “’Neath the Elms” at the Bicentennial Commencement Ceremony, 2024. Photo credit: Trinity College}}]
-Commencement is the ceremony at the end of each academic year when graduating students receive their diplomas. Typically occurring mid- to late-May on Trinity's Main Quad, the ceremony features speeches and awards given by and to a variety of students and staff. These awards include [[trustees|Trustee]] Awards for faculty and staff, as well as awards presented for Student Excellence. It is also traditional for graduating seniors to deliberately step on the [[roosevelt_plaque|Roosevelt Plaque]] during the ceremony, as doing it before Commencement is thought by students to be bad luck.
+Commencement is the ceremony at the end of each academic year when graduating students receive their diplomas. Typically occurring mid- to late-May on Trinity's Main Quad, the ceremony features speeches and awards given by and to a variety of students, faculty, and staff. These awards include [[trustees|Trustee]] Awards for faculty and staff, as well as awards presented for Student Excellence. It is also traditional for graduating seniors to deliberately step on the [[roosevelt_plaque|Roosevelt Plaque]] during the ceremony, as doing it before Commencement is thought by students to be bad luck.
-{The earliest commencement ceremony that can be examined using materials from the Trinity Digital Repository is that of 1827, four years after the College’s founding. On the first of August, a procession of students, faculty, [[trustees|trustees]], the governor and lieutenant-governor of Connecticut, and other local celebrators formed at the State House and proceeded to the Central Congregational Church, where the ceremony was held. The exercises included in this ceremony involved exhibition-like presentations and debates carried out by each student of the graduating class: several orations were performed on a variety of subjects in the sciences and humanities; a “disputation” between two students on the question of Irish Roman Catholic emancipation took place; a “Dialogue of the Dead” recounted Civil War-era debates with students arguing for the views of men past; a student performed his poem called “Retrospection.” After the presentations, which were interspersed with musical performances, Baccalaureate degrees were conferred followed by a prayer led by the [[presidents|president]] and a benediction. This structure of proceedings was followed in the ensuing years without any major changes aside from the whole ceremony being condensed in 1832 from two sessions in the morning and afternoon to one continuous morning session.}
 Initially, commencement was held on the first Thursday of August, but was moved in the 1850s to the last Thursday in June in order to allow for more comfortable weather. The ceremony was consistently held in June for over 100 years, with the switch to May ceremonies occurring in the 1970s.
-The location of commencement has also changed. In the early years of the College, when it was still at its [[old_campus|original location]], the ceremony would start by the (old) [[chapel|Chapel]] at 8:30 a.m. At 9:30, the group would leave campus and head to Asylum Street, where they would stop at [[brownell_thomas_church|Bishop Thomas Church Brownell's]] house and sing "Auld Lang Syne." The procession then would continue to the venue where the commencement ceremony was to be held. The earliest ceremonies were held in Central Congregational Church until 1831, when the location was changed to the newly completed Christ Church. The church, along with Trinity students and staff, was also often full of children from the local community, as many [[hartford|Hartford]] schools gave students the day off on Trinity's commencement day. The College newspaper, the //[[tablet|Trinity Tablet]]//, reported the festive atmosphere at the ceremony of 1868: “The attendance was large. The smiling faces in the galleries, the flutter of the ‘[[colors|green and white]],’ and the rare display of bouquets and baskets of flowers, made a lively and animated scene.” This glowing report of the commencement proceedings by Trinity’s student newspaper, later the //[[tripod|Trinity Tripod]]//, was the first of many to be published throughout the College’s history. Glenn Weaver, in his //History of Trinity College//, notes how Trinity’s commencement was “the social high point of the summer for proper Hartford,” with the city’s most extravagant “display of feminine fashions” accompanying the occasion.
+The location of commencement has also changed. In the early years of the College, when it was still at its [[old_campus|original location]], the ceremony would start by the (old) [[chapel|Chapel]] at 8:30 a.m. At 9:30, the group would leave campus and cross Bushnell Park to Asylum Street, where they would stop at [[brownell_thomas_church|Bishop Thomas Church Brownell's]] house and sing "Auld Lang Syne." The procession then would continue to the venue where the commencement ceremony was to be held. The earliest ceremonies were held in Central Congregational Church until 1831, when the location was changed to the newly completed Christ Church. The church, along with Trinity students and staff, was also often full of children from the local community, as many [[hartford|Hartford]] schools gave students the day off on Trinity's commencement day.
 The last ceremony to be held in Christ Church was in 1860. It was moved to St. John's Church in 1861, but due to the large number of people the space had to hold, the ceremony was moved again the following year to Allyn Hall. The commencement ceremony of 1878 was the last one to be held at the old campus, and the president's reception that year took place in the newly built [[seabury_hall|Seabury Hall]] on the [[summit_campus|new campus]].
-Due to the smaller student body in the College's early years on the old campus, each graduating senior was able to receive his degree directly from the [[presidents|president]] and shake his hand. Though inconsistent throughout the decades, it was also traditional for each graduate to touch "[[brownell_book|The Book]]." This book, according to college legend, was the small record journal that President Brownell, Trinity's first president, used in place of a Bible during the College's very first commencement ceremony. He had wanted each senior to touch a Bible as they graduated, but forgot to bring one; the journal was used in its place.
+Due to the smaller student body in the College's early years on the old campus, each graduating senior was able to receive his degree directly from the [[presidents|president]] and shake his hand. Though inconsistent throughout the decades, it was also traditional for each graduate to touch "[[brownell_book|The Book]]." Other early commencements also included welcoming speeches given in Latin, prayers spoken by the president, and music provided by the choir at Christ Church. Local Hartford bands also supplied music over the course of the day, something that is true to modern ceremonies.
-Other facets of early commencements also included welcoming speeches given in Latin, prayers spoken by the President, and music provided by the choir at Christ Church. Local Hartford bands also supplied music over the course of the day, something that is true to modern ceremonies.
+**Commencements during Wartime**
-**Commencement during WWI**
-One of the most striking factors to spark change in the rituals and rhetoric that have constituted Trinity’s commencement ceremonies of years past has been war. During World Wars I and II, during which many of Trinity’s undergraduate men fought overseas, commencement proceedings took on a heavy patriotic and memorializing emphasis, as well as meager graduating classes and fragmented academic schedules.
+One of the most striking factors to spark change in the rituals and rhetoric that have constituted Trinity’s commencement ceremonies of years past has been war. During World Wars I and II, during which many of Trinity’s undergraduate men fought overseas, commencement proceedings took on a heavy patriotic and memorializing emphasis, along with meager graduating classes and fragmented academic schedules. Degrees were conferred in absentia to those graduates serving in the armed forces.
+[{{ ::commencement_navy_cadets.jpg?400|Navy cadets at the 1943 Commencement. Photo credit: //Trinity College Alumni News//, June 1943}}]
-[{{::detail_of_photographer-presidentflavelsweeten-1918.jpg?200 |Theodore Roosevelt and President Luther at the 1918 commencement ceremony. Photo credit: Trinity College Archives}}]
+Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was in attendance at the 1918 ceremony, receiving an [[honorary_degrees|honorary degree]]. Roosevelt delivered an [[theodore_roosevelt_speech|address]] on the Sunday before Commencement, during an open-air religious service. The open-air service continued to be a part of the events held on the Sunday before Commencement in following years, including commencements held during World War II. However, the commencement of 1942 marked a change in the configuration of the commencement weekend schedule: the commencement ceremony was moved from Monday morning to Sunday afternoon, following the open-air service. Commencement of 1942 was also planned to take place four weeks earlier than previous ceremonies had been, due to the increasing demand for accelerated academic programs for men who wished to complete their education before going overseas to fight in the war. In addition to the spring commencement ceremony, a mid-winter graduation was added to the academic calendar for the first time in the College’s history in order to award degrees to the thirty seniors who wished to leave the College early to join the armed forces. These men were able to graduate early due to [[wesleyan-trinity_summer_school|accelerated academic sessions]] in conjunction with Wesleyan University that were offered in the summer of 1942. Another commencement ceremony was held at the end of the following semester, with only 60 graduates. A similar accelerated degree program was offered the following year, with two commencements held in February and June of 1944. The accelerated program allowed students to graduate from the College at the end of any of the three sessions (Fall, Winter, Summer) held throughout the year, which significantly fragmented the graduating classes and made for slightly less ceremony and decorum at commencement ceremonies while the program was popular during the WWII years. During these ceremonies, as in the commencements undertaken during the first World War, several degrees were conferred in absentia.
-The graduating class of 1916 was the first to be directly affected by such changes during the early months following U.S. entry into the war. The Commencement Number of the //Tripod// for this year demonstrates frequent mention of the war during the commencement activities: one note appears stating that “The college honors its alumni, professors and students who have answered the call to colors, and wishes them God-speed, confident that they will uphold the honor of Trinity. We need say no more.” Another note posted to advertise the reunion dinner of the class of 1901, semi-jokingly warns, “Nix on the war talk; any one who tries to inject any poisonous gas into the proceedings will be invited to face the firing squad at sunrise.” During the Alumni Dinner, several reverent allusions were made to the duty to serve one’s country and the Trinity men who had answered the call to do so.
-In the year 1917, the graduating class was only 39 students. Five degrees were conferred in absentia; four of these seniors were in Reserve Officers’ training camps and one was an ensign in the Navy. Four [[honorary_degrees|honorary degrees]] were given, one of which was conferred in absentia. The 1917 class motto was “For Love of Country.” The //Tripod// Commencement Number notes that, “The commencement this year bears semblance to that of the classes of 1861 and 1898. All three took place shortly after the declaration of war.” All four of the orations delivered by students reckoned in some way with the World War; the lessons to be learned from it, the religious (particularly Christian) revelations to be gleaned from it, and the moral and military duties that American citizens had been called upon to fulfill after the U.S. declared war on Germany two months prior.
-A rousing display of patriotism was exhibited in the first open-air Christian service in front of [[northam_towers|Northam Towers]] and led by the Reverend Dr. John J. McCook, class of 1863. A procession of military organizations marched across campus, among which were the Hartford Red Cross Unit, the First Infantry, the Machine Gun Company, and the Home Guard. A procession of officiating clergy, Trinity faculty, the senior class, and undergraduates followed, and the entire parade was accompanied by military airs played by the Foot Guard Band. Opening prayers were led by Rev. McCook, hymns and military songs were sung. Then, the Reverend Edward S. Travers, class of 1898, delivered a sermon. Throughout his sermon, Travers offered galvanizing words towards the preservation of democracy and expressed that the will of God was for America to take up arms for this purpose. “The vision of Calvary that I see is not one of peace at any price, but of righteousness at any cost,” he declared. “It is a vision of His love of all humanity, and of His giving up His life so that all men might have life.” After memorial addresses in honor of two deceased Trinity alumni was offered, the service ended with the singing of “America the Beautiful” and the playing of the national anthems of the Allied countries. The open-air service would continue to be a commencement tradition performed throughout the following decades and the second World War.
-Commencement of 1918 was aptly characterized in the //Tripod’s// Commencement Number of that year, which designated “Two things, the paucity of seniors present and the presence of an unusually distinguished body of guests” as the most notable aspects of the ceremony. The graduating class numbered only 18, five of whom were absent in the national service. Earlier in the year, forty other members of the class of 1918 had left the College to serve without having done sufficient work to qualify for a degree. Empty chairs for these absent students were set out in the audience and decorated with the American flag. As for the “distinguished body of guests,” former President Theodore Roosevelt was in attendance, receiving an honorary degree. Roosevelt delivered an address on the Sunday before Commencement, during the open-air religious service. Roosevelt’s speech and all the other 1918 commencement addresses can be read in their entirety in the digitized version of the Trinity College Commencement Program, 1918.
-**Commencement during WWII**
+The tradition of seniors touching the Book at graduation was reinstated later in Trinity's history by President [[funston_g._keith|G. Keith Funston]] in 1947. Several of today’s commencement traditions were first instated during the latter half of the 20th century. Trinity’s [[alma_mater|Alma Mater]], “’Neath The Elms” has been sung during the Order of Exercises beginning with the spring ceremony of 1944. Another tradition adopted around this time which is sustained today was the singing of the National Anthem, begun in 1949. The “Charge to the Graduating Class,” a lecture addressed directly to the seniors at commencement, has been a part of the Order of Exercises since 1944 and has been either delivered by the president of the College or a guest speaker.
-[{{ ::commencement_navy_cadets.jpg?400|Navy cadets at the 1943 Commencement. Photo credit: //Trinity College Alumni News//, June 1943}}]
-The open-air service continued to be a part of the events held on the Sunday before Commencement in following years, including commencements held during World War II. However, the commencement of 1942 marked a change in the configuration of the commencement weekend schedule: the commencement ceremony was moved from Monday morning to Sunday afternoon, following the open-air service. Commencement of 1942 was also planned to take place four weeks earlier than previous ceremonies had been, due to the increasing demand for accelerated academic programs for men who wished to complete their education before going overseas to fight in the war. In addition to the spring commencement ceremony, a mid-winter graduation was added to the academic calendar for the first time in the College’s history in order to award degrees to the thirty seniors who wished to leave the College early to join the armed forces. These men were able to graduate early due to accelerated academic sessions in conjunction with Wesleyan University that were offered in the summer of 1942. Another commencement ceremony was held at the end of the following semester, with only 60 graduates. A similar accelerated degree program was offered the following year, with two commencements held in February and June of 1944. The accelerated program allowed students to graduate from the College at the end of any of the three sessions (Fall, Winter, Summer) held throughout the year, which significantly fragmented the graduating classes and made for slightly less ceremony and decorum at commencement ceremonies while the program was popular during the WWII years. During these ceremonies, as in the commencements undertaken during the first World War, several degrees were conferred in absentia.
 **Commencement from 1950-present**
-The tradition of seniors touching the Book at graduation was reinstated later in Trinity's history by President [[funston_g._keith|G. Keith Funston]] in 1947. Several of today’s commencement traditions were first instated during the latter half of the 20th century. Along with the reinstatement of the tradition, an invocation by the secretary of faculty and the president was also delivered in Latin, constituting the ceremonious “Presentation of the Book.” Passing the Book to the president, the secretary declared its importance as a “symbol of knowledge.” The President would then thank the faculty “for educating these men devotedly in the tradition of Trinity College.” The Book was then presented for the students to place their hands on as they received their degrees.
+The [[symbols_of_president_s_office|mace]], carried by a student mace-bearer during the academic procession, became a part of the commencement ceremony in 1950. The [[symbols_of_president_s_office|presidential collar]] also became a part of the commencement ritual around this time.
-Trinity’s [[alma_mater|Alma Mater]], “’Neath The Elms” has been sung during the Order of Exercises beginning with the spring ceremony of 1944. Another tradition adopted around this time which is sustained today was the singing of the National Anthem, begun in 1949. The “Charge to the Graduating Class,” a lecture addressed directly to the seniors at Commencement, has been a part of the Order of Exercises since 1944 and has been either delivered by the President of the College or a guest speaker.
-The mace, carried by a student mace-bearer during the academic procession, became a part of the commencement ceremony in 1950 when it was gifted to Trinity in memory of Owen Morgan, Class of 1906, former [[board_of_fellows|fellow]], trustee, and treasurer of the College. At 44 inches long and weighing 20 pounds, the mace “symbolizes the educational authority of the College.” The Presidential Collar also became a part of Commencement ritual around this time; the Collar was given by President Funston in 1953 in memory of his grandmother, Maria Briggs Keith. The collar is worn by the sitting president during Commencement. It’s chain “symbolically links modern higher education with the universities of yesteryear.” Both the ceremonial mace and President’s collar were fabricated by Providence-based foundry Gorham and Company at the commission of President Funston. Funston is known to have been a traditionalist, prompting his introduction of the academic pageantry and ceremonial grandeur to the commencement proceedings which remain part of today’s ceremonies.
 [{{::commencement_women_grads.jpg?400 |Trinity's first women graduates, 1970. Photo credit: [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.22406584|Trinity College Archives]]}}]
+\\
-The first women to receive Baccalaureate degrees from Trinity graduated at the commencement ceremony of 1970 after the undergraduate program was officially made co-ed in the Fall of 1969. Judith Dworin (B.A. American Studies), Judith Ann Laughton Odlum (B.A. Modern Languages), Elizabeth Martin Gallo (B.A. Psychology), and Roberta Joy Russell (B.A. English) were the first four women to receive degrees from Trinity. In 1973, Trinity celebrated its 150th anniversary, recalling how “In 1827, Trinity’s first graduating class had 14 students--all men. This year, the graduating class included 265 males and 121 females, and was the first class in which the women had spent all four years at Trinity since the college went coeducational in 1969.”
+\\
-The 1970 commencement ceremony brought two speakers to campus who urged action against the Vietnam War and voiced support for the college student nation-wide who had initiated campus protests in opposition to their institution’s positions of neutrality on the subject of American intervention in Cambodia and Vietnam. The first speaker, Dr. John M. Blum, Professor of History at Yale, praised the “determination of alerted youth to dedicate itself to the satisfaction of those aspirations that must not be allowed to recede—to international comity and understanding; to an end of adventurism abroad; to disarmament and thus, in all, to peace....” The second speaker, invited by the senior class, was Kenneth Mills, assistant professor of philosophy at Yale. Mills shared his own thoughts on the war and its implication for the class of 1970 as they crossed the threshold into a tumultuous world. On the subject of recent strikes occurring on campuses across America, Mills clarified that “we were not striking against the university but asking the university to realize that, as a prime institution of the society in the shaping of values and the maintaining of a human tradition—it can no longer afford to neglect the events of the world outside. It can no longer afford to believe that a policy of academic neutrality is a posture it can maintain.” In the fall semester following the 1970 Commencement, questions among the trustees arose as to whether the senior class should have the power to choose their own commencement speaker. The November 6, 1970 issue of the //Tripod// reported that the issue had come under scrutiny by administration in part due to Kenneth Mills’ speech, and that “the administration had told seniors that Mills could not be offered time to talk when they had asked in May, but he spoke anyway, without any disruption by anyone.” President Lockwood stated that concern about senior control over commencement speakers was also due to the fact that “Commencements are becoming more and more a political event” and that this made it difficult for the ceremony to run smoothly.
-For the next six years, there were no commencement speakers. According to the //Trinity Reporter// of June 1971, the long-held tradition was withheld “to shorten the ceremony while preserving the tradition of personally awarding degrees to each Trinity graduate.” The tradition returned in 1977, with news commentator and ABC anchorman Harry Reasoner delivering the commencement address.
-The first female commencement speaker in the history of the College was Dr. Hanna H. Gray in 1978, who at the time was provost and president of Yale and president designate of Harvard. Her address urged the seniors to apply their accumulated knowledge, and that “The voices of the poets and historians you have heard at Trinity are real, just as the problems of the world are real.”
-The Thomas Church Brownell Prize in Teaching, an award still given to Trinity professors at Commencement today, was first instated at the ceremony of 1986. Made possible by the gift of an alumnus, the prize of $5,000 is awarded to members of faculty with the rank of professor or associate professor who have been teaching at Trinity for at least ten years. Nominations for the recipient of the Brownell prize are made by alumni, faculty, and undergraduates. A committee of deans, faculty, and students decide the winner based on two essential criteria for good teaching: “1), delight in and love for your particular subject and learning generally, and 2), concern for the progress of each student in learning that subject regardless of how much he or she brings initially into the class.” The first recipient of the Prize was Robert C. Stewart, Professor of Mathematics.
-The 1997 commencement ceremony featured an address by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The distinguished politician was invited to the College thanks to connections to his administration within the Trinity community: [[dobelle_evan_s|President Dobelle]] served as Assistant Secretary of Protocol in the White House during Carter’s presidency, and Presidential Fellow Jim King helped to organize the 1976 Democratic Convention, was White House Personnel Director for one year, and then was appointed as Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board by Carter in 1977. During his appearance at Trinity, Carter also became the first recipient of the Trinity College Engineering and Society Prize. The $25,000 prize was established as part of the 100th anniversary of the College’s Engineering Department, and is meant to honor accomplished figures in the field of engineering, as well as those who have used their knowledge of engineering to go beyond the field. Carter’s [[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/trinarchives/15|address]] to the graduating class encouraged the seniors to reach beyond their own class, race, level of education, to do good in the world for people in need.
-In 2001, the Alumni Reunion and Commencement were combined, reviving a tradition dating from the 19th century. The decision was made to “give alumni and the senior class an opportunity to network, share experiences, and celebrate the importance of the College in their lives.” Combining the program meant accommodating for significantly increased attendance at both Commencement and the Reunion in comparison to the 1800s. Programming to encourage interaction between the seniors and the alumni included mixers with faculty, seminars, lectures, tours, receptions, and other social events. Before 1967, Commencement and Reunion were held on the same weekend, in a tradition dating back more than a century. In 1967 and 1968, the events were held on separate weekends. The following years, they were combined at the request of the alumni. From the early 1970s until 1981, Reunion was held during the fall [[homecoming|Homecoming]] weekend. In 1981, at the recommendation of the National Alumni Association Executive Committee, Reunion was scheduled to take place several weeks after Commencement, which continued until 2001. Today, the Alumni Reunion is held in the first weekend of June, after Commencement.
-[{{ ::commencement_2021.jpg?400|Commencement, 2021. Photo credit: //The Trinity Reporter//, Fall 2021}}]
-In 2009, to commemorate 40 years of co-education at Trinity, all honorary degrees were awarded to women. The commencement speaker for this year was Joanna Jeanne Scott ’82, an author of several novels and a professor in literature. Honorati were Marjorie Van Eenam Butcher (Doctor of Science), professor of mathematics at Trinity and Deborah Bial (Doctor of Humane Letters), president and founder of the Posse Foundation. Professor Butcher was the first woman hired to serve on Trinity’s faculty. Bial’s foundation, in partnership with Trinity, provided scholarships for a diverse number of students.
-In the spring of 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, in-person Commencement was postponed until the spring of 2021 and the graduating seniors participated in a virtual Baccalaureate program. In a tribute video recorded by the administration, President Berger Sweeney assured the seniors that “Today’s activities are in no way intended to replace a traditional commencement ceremony, but we couldn’t let today pass without marking the completion of the academic year and celebrating you, our graduating students.” The virtual program featured guest speaker the Most Reverend Michael Bruce Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. The following year, Commencement proceeded in-person as planned in two consecutive ceremonies to reduce crowd density. Graduates were allowed two guests, and Covid-19 protocols remained in place. Students living on campus were required to test negative, and vaccination proof and a negative test were required of all guests in attendance. In addition, face masks and social distancing protocols were required at the ceremony. [{{ ::commencement_2024.jpg?400|The Trinity Pipes perform the alma mater, “’Neath the Elms” at the Bicentennial Commencement Ceremony, 2024. Photo credit: Trinity College}}] The commencement address was delivered by Hartford HealthCare President and CEO Jeffrey A. Flaks, who said to the seniors that “The pandemic has taught us that we can’t go back to the way things were, nor should we want to. You are too good, too smart, and too wise to go back to normal. You will make a future that is better than normal.” The Commencement of 2021 also celebrated the honorary degree recipients of 2020, who were the first four women to receive undergraduate degrees from the College.
-Commencement 2024 marked the end of Trinity’s Bicentennial year and the 198th Commencement Ceremony. Commencement speaker and honorary doctor of humane letters Danny Meyer ’80, an author, entrepreneur, and the founder of Union Square Hospitality Group and Shake Shack, told the graduates, “You are the generation our world needs more than ever to thoughtfully engage in solving some really tough problems. Your experiences while at Trinity have shown you that active listening, engaging in courageous dialogue, and assuming the best intentions of others is almost always the best way forward.”
-====Commencement Speakers (by year)====
-Degree abbreviations: DD – Doctor of Divinity; LHD – Doctor of Humane Letters; DHum – Doctor of Humanities; LittD – Doctor of Letters; LLD – Doctor of Laws; ScD – Doctor of Science; DFA – Doctor of Fine Arts; DM – Doctor of Music; DST – Doctor of Sacred Theology; DPH – Doctor of Public Health; JCD – Doctor of Canon Law; MA – Master of Arts; MFA – Master of Fine Arts; MLitt – Master of Letters; MM – Master of Music; MS - Master of Science; BA – Bachelor of Arts; BM – Bachelor of Music; BS – Bachelor of Science
-  * 2023 - Nicole Hockley, '92, Co-founder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise
+The first women to receive Baccalaureate degrees from Trinity graduated at the commencement ceremony of 1970 after the undergraduate program was officially made co-ed in the fall of 1969. Judith Dworin (B.A. American Studies), Judith Ann Laughton Odlum (B.A. Modern Languages), Elizabeth Martin Gallo (B.A. Psychology), and Roberta Joy Russell (B.A. English) were the first four women to receive degrees from Trinity. In 1973, Trinity celebrated its 150th anniversary, recalling how “In 1827, Trinity’s first graduating class had 14 students--all men. This year, the graduating class included 265 males and 121 females, and was the first class in which the women had spent all four years at Trinity since the college went coeducational in 1969.”
-  * 2022 - Raja Changez Sultan, '72, DFA, Painter, poet, journalist
+\\
-  * 2021 - Jeffrey A. Flaks, LHD, Hartford HealthCare President & CEO
+\\
-  * 2020 - Will McCormack '96, executive producer, director, screenwriter, actor (The delayed commencement ceremony was held in June 2022.)
+\\
-  * 2019 - Samuel H. Kennedy, '95, LHD, Executive, President & CEO of Boston Red Sox
+\\
-  * 2018 - Johnnetta Betsch Cole, President of Spelman College
+\\
-  * 2017 - Daniel C. Dennett, LHD, Philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist
+\\
+[{{ ::commencement_2021.jpg?400|Commencement, 2021. Photo credit: //The Trinity Reporter//, Fall 2021}}]
+\\
+In the spring of 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, in-person commencement was postponed until the spring of 2021 and the graduating seniors participated in a virtual Baccalaureate program. In a tribute video recorded by the administration, President [[berger-sweeney_joanne|Joanne Berger-Sweeney]] assured the seniors that “Today’s activities are in no way intended to replace a traditional commencement ceremony, but we couldn’t let today pass without marking the completion of the academic year and celebrating you, our graduating students.” The following year, Commencement proceeded in-person as planned in two consecutive ceremonies to reduce crowd density.
+Commencement 2024 marked the end of Trinity’s Bicentennial year and the 198th Commencement Ceremony.
 ----
 ===== Sources =====
-[[https://www.trincoll.edu/commencement/|Trinity College Commencement Weekend]], 2024.
+[[https://www.jstor.org/site/trinity/trinitycollegepublications/commencementprograms-36739208/?searchUri=%2Fsite%2Ftrinity%2Ftrinitycollegepublications%2F%3Fso%3Ditem_title_str_asc%26searchkey%3D1729699573643%26doi%3D10.2307%252Fcontainer.36739208&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ade01fb1dca958c79280b898890bdcb75&searchkey=1729699573643&so=item_title_str_asc|Trinity College Commencement Programs]]
-[[https://www.trincoll.edu/news/trinity-college-commencement-celebrates-the-generation-our-world-needs/|Trinity College Commencement Celebrates ‘The Generation Our World Needs’]] by Andrew J. Concatelli, May 19 2024.
+[[https://www.trincoll.edu/commencement/|Trinity College Commencement Weekend]]
-[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/commencement/1/|Trinity College Commencement Program]], 2022.
+[[https://www.trincoll.edu/news/trinity-college-commencement-celebrates-the-generation-our-world-needs/|Trinity College Commencement Celebrates ‘The Generation Our World Needs’]] by Andrew J. Concatelli, May 19, 2024.
 [[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/reporter/438|Trinity Reporter]], Fall 2021.
@@ Line 98: / Line 56: @@
 [[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/tripod/3372|Trinity Tripod]], 03-09-2021.
-[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/reporter/434 |The Trinity Reporter]], Fall 2020.
+[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/reporter/434 |Trinity Reporter]], Fall 2020.
 [[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/tripod/3285|Trinity Tripod]], 04-14-2009.
-[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/reporter/427|The Trinity Reporter]], Spring 2001.
+[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/reporter/427|Trinity Reporter]], Spring 2001.
 [[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/w_books/2/|Trinity College in the Twentieth Century]] (2000) by Peter and Anne Knapp, pp. 232-233.
@@ Line 123: / Line 81: @@
 [[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/reporter/220|Trinity Reporter]], June 1970.
-[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/commencement/53|Trinity College Commencement Program]], 1970.
 [[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/w_books/4/|The History of Trinity College]] (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 111-112, 134-135, 186.
@@ Line 130: / Line 86: @@
 [[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/tripod/2919|Trinity Tripod]], 05-06-1953.
 [[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/reporter/3|Trinity College Bulletin]], July 1950.
-[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/commencement/74|Trinity College Commencement Program]], 1949.
 [[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/bulletin/547/|Trinity College Bulletin 1943-44 (Catalogue)]], 1944.
-[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/commencement/80/|Trinity College Commencement Program]], February 1944.
 [[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/reporter/196|Trinity College Alumni News]], June 1943.
@@ Line 155: / Line 107: @@
 [[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/tablets/6|Trinity Tablet]], September 1868.
-[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/commencement/193|Trinity College Commencement Program]], 1832.
-[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/commencement/197|Trinity College Commencement Program]], 1828.
-[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/commencement/198|Trinity College Commencement Program]], 1827.
 ----