Bennington College Commencement
Celebrate the Class of 2026
May 29-30, 2026 | Bennington, VT
Thank you for joining us for a weekend of celebration, reflection, and community as we honored our graduates.
Recordings
Watch the Conferring of the Degrees Ceremony
Watch the Commencement Eve Recording
Commencement Eve Addresses
Join us for the Commencement Eve Addresses, beginning on Friday, May 29th at 7:15 PM.
Past Coverage
- 2025 Commencement Eve and Commencement Day coverage with Kyle Abraham.
- 2024 Commencement Eve and Commencement Day coverage with Safiya Sinclair '10.
- 2023 Commencement Eve and Commencement Day coverage with Sofia Alvarez '07.
- 2022 Commencement Eve and Commencement Day coverage with Jericho Brown.
- 2021 Commencement Eve coverage with Darren Walker and Commencement Day coverage
- 2020 Commencement Eve coverage with Nigel Poor ’86 and Commencement Day coverage
- 2019 coverage with Mountain Man
- 2018 coverage with Liz Lerman
- 2017 coverage with Cornell William Brooks
- 2016 coverage with Jane Chu
- 2015 coverage with Gloria Steinem
- 2014 coverage with Johnnetta Cole
Past Commencement Speakers
- 2025 | Kyle Abraham
- 2024 | Safiya Sinclair '10
- 2023 | Sofia Alvarez '07
- 2022 | Jericho Brown
- 2021 | Darren Walker
- 2020 | Nigel Poor ’86
- 2019 | Mountain Man (Molly Erin Sarlé ’12, Amelia Meath ’10, and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig ’09)
- 2018 | Liz Lerman
- 2017 | Cornell William Brooks
- 2016 | Jane Chu
- 2015 | Gloria Steinem
- 2014 | Dr. Johnnetta Cole
- 2013 | Elizabeth Coleman
- 2012 | Peter Dinklage ’91
- 2011 | Tim Daly ’79
- 2010 | Melissa Rosenberg ’86
- 2009 | Hendrick Hertzberg
- 2008 | Rebecca Tinsley
- 2007 | Mac Maharaj
- 2006 | Glen Van Brummelen
- 2005 | Jonathan Lethem ’86
- 2004 | Shirin Ebadi
- 2003 | Edith Velmans
- 2002 | Meredith Monk
- 2001 | Rick Moody
- 2000 | Gay McDougall ’69
- 1999 | Peter Hedges
- 1998 | Linda Wertheimer
- 1997 | Jane Alexander
- 1996 | Mark Gearan
- 1995 | Irene Borger ’71
- 1994 | Harvey Lichtenstein ’53
- 1993 | Kay Crawford Murray ’56
- 1992 | Harvey Fierstein
- 1991 | Harvey Gantt
- 1990 | Joan Tower ’61
- 1989 | Ellen McCulloch-Lovell ’69
- 1988 | Elizabeth Frank ’67
- 1987 | Barbara Lazear Ascher ’68
- 1986 | Tillie Olsen
- 1985 | Elizabeth Swados ’73
- 1984 | Howard Nemerov
- 1983 | Frederick Wiseman
- 1982 | Joseph S. Murphy
- 1981 | Bernard Malamud
- 1980 | Elizabeth Swados ’73
- 1979 | Vivian Gornick
- 1978 | Mitchell Markowitz ’75
- 1977 | Elizabeth Holtzman
- 1976 | Joseph S. Iseman
- 1975 | Carol Channing ’42
- 1974 | Thomas Brockway
- 1973 | Senior readings and performance
- 1972 | Jimmy Garrison
- 1971 | Anaïs Nin
- 1970 | Kurt Vonnegut
- 1969 | Denise Levertov
- 1968 | Thomas P.F. Hoving
- 1967 | Russell Baker
- 1966 | Howard Nemerov
- 1965 | Gene Baro
- 1964 | William Sloane Coffin, Jr.
- 1963 | David Riesman
- 1962 | Kenneth Burke
- 1961 | Henri Peyre
- 1960 | Francis Fergusson
- 1959 | George Boas
- 1958 | Jacques Barzun
- 1957 | Alvin Eurich
- 1956 | Howard M. Jones
- 1955 | W. Averell Harriman P ’40
- 1954 | Franklin Ford
- 1953 | Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
- 1952 | Harry Allen Overstreet
- 1951 | Mary Josephine Shelly
- 1950 | Reinhold Niebuhr
- 1949 | Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey
- 1948 | Erich Fromm
- 1947 | Lewis Webster Jones
- 1946 | Reinhold Niebuhr
- 1945 | Justice Frank Murphy
- 1944 | Alexander Meiklejohn
- 1943 | Robert D. Leigh
- 1942 | William Batt
- 1941 | Robert Lynd
- 1940 | Henry Wallace
- 1939 | Dorothy Canfield Fischer
- 1938 | Frederick Lewis Allen
- 1937 | W.H. Kilpatrick
- 1936 | No commencement speaker
