Bennington College Commencement

We are working on the Class of 2026 website! Meanwhile, check out our previous Commencements in Archives!

Check out the Archives!

SAVE THE DATE! Commencement Weekend is May 29th and May 30th! We kick-off the Commencement process in early December so please check the website then to facilitate your planning. Note: all seniors and family members will be prompted in this step and throughout the entire graduation process via email.

This website is under construction for Bennington College’s ninety-first Commencement ceremony to celebrate the Class of 2026.

line drawing of a line of rocks with mountains in the background

Commencement Archives

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