MARLBORO — Marlboro College will welcome author and environmentalist Bill McKibben as commencement speaker at the college's 65th graduation ceremony on Sunday, May 13.
McKibben authored a dozen books about the environment before founding 350.org, a climate change awareness campaign that has coordinated more than 15,000 rallies in more than 175 countries since 2009.
“Solving global warming is going to take not just engineers and chemists, but every discipline - musicians and theologians and psychologists and economists,” said McKibben from his home in central Vermont. “A liberal arts college - especially one like Marlboro filled with self-starters - was designed for this particular challenge.”
“It's an honor to have such a renowned environmentalist, author and educator here at Marlboro,” said college president Ellen McCulloch-Lovell. “His intellect and activism reflect the engagement of a Marlboro education."
McKibben's address, and the entire commencement, will stream live online. The ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m.
Marlboro will award McKibben an honorary Doctor of Letters during the ceremony, where 79 students are expected to graduate.
Philanthropist and entrepreneur Harold Grinspoon will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters for his outstanding support of literacy and Jewish culture. Grinspoon attended Marlboro College from 1948 to 1950.
Vermont-based poet Verandah Porche, the longest-serving member of the Governor's Institute of the Arts, will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters as well.
The senior class has chosen Shea Witzberger, who will receive a B.A. degree in politics, as its senior speaker.