From Whoopi Goldberg to Lech Walesa, Vermont has had some notable commencement speakers

Brent Hallenbeck, Burlington Free Press
Updated ·7 min read
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It’s time to flip those tassels and toss those mortarboards: College commencement season has arrived.

For those who’ve already marched to “Pomp and Circumstance,” whether a few years ago or a few decades ago, this time of year is almost certain to take you back to that big day. Maybe your graduation speaker was monumentally famous, or a household name only in their own household. Maybe your graduation speaker was incredibly inspiring, or duller than a plastic spoon. Whatever the case, if you’ve ever graduated from anywhere, even preschool, commencement season is bound to jar a few memories loose.

We’ve decided to focus on the first of the above categories – monumentally famous, or at least speakers whose celebrity transcends the borders of Vermont. For the sake of brevity we asked colleges to send lists of commencement speakers only from the past 50 years, those who’ve delivered college commencement speeches in Vermont since 1973. You’ll also find a rundown of commencement speakers who’ll join the Vermont college-commencement list in 2023.

From left: Tim Daly, Mary Bacon and Geoffrey Arend on stage in "The Scene," a Theresa Rebeck play presented in 2013 at the Dorset Theatre Festival.
From left: Tim Daly, Mary Bacon and Geoffrey Arend on stage in "The Scene," a Theresa Rebeck play presented in 2013 at the Dorset Theatre Festival.

Bennington College

  • 1975 – Carol Channing, actress, singer and dancer, former Bennington College student.

  • 1992 – Harvey Fierstein, stage and film actor.

  • 1997 – Jane Alexander, actress, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts

  • 2002 – Meredith Monk, composer/choreographer.

  • 2011 – Tim Daly, television actor (“Wings,” “Madam Secretary”), Bennington College graduate, part-time Vermont resident.

  • 2012 – Peter Dinklage, actor (“Game of Thrones”), Bennington College graduate.

  • 2015 – Gloria Steinem, women’s rights activist.

  • 2019 – Amelia Meath, Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig of singing group Mountain Man, Bennington College graduates (Meath also performs with electronic-pop duo Sylvan Esso).

Al Roker of NBC's "Today Show" addresses Champlain College graduates after receiving an honorary degree in 2017.
Al Roker of NBC's "Today Show" addresses Champlain College graduates after receiving an honorary degree in 2017.

Champlain College, Burlington

  • 1984 – Scott Carpenter, astronaut, fourth American in space.

  • 1986 – Dith Pran, Cambodian photojournalist of “The Killing Fields” fame.

  • 1987 – Howard K. Smith, network news anchorman.

  • 1989 – U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.

  • 1990 – Diana Nyad, long-distance swimmer.

  • 1997 – Hinda Miller, a Vermont-based inventor of the sports bra.

  • 2004 – April Cornell, Vermont-based women’s clothing magnate.

  • 2013 – Chris Bohjalian, Vermont-based bestselling author.

  • 2016 – Katherine Paterson, Vermont-based children’s author; Grace Potter, Vermont-raised rock musician.

  • 2017 – Al Roker, weather presenter for “Today”.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D- VT, speaks at the Community College of Vermont in Winooski on Friday, June 9, 2017, slamming a proposed education budget that he says harms the very people that President Trump said he would protect.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D- VT, speaks at the Community College of Vermont in Winooski on Friday, June 9, 2017, slamming a proposed education budget that he says harms the very people that President Trump said he would protect.

Community College of Vermont, statewide

  • 1975, 1982 – U.S. Rep. (and future U.S. Sen.) James Jeffords, R-Vermont.

  • 1976, 1987, 2010 – U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.

  • 1979 – Vermont Lt. Gov. and future Gov., and U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, Madeleine Kunin.

  • 1996 – Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, aka Ben & Jerry.

  • 1999 – Ellen Bryant Voigt, Vermont poet laureate.

  • 2008 – Bill McKibben, Vermont-based environmentalist/writer.

  • 2013 – Tom Bodett, Vermont resident, writer and Motel 6 spokesperson.

Former Polish President and Nobel Prize winner Lech Walesa addresses Middlebury College's bicentennial graduating class during his commencement speech in Middlebury on May 21, 2000.
Former Polish President and Nobel Prize winner Lech Walesa addresses Middlebury College's bicentennial graduating class during his commencement speech in Middlebury on May 21, 2000.

Middlebury College

  • 1976 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, writer, wife of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh.

  • 1980 – Elliot Richardson, U.S. Attorney General in the Nixon administration.

  • 1981- Jane Bryant Quinn, financial journalist.

  • 1984 – Burgess Meredith, actor (“Rocky” on film, “The Twilight Zone” and “Batman” on TV).

  • 1985 – Ted Koppel, television journalist.

  • 1986 – David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning history writer.

  • 1987 – Barbara Jordan, first southern Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

  • 1990 – Bill Moyers, television journalist.

  • 1994 – Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., historian.

  • 2000 – Lech Walesa, Polish labor leader, Polish president, Nobel Peace Prize winner.

  • 2001 – Fred Rogers, host of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” on PBS.

  • 2004 – Christopher and Dana Reeve, actors.

  • 2005 – Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York City.

  • 2007 - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

  • 2014 – Diana Nyad, long-distance swimmer.

  • 2015 – Julia Alvarez, author, National Medal of Arts winner, writer-in-residence at Middlebury College.

  • 2021 – Anais Mitchell, Tony- and Grammy-winning creator of “Hadestown,” Middlebury College graduate.

Noted author Tom Clancy listens during a panel discussion at Norwich University in Northfield on April 17, 1997. Clancy was on a panel of noted military writers discussing the topic " Military Fiction in America: The Craft and Its Influence."
Noted author Tom Clancy listens during a panel discussion at Norwich University in Northfield on April 17, 1997. Clancy was on a panel of noted military writers discussing the topic " Military Fiction in America: The Craft and Its Influence."

Norwich University, Northfield

  • 1975 – Bob Hope, comedian/actor.

  • 1978 - Irwin Shaw, author (“Rich Man, Poor Man,” “The Young Lions”).

  • 1979 – James Stockdale, naval officer/vice-presidential candidate.

  • 1988 – Tom Clancy, author (“The Hunt for Red October,” “Patriot Games”).

  • 2003 – U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.

  • 2009 – Martha Raddatz, television journalist.

  • 2015 – Former presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Robert Dole, R-Kansas, and his wife, Elizabeth Dole.

Loung Ung speaks to the St. Michael's College class of 2003 during its commencement ceremony. Ung is a 1993 graduate of the Colchester school.
Loung Ung speaks to the St. Michael's College class of 2003 during its commencement ceremony. Ung is a 1993 graduate of the Colchester school.

St. Michael’s College, Colchester

  • 1985 – Madeleine Kunin, then-governor of Vermont.

  • 1987 – Jaime Cardinal Sin, archbishop of Manila.

  • 2000 – U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.

  • 2003 – Loung Ung, 2003 graduate, author of autobiography “First They Killed My Father”.

  • 2007 – Cokie Roberts, journalist for ABC, NPR.

  • 2009 – Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education.

Sterling College, Craftsbury

  • 2007 - Vermont Lt. Gov. and future Gov., and U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, Madeleine Kunin.

  • 2010 – Vermont poet Leland Kinsey.

  • 2011 – Presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.

  • 2014 – Bernd Heinrich, biologist and author.

Actress Whoopi Goldberg at the University of Vermont's commencement in Burlington in 1997.
Actress Whoopi Goldberg at the University of Vermont's commencement in Burlington in 1997.

University of Vermont, Burlington

  • 1980 – Pat Paulsen, political satirist.

  • 1981 – Garry Trudeau, cartoonist (“Doonesbury”).

  • 1982 – Malcolm S. Forbes, economist/publisher.

  • 1983 - Elliot Richardson, U.S. Attorney General in the Nixon administration.

  • 1989 – Jimmy Breslin, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

  • 1994 – Henry Cisneros, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

  • 1997 – Whoopi Goldberg, Emmy/Grammy/Oscar/Tony-winning performer.

  • 1998 – Jody Williams, UVM graduate and 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

  • 2002 - David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning history writer.

  • 2003 – Jon Kilik, UVM graduate/film producer (“Do the Right Thing,” “Dead Man Walking,” “The Hunger Games”).

Wynton Marsalis plays "When the Saints Go Marching In" after speaking at the University of Vermont commencement ceremony in Burlington on May 19, 2013.
Wynton Marsalis plays "When the Saints Go Marching In" after speaking at the University of Vermont commencement ceremony in Burlington on May 19, 2013.

  • 2004 – David Mamet, part-time Vermont resident, screenwriter/Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (“Glengarry Glen Ross”.

  • 2007 – John Lewis, U.S. House of Representatives member from Georgia, civil-rights pioneer.

  • 2008 - Julia Alvarez, author, National Medal of Arts winner, writer-in-residence at Middlebury College.

  • 2009 – Former Vermont Gov. and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.

  • 2011 – Billie Jean King, tennis legend.

  • 2013 – Wynton Marsalis, jazz trumpeter (his son, Simeon, was in that year’s graduating class).

  • 2015 – Nina Totenberg, correspondent, National Public Radio.

Vermont Supreme Court Associate Justice Beth Robinson (right) listens in Montpelier on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, to arguments in a case brought by George Maille who lives near the Burlington International Airport in South Burlington. Maille objected to the Development Review Board's decision to permit the destruction of 54 vacant homes near the airport.

Vermont Law and Graduate School, South Royalton

  • 2006 – Carol Bellamy, former head of the Peace Corps and UNICEF.

  • 2008 - Vermont Lt. Gov. and future Gov., and U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, Madeleine Kunin.

  • 2010 - Former Vermont Gov. and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.

  • 2011 – Amy Goodman, journalist/broadcaster (“Democracy Now!”).

  • 2014 – Beth Robinson, former Vermont Supreme Court justice/lawyer in Vermont’s landmark civil-union case.

Singer Cyndi Lauper reacts during her commencement address at Northern Vermont University - Johnson on May 18, 2019.
Singer Cyndi Lauper reacts during her commencement address at Northern Vermont University - Johnson on May 18, 2019.

Vermont State University

(excludes Vermont Technical College, which typically employs students as speakers)

Castleton campus

  • 2008 - Presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.

  • 2009 - U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.

  • 2010 – U.S. Rep./current U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont.

  • 2016 – Capt. Richard Phillips of Vermont, whose merchant ship was overtaken by Somali pirates in 2009.

  • 2018 – Vermont authors Chris Bohjalian and Stephen P. Kiernan.

Johnson campus

  • 2008 - U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.

  • 2010 - Katherine Paterson, Vermont-based children’s author.

  • 2012 - Beth Robinson, former Vermont Supreme Court justice/lawyer in Vermont’s landmark civil-union case.

  • 2017 - Presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.

  • 2019 – Cyndi Lauper, musician and former Johnson State College student.

  • 2021 – Francois Clemmons, Vermont resident, singer and cast member of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”.

Lyndon campus

  • 2017 - Presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.

  • 2018 – Jim Cantore, Lyndon State College graduate, meteorologist on The Weather Channel.

Kyle Clark, CEO of Beta Technologies, talks about his story as a homegrown Essex kid whose senior project was the nugget of the idea for his electric aircraft company. He was the product of a technical education and is giving students the chance to intern at Beta. One of the electric aircraft is seen in the background. First Lady Jill Biden and U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visit Beta Technologies in South Burlington on April 5, 2023. Also pictured are interns Phoebe Peckham and Colton Poulin, First Lady Jill Biden, Gov. Phil Scott, U.S. Sec. of Education Miguel Cardona, Rep. Becca Balint, Jane Sanders, Sen. Peter Welch and Margaret Cheney. Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger is just out of the shot.

Commencement ceremonies in 2023

Bennington College – 10 a.m. Saturday, June 3, college campus. Speaker: To be announced.

Champlain College – 10 a.m. (on-campus students) and 3 p.m. (online students) Saturday, May 13, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction. Speakers: 10 a.m. ceremony, Aminata Touré, human-rights activist and Senegalese politician; 3 p.m. ceremony, national security correspondent J.J. Green.

Community College of Vermont – 2 p.m. Saturday, June 3, Shapiro Field House, Norwich University, Northfield. Speaker: Kyle Clark, CEO of BETA Technologies.

Middlebury College – 10 a.m. Sunday, May 28, central college lawn. Speaker: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist/climate activist.

Norwich University – Took place April 29. Speaker: U.S. Marine Corps Gen. (Ret.) Joseph Dunford Jr.

St. Michael’s College – 10 a.m. Sunday, May 14, Ross Sports Center, Colchester. Speaker: Jay Bellissimo, Class of 1987, chief operating officer at Vonage.

Sterling College – Took place May 6. Speaker: Reid Bryant, Class of 2000, writer/outdoorsman.

University of Vermont – 8:20 a.m. Sunday, May 21, university green, Burlington. Speaker: Sethuraman Panchanathan, director, U.S. National Science Foundation.

Vermont Law School – 10 a.m. Saturday, May 20, town green, Royalton. Speaker: Nancy Jear Waples, justice, Vermont Supreme Court.

Vermont State University:

Castleton campus – 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 13, Castleton Pavilion. Speaker: Philip Modesti, class of 1990, global vice president for medical education, Establishment Labs.

Johnson campus – 4 p.m. Saturday, May 13, under the tent on campus grounds. Speaker: U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont.

Lyndon campus – 10 a.m. Sunday, May 14, under the tent at the soccer field. Speaker: U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Whoopi Goldberg, Lech Walesa among best-known Vermont college speakers