2023-24

Thank you to our amazing alumni and friends who are gathered here today. Welcome home.

We hope you’ll enjoy the memories of shared experiences and the excitement of catching up with old friends. We also hope you’ll use this weekend to look forward—to nurture your relationship with Lawrence and strengthen and deepen the bonds with a place that has played such a transformational role in your lives.

One of the true joys of Reunion is the honoring of our Alumni Award winners, which we will do a little later in this program. The career accomplishments of these brilliant alumni are worthy of celebration.

Among the award winners are two from Milwaukee-Downer College.

We are celebrating the 60-year anniversary of the merger and the myriad ways that the Downer legacy remains embedded in all we do. It is an honor to have Bonnie McClellan and Eileen Johnson with us today. Let’s give them a hand.

That lasting connection between and with alumni is the impetus to one of our favorite phrases: Forever a Lawrentian. Forever a Lawrentian speaks not only to our shared love of Lawrence, but also to our collective responsibility to keep the Lawrence we love healthy and strong for current and future generations of Lawrentians.

We see it in our frequent interactions with alumni—in person, online, on social media, via the Lawrence magazine, at homecoming, in the work of LUAA, and in the generosity on display here at Reunion, during our annual Giving Day and Athletics Crowdfund events, and during fund-raising campaigns.

We see it with our faculty in their uncompromising efforts to strengthen our academic programming, collaborate across disciplines, develop impactful research, and stay committed to the education of our students.

We see it with our staff in their efforts to serve the needs of this university in ways that will sustain and nourish it for generations to come.

And we see that shared responsibility in the way that we as a community worked together to help our students navigate recent events on campus. We have the privilege and the responsibility of educating students, not only in their chosen fields of study, but also in the skills that will prepare them to be engaged, productive, and successful members of their communities—including how to listen, how to disagree respectfully, how to compromise, and how to engage in productive dialogue.

We also have a collective responsibility to nurture and deepen partnerships in this thriving Fox Cities community. In early March, we welcomed more than 200 community members to campus for the groundbreaking of the West Campus project, a celebration of partnerships with the Fox Cities, downtown Appleton, and the Trout Museum of Art. The excitement was palpable.

When it opens in mid-2025, the four-story building will enhance our academic programs across the humanities, the Conservatory, and in areas of mathematics, computer science, and data science. The partnership with the Trout Museum of Art will give us avenues to build collaborations and mentorships in the worlds of art and nonprofits.

The Trout Museum will be on the first floor; the second floor will house nearly 30,000 square feet of space for modern faculty offices, classrooms, music studios, large rehearsal spaces and practice rooms, as well as an interactive Humanities Center and a multipurpose space that can also be used for performances. The apartments on the upper two floors will be available for rent—providing a revenue stream for Lawrence while giving us important flexibility in the future should we choose to convert that space to student housing.

Similarly, we have been strengthening our partnerships through the Fox Commons project with the business, health care, and nonprofit organizations that will be collaborating with Lawrence on everything from internships to tutorials in these modern spaces.

Fox Commons will provide new opportunities to engage our students in career preparation, while giving upper-level students the opportunity to live in apartment-style apartments in the heart of downtown Appleton.

The first half of the development will open in time for the upcoming Fall Term. The second half will open in Fall 2025.

These partnerships are all part of strategic planning that is so necessary for Lawrence to thrive in the future.

We must always embrace and celebrate our history—now 177 years strong—while moving forward to meet the needs of today’s students and those yet to come.  

And we are continuing to work every day to keep Lawrence thriving. Over the last three years, we have invested heavily in our infrastructure, focusing our efforts on academic spaces, the conservatory, athletics facilities, and residence hall improvements, which in particular have had a tremendous impact on the positive mental health of our students. In addition, the Board has approved plans to raise funds to build a recreation center, providing indoor track and field, fitness, and tennis facilities that are flexible enough to support athletics and our robust intramural programs while supporting student’s physical and mental health, with plenty of informal gathering spaces.

The Buchanan Kiewit Center was a wonderful addition to campus, and it will continue to serve as the campus wellness center, but we have outgrown it as student needs and demands have changed. We could not be more excited about what this could mean for the student experience at Lawrence.

All of these investments will give us important advantages as we recruit and retain students. It is no secret that we are in a very competitive environment in higher education. Supported by alumni and friends, these initiatives will play a key role in our ability to sustain Lawrence as a selective liberal arts institution.

Here are a handful of other highlights since our last Reunion Weekend.

• Four of our Lawrentians, one a 2024 graduate and three from the 2023 graduating class, were named Fulbright Scholars. All are heading abroad to study or teach and be cultural ambassadors. It is the largest number of Fulbright recipients at Lawrence since 2018.
• Lawrence hosted the inaugural New North ESG Summit in May, a gathering of business leaders from throughout northeast and central Wisconsin who came to campus to talk about good sustainability practices.
• We celebrated Giving Day with 2,505 donors supporting the Lawrence Fund to the tune of $1.62 million. We could not be more grateful for the generosity and commitment of our Lawrence family.
• Esteli Gomez, a voice professor in the Conservatory of Music, won a Grammy as part of the octet Roomful of Teeth. It was her second Grammy.
• Alumnus, James Gandre, class of 1981, shared a stirring Baccalaureate address recounting the joy of his Lawrence journey. Jim, President of Manhattan School of Music for the last 11 years, has had an impressive career on stage and in higher education.
• And we had an alumnus shortlisted for a 2024 Academy Award. Pawo Choyning Dorji, a 2006 graduate and this year’s Commencement speaker, was so honored for his second film, The Monk and the Gun, which was released two years after his debut film, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, earned an Oscar nomination.

We are indeed blessed with spectacular talent and commitment throughout our Lawrence family.

Thank you for being here to celebrate the bonds that keep Lawrentians connected across the disciplines and through the generations. We are on this journey together: Forever a Lawrentian.

Greetings to our 2024 graduates, family members, and friends who have gathered here to celebrate this extraordinary milestone. Welcome also to others from our Lawrence University community—the dedicated faculty and staff who have been instrumental in making this day a reality.

To our distinguished guests, Mr. Pawo Choyning Dorji, Class of 2006 and today’s Commencement speaker; Mr. James Gandre, Class of 1981 and the speaker at yesterday’s Baccalaureate service; and Mr. Cory Nettles, Class of 1992 and chair of the Lawrence University Board of Trustees, welcome and thank you.

There is no more fitting location for the Class of 2024 to be celebrated than here on Main Hall Green, a beautiful and beloved gathering space for generations of Lawrentians.

Graduates, today is for you and about you. We come together on this joyous occasion to celebrate the work, commitment, and resilience it has taken to arrive at this moment. We celebrate the friendships that have been built, the bonds that have been strengthened, the intellectual adventures that have commenced, and the dreams that have been ignited.

When you walk with your classmates through the arch and out into the world at the close of today’s Commencement, you will do so with the knowledge that you have accomplished something significant. In that sense, it is an ending, a completion of your undergraduate studies. In another sense, it marks a beginning. From here, a new journey begins.

I urge you to go forth on that journey with a boundless imagination and the wisdom to know there is still much to learn.

You are now a member of the great alumni community of Lawrence University, more than 22,000 strong. They are your peers, your advocates, and your biggest cheerleaders. As those alumni will tell you, the diploma itself does not guarantee anything other than opportunity—it will not on its own chase dreams or take chances or break barriers or lead or change communities. That is for you to determine.

Your Lawrence education has shown you the path to a lifetime of learning. Without question, you are now better equipped to adapt, to innovate, to think critically, and to thrive.

Members of this class have excelled throughout their undergraduate journeys and are positioned to do bold, creative, and impactful things.

I have had the pleasure of working closely with many of you and I’ve watched you grow into insightful student leaders. Kyle Gierman, an economics major and captain of the men’s hockey team, and Addison Littlefield, a music major in vocal performance, brought incredible wisdom to the inaugural cohort of the President’s Student Advisory Council. I so appreciate your commitment to excellence and to the future of our campus community.

Kianni McCain, majoring in Anthropology, and Paula Castillo, majoring in Ethnic Studies, are both Posse scholarship recipients who have fully immersed themselves in the Lawrence experience. It was a pleasure to see you flex your networking skills with alumni on a trip to Washington, D.C. this past December. Both Kianni and Paula completed internships last summer at the Center for Urban Teaching in Milwaukee and have committed the next phase of their lives to teaching, an incredibly important profession.

Paola Saldana Galvan, an international studies major and president of Model UN, was awarded a prestigious fellowship with the United States foreign service.

Jonathan Bass, a double degree student majoring in music performance and French and francophone studies, was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to pursue his graduate degree in music performance in Paris, besting thousands of applicants across the nation.

And our seniors on the men’s baseball team led the Vikings to a conference championship twice in the last three years.

These are just a few examples of the brilliance of this class. We cannot wait to see where each of your journeys will take you.

As graduates, lean into lessons from your fellow Lawrentians. Embrace this community of learners and leaders. Stay connected no matter how many miles or years separate you from this place and find solace and support in the liberal arts education you have so passionately pursued.

Life, of course, is not without pain and struggle. We, like others, have felt the world’s pain in heartbreaking ways since you arrived as first-year students. It is real and it hurts. As Lawrentians, let us lean on each other for strength.

Let the Lawrence family be a source of comfort and care wherever your journey takes you and through whatever challenges you face and victories you celebrate. Be a beacon for good in the communities you will now call home, finding and spreading joy while living a life informed by compassion, empathy, and grace.

Parents, guardians, families, and friends, we also celebrate you today.

No one walks this journey alone. Your contributions and sacrifices have helped bring your graduate to this stage today. Your guidance and support going forward will be no less valuable.

To the class of 2024, on behalf of the full faculty and staff of this university, I wish you the very best. Go be great. You are ready to do amazing things. To all of you, congratulations.

It is now my honor to present our 2024 senior class speaker, Monique Johnson.

Mo brought an impressive intellect and passion to her studies over the past four years. A government major, she now has her sights set on a law degree, planning to build a career as a criminal defense attorney.

She came to Lawrence as a 16-year-old, having combined her sophomore and junior years in high school.

She arrived at Lawrence, as did the other members of the Class of 2024, amid the uncertainties and precautions of the pandemic.

Mo was a first-generation college student, a Caribbean-American from Brooklyn, New York. Her academic achievements and leadership skills earned her a Posse Scholarship. She would become part of Lawrence’s Posse 14.

Mo embraced life as a Lawrentian in and out of the classroom. From studying abroad in Rome to being active across campus, she was all in. She guided her peers as a Community Advisor in Residential Education, provided leadership with the Lawrence University Community Council and the LU Cheer Team, and was active with the Beta Psi Nu sorority and the Black Student Union and African and Caribbean Union student organizations. 

She forged a tight bond over the past four years with the wonderful Kate Zoromski, who served as a mentor to this group of Posse students. Kate said, “Keep your eyes on Mo. She’s brilliant and resourceful, and she’s got a bright future ahead of her.”

I couldn’t agree more. Please join me in welcoming this year’s senior class speaker, Monique Johnson.