147th academic year CLASS OF 2021 Sunday, May 23, 2021 9 a.m. Weidner Field Colorado Springs, Colorado SENIOR CLASS GIFT The Class of 2021 demonstrated their commitment to Colorado College through their philanthropic senior class gift effort. They have directed gifts toward the Colorado College Mutual Aid Fund—a fund created by students to support immediate needs facing their classmates such as housing and food insecurity. LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Colorado College is located within the unceded territory of the Ute Peoples. Other tribes who historically used, and continue to use, the land also include the Apache, Arapaho, Comanche, and Cheyenne. IMPORTANT INFORMATION Sign Language Interpretation: Guests who are deaf or hard of hearing may sit on the west side of the field (section 104) where the stadium screen is visible. Photography: A professional photographer will be taking photos of each graduate. To order your photos please visit www.gradimages.com. Audience members for today’s event may be filmed, recorded, or photographed. Visitors consent to appear in documentation and media and its future use by Colorado College. Gown Returns: Graduates may keep their gowns or recycle them in bins located near the exit. Recording Available Online: The Commencement video recording will be available for viewing beginning June 15 at www.coloradocollege.edu/commencement . Share your photos and tweets: #coloradocollege2021 www.coloradocollege.edu/commencement – 2 – Dear Class of 2021, We are excited to be together today to mark this important milestone: your graduation. Whether in person or virtual, you spent four years living and learning in a fast-paced living and learning community and brought meaning to your studies through dynamic curricular engagements. The lessons you learned reach far deeper than class material, and will continue to serve you as you explore this new chapter. No degree could have prepared you for this past year; there was no prerequisite for the pandemic. You immersed yourselves in virtual and hybrid learning, exploring alongside professors and staff mentors as you found new ways to connect with course material. You found new opportunities to connect with peers and fostered community relationships through co-curricular engagements, closing the distance between you and your peers through virtual meetings and collaborative projects. This was not easy, and there was no guidebook; this year was truly unprecedented. Most importantly, you showed up for one another. You built relationships during a time of separation between your peers, friends, professors, and mentors to grow and strengthen the CC community. You found creative ways to connect, express yourselves, and participate in social activism. You are leaving a legacy, and we will feel your absence. After this long year of physical separation, we are grateful to come together to recognize your strength, resiliency, and achievements as you mark this important achievement. Today, you join thousands of other CC graduates in the ranks of alumni. The CC community is here for you. Colorado College will always be your home; we look forward to welcoming you back time and time again. Sincerely, SUSAN S. BURGHART ’77 Chair of the Board of Trustees MIKE EDMONDS Acting Co-President ROBERT G. MOORE P’13 Acting Co-President – 3 – THE COLORADO COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT CLASS OF 2021 Sunday, May 23, 2021 | 9 a.m. Presiding: Mike Edmonds, Acting Co-President of the College Robert G. Moore P’13, Acting Co-President of the College PROCESSIONAL* “Entrada” G. F. Handel (1685–1759) “Voluntary on Old 100th” Henry Purcell (c. 1659–1695) “Fanfare and Chorus” Dietrich Buxtehude (1637–1707) “Trumpet Voluntary” Henry Purcell Brass Ensemble; Jeremy Van Hoy, Colorado College Concert Band Director, Conductor AMERICA, THE BEAUTIFUL (Selected stanzas)* “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies” (1893) Samuel A. Ward (1847-1903); Words by Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929) Performed by Ely Merenstein ’21 INVOCATION* Kate Holbrook, Chaplain WELCOME Mike Edmonds, Acting Co-President of the College INTRODUCTION OF COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER Robert G. Moore P’13, Acting Co-President of the College COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS Jill Tiefenthaler P’21, P’24 Former President of Colorado College, Chief Executive Officer, The National Geographic Society CONFERRING OF HONORARY DEGREE Jill Tiefenthaler P’21, P’24– Doctor of Literature Presented by Kathy Giuffre, Professor of Sociology Conferred by Mike Edmonds and Robert G. Moore P’13 Honoring Previously Awarded Honorary Degrees Gloria Ladson-Billings – Doctor of Literature Katherine Haughey Loo – Doctor of Fine Arts Margaret Elise Myers ’72 – Doctor of Science Tink Tinker, Ph.D. (wazhazhe / Osage Nation) – Doctor of Literature Scott Yoo – Doctor of Music Presented by Mike Edmonds HONORING EMERITI/RETIRING FACULTY Presented by Robert G. Moore P’13 CONFERRING OF DEGREES IN COURSE Presented by Claire Oberon Garcia, Acting Provost and Dean of the Faculty Conferred by Mike Edmonds and Robert G. Moore P’13 COLORADO COLLEGE ALMA MATER* “O Colorado College Fair” …….Words and music by Charles Hawley ’54 and Professors Earl Juhas and Albert Seay Performed by Ely Merenstein ’21 BENEDICTION* Kate Holbrook, Chaplain RECESSIONAL* “March of the Earl of Oxford” William Byrd (1543–1623) “Canzon Septimi Toni No. 2” Giovanni Gabrieli (1557–1612) “Music for King Charles II” Matthew Locke (1630–1677) Brass Ensemble, Jeremy Van Hoy, Conductor *ATTENDEES STANDING Degree recipients and guests are requested to remain in their places until the conclusion of the ceremony. – 4 – CLASS OF 2021 COMMENCEMENT KEYNOTE SPEAKER AND HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENT JILL TIEFENTHALER P’21, P’24 s CEO of the National Geographic Society, Jill ATiefenthaler oversees the development and implementation of the society’s mission-driven work and programmatic agenda. She leads a global community of explorers driven to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Before joining the society, Tiefenthaler spent nine years as president of Colorado College. During this time, she oversaw significant campus improvements, executed the college’s most ambitious fundraising campaign, orchestrated an alliance to make the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center part of the college, led the college’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality, and guided the campus in creating an Antiracism Implementation Plan. Prior to leading Colorado College, Tiefenthaler was provost at Wake Forest University. She began her academic career at Colgate University, where she was professor of economics and held various administrative roles. Originally from Iowa, Tiefenthaler grew up on a farm and worked for her family’s popcorn business before attending Saint Mary’s College. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Duke University. – 5 – CLASS OF 2021 HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENT GLORIA LADSON-BILLINGS loria Ladson-Billings is the former Kellner GFamily Distinguished Chair of Urban Education and professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At Wisconsin she served as a faculty member in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and faculty affiliate in the Departments of Education Policy Studies, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and Afro American Studies. She is the current president of the National Academy of Education and former president of the American Educational Research Association (2005-2006.). She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Educational Research Association, and the Hagler Institute of Texas A&M University. She is the holder of seven honorary degrees from national and international universities. – 6 – CLASS OF 2021 HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENT KATHERINE HAUGHEY LOO atherine Loo has been active Springs Urban Renewal Board, in Colorado Springs for more Pikes Peak Community Foundation, K than 50 years. She grew up the Colorado Springs Symphony, in Billings, Montana, and graduated El Pomar Awards of Excellence from the University of Kansas, where Committee, and the Colorado she was a member of the Phi Beta Women’s Forum, where she served as Kappa Society. president, and the Colorado Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, where Loo is a highly regarded civic she served as chair. She is a founding leader and philanthropist who member of both the Colorado served six years on the Colorado Women’s Foundation and Artemis, Springs City Council and on the and continues to serve as honorary Colorado Commission on Higher trustee of the Colorado Women’s Education, was chair of numerous Foundation. nonprofit boards, and has led several capital campaigns, including for the Loo has received numerous Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center’s awards, the most recent being the expansion and addition. Outstanding Community Citizen Award from El Pomar Foundation. She began her career in Colorado She has received the state Springs as a volunteer for many Philanthropist of the Year Award, the social service organizations and Stu Dodge Award from the Palmer served as president of the Head Land Trust, the Outstanding Donor Start Advisory Board and the Award from Partners in Philanthropy, Junior League and as a director Leadership Pikes Peak’s Outstanding of the International Association Trustee Award, the Karen Poehssell of Junior Leagues. She is currently Unstoppable Woman Award, and the the executive vice president of Community Service Award from the High Valley Group, an investment Girl Scouts Wagon Wheel Council. company. Her board service includes the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Colorado – 7 – CLASS OF 2021 HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENT MARGARET