Class of 2016: Do Something Uncomfortable

Though the skies threatened rain, the weather held out for Williams’ 227th Commencement on June 5. During the ceremony, President Adam Falk (top left, in purple) gave honorary degrees to (same photo, from left) Dean of the College Sarah Bolton, who on July 1 became president of the College of Wooster; author and illustrator Eric Carle; commencement speaker and Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson; writer and commentator Frank Deford; baccalaureate speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Elizabeth Kolbert; Tony Award-winning playwright and screenwriter David Henry Hwang; Peace Corps director Carrie Hessler-Radelet; and singer-songwriter, producer and actor Leehom Wang ’98. Stevenson (also top, right) told the Class of ’16: “To change the world, you’re going to have to do uncomfortable things. … When you get proximate to those who are disabled and disempowered, you find your power.”