The distinguished Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist spent a week at MHC as the 2009 Carol Hoffmann Collins Global Scholar-in-Residence, hosted by the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives.

The distinguished Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist spent a week at MHC as the 2009 Carol Hoffmann Collins Global Scholar-in-Residence, hosted by the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives.

Student speaker Caitlin M. Healey of Manchester, New Hampshire, told her classmates, "Today is a day of stupendous achievement and anxiety and glory and unknowns and triumph…. We will walk out of here today and head in all kinds of crazy and wonderful directions. But we’ll always have this place, this connection, these silly hats, and this moment."

Commencement 2009 speaker Princess Loulwa al-Faisal al Saud, daughter of Queen Effat and the late King Faisal, has championed women's education and worked on behalf of social and family welfare in the Middle East. During the 1990s, she worked with her mother supervising Dar Al-Hanan School, the first private high school for girls in Saudi Arabia. In 1999, she founded Effat College, now Effat University, the first college exclusively for women in Saudi Arabia. The Princess currently serves as vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees and general supervisor. She led all phases of the school's founding, raising funds, developing curriculum, and overseeing the construction and hiring of faculty and staff. She has served as a firm, but diplomatic, visionary in all phases of Effat's development. Notably, Mount Holyoke faculty members and administrators played a consultative role in Effat's development, and ties continue between the two schools today through their participation in Women's Education Worldwide, a global consortium of women's colleges.

Noting the abundance of groundbreaking biomedical discoveries since her graduation from Mount Holyoke 20 years ago, Waterman had a special message for those graduating with degrees in her field.

"This great biomedical revolution will go down in history as having the same level of impact on our quality of life as did the great Industrial Revolution of the second half of the 1800s," she said. "To all of you in the class of 2009 embarking today on your postgraduate lives, you will enjoy the benefits of this great biomedical revolution as the healthiest, longest living, and, hopefully, happiest and most productive generation ever."

President Mary McAleese, eighth president of Ireland, delivered the commencement address and received an honorary degree at the 172nd Mount Holyoke College commencement.

The Jazz Ensembles of Mount Holyoke College, under the direction of Mark Gionfriddo, presented their fourth annual 1940s radio variety show, The Big Broadcast! featuring popular tunes from the era, including music by Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Artie Shaw. Brian Lapis, chief meteorologist for WWLP-TV 22 News, join the cast as announcer "Fred Kelley". He and ensemble members will adopt the characters and identity of fictitious radio station WJAZ for this yearly presentation of a typical 1940s radio variety show.

Maureen White ’76, cochair of the board of overseers for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), spoke on "Iraqi Refugees: A Hidden Crisis" Thursday, April 16. Her lecture was presented by the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives.

In addition to her work with the IRC, White has served on the boards of Human Rights Watch, the International Rescue Committee, Refugees International, and the Chatham House Foundation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the North American Advisory Board for the London School of Economics. She was the United States government representative to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from 1997 until 2001, and she served as the national finance chair of the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign and, from 2001 to 2006, for the Democratic National Committee.

Maureen White ’76, cochair of the board of overseers for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), spoke on "Iraqi Refugees: A Hidden Crisis" Thursday, April 16. Her lecture was presented by the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives.

In addition to her work with the IRC, White has served on the boards of Human Rights Watch, the International Rescue Committee, Refugees International, and the Chatham House Foundation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the North American Advisory Board for the London School of Economics. She was the United States government representative to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from 1997 until 2001, and she served as the national finance chair of the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign and, from 2001 to 2006, for the Democratic National Committee.

MHC's artist-in-residence Jeannine Oppewall, whose credits include Seabiscuit (2003), L.A. Confidential (1997), and Catch Me If You Can (2002), delivered a presentation "On Finding the Art in Industry". She has won and been nominated for numerous art direction and set design awards, including four Oscar nominations, most recently for The Good Shepherd.