Commencement 2011
Congratulations to the Class of 2011. Baccalaureate on Friday, May 20, featured legendary Kenyon swim coach Jim Steen as speaker, followed by all-campus seminars by art history professor Sarah Blick and anthropology professor Bruce Hardy. On Saturday, May 21, the 183rd Commencement ceremony began at 10:30 a.m., with the speech delivered by award-winning novelist and essayist Jonathan Franzen. An honorary doctorate was conferred on philosopher and author Martha Nussbaum.
Baccalaureate Address by Jim Steen
The senior class chose as its Baccalaureate speaker Jim Steen, Kenyon's head men's swimming coach. Under Steen, the men's and women's swim teams developed into the most successful program in college sports history. He led the Lords to twenty-nine of their thirty-one consecutive Division III national championships, and, before stepping down as the Ladies coach last year, he guided the women to twenty-one of their twenty-three national titles.Steen delivered an address titled "The Capacity to Perform." Read the text online.
Commencement Address by Jonathan Franzen
This year's Commencement speaker was Jonathan Franzen. Franzen won the 2001 National Book Award for his novel The Corrections and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in fiction for the same novel. He is also the author of the novels Freedom (2010), Strong Motion (1992), and The Twenty-Seventh City (1988). His nonfiction includes the books The Discomfort Zone (2006) and How to Be Alone (2002), along with contributions to The New Yorker magazine. Listen to Franzen's speech.
Read an adaptation of Jonathan Franzen's Commencement address in the New York Times.
Commencement Photos
Can't get enough photos of the Class of 2011? Check out these photo albums.
View a slideshow from Kenyon's 183rd Commencement.
Jacob Wayler '13 also captured moments from Senior Week and Commencement Weekend. His Flickr albums are listed below:
Wine Tasting with Associate Professor of Anthropology Bruce Hardy