ANE’s commencement was a perfect time of celebration for the two hundred and seventeen master’s and doctoral degree students who attended the Sunday morning, May third ceremony. As degrees were conferred, the graduates walked and danced their way across the stage as more than one thousand participants, family members, and friends applauded their extraordinary achievements.
President David A. Caruso presided over all on a stage filled with faculty members, staff, and guests including Antioch University Board of Governors member, Maureen Curley.
Curtis Ogden, who team-taught the Organizational Change Models course at Antioch with Bob Rue and who is a senior associate with the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISI) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gave the commencement address. Curtis called on everyone to bring their full selves to the work of social change. “This is not just about responding to need in the world, it’s about bringing ourselves fully to life,” said Curtis. “If we lead like that, who wouldn’t want to join us?” He continued by asking if the graduates were ready and willing to bring it all, mind, body, and spirit to the work ahead. “I can assure you that we need more of you, more of your full-bodied brilliance. It will take nothing less…” Read the full text of Curtis Ogden’s speech or see the video.
In classic Antioch fashion, the ceremony also featured special music. ANE grad Bennett Konesni led everyone in a celebratory commencement Austrian YOOTZ tune. Bennett, who collected work songs during his Thomas J. Watson Fellowship prior to attending ANE, explained that the YOOTZ is used by herders in the Alps to communicate with their livestock.
This year Antioch New England awarded two hundred and eighty-six master’s degrees in applied psychology, education, environmental studies, and management; thirty-three doctoral (PsyD) degrees in clinical psychology; and five doctoral (PhD) degrees in environmental studies. This commencement ceremony also celebrated ANE’s forty-fifth anniversary.
