F&M Stories

Members of Franklin & Marshall’s Class of 2024 will be honored during Commencement May 11 in the College's Alumni Sports & Fitness Center (ASFC).

The in-person ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. in the ASFC on the north side of Harrisburg Avenue. Faculty and College leadership will line the walkway outside the center to welcome 517 seniors proceeding toward the ceremony. 

Guest attendance is limited to the graduates and their preregistered guests only. An indoor viewing of the virtual Commencement broadcast will be available at the Ann & Richard Barshinger Center for the Musical Arts; tickets are not required.

The ceremony will be broadcast live through the F&M Commencement website. An on-demand recording of the ceremony also will be available after May 11. 

Members of the graduating cohort have emerged as leaders, scholars and humanitarians despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic. 

“Class of 2024, you are starting all new types of traditions,” F&M President Barbara Altmann told students during her August 2020 convocation remarks.

“What you are experiencing is actually setting you up in a unique way. You may well end up on a different path – or paths – than you would have if everything had played out according to what we would have expected,” Altmann said. 

Speakers and Honorees

The May 11 ceremony will feature Commencement speaker Jason Cone ’99, the chief public policy officer of Robin Hood, New York City’s largest anti-poverty philanthropic organization. Cone will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

Since graduating from F&M 25 years ago, Cone has contributed to both national and international advocacy for humanitarian public policy, including many years as U.S. executive director of Doctors Without Borders.

Also receiving an honorary doctorate of humane letters at Commencement will be Madeline Anderson, a media pioneer credited as the first Black woman to produce and direct a TV documentary.

Visit the Commencement website for the latest information.