Terry Tempest Williams, an author, naturalist and social justice advocate, will deliver the 2024 Middlebury Commencement address.
Williams has written over 20 books on environmental advocacy topics ranging from ecology and wilderness preservation to women’s health and the relationship between culture and nature. Her 1991 memoir “Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place” has received international recognition for its exploration of her relationship to Mormonism and her mother’s diagnosis with ovarian cancer, interwoven with natural history of the flooding of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, near Williams’ childhood home in Utah.
“Terry Tempest Williams is a longtime hero of mine,” Jack Byrne, dean of Environmental Affairs and Sustainability and director of the Franklin Environmental Center, said in an announcement from the college. “I have the greatest admiration and emotional resonance for her writing and how she sees the world. I know our graduating students will find great solace and inspiration from her as they continue their journeys beyond Middlebury.”
Williams will receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at the college’s commencement ceremony on May 26.
Williams is currently a writer in residence at Harvard Divinity School. She also writes periodically for the New Yorker, the New York Times, Orion magazine and the Progressive, as well as for international anthologies as a voice for environmental consciousness.
Williams received the Robert Marshall Award from the Wilderness Society in 2006, the highest honor the society grants to American citizens. She has also been recognized with awards from the Western American Literature Association, the Center for the American West and the Sierra Club.
Williams’ work as a writer and activist were influenced substantially by her upbringing in Salt Lake City, within sight of the Great Salt Lake. She graduated from the University of Utah in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in English and in 1984 with a Master of Science degree in environmental education.
She published her first book shortly after in 1984 while working as a teacher in Montezuma Creek, Utah, in the Navajo Nation. Additional books Williams has written over her four decade-long career include “An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field” (1994), “Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert” (2001), “Finding Beauty in a Broken World” (2008), “The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks” (2016) and “The Moon is Behind Us: 30 Letters in Response to 30 Moons” (2021).
Williams’ social justice work extends beyond her writing. She has testified before Congress on women’s health issues, as well as on committing acts of civil disobedience against nuclear testing in the Nevada desert and against the Iraq War.
President Laurie Patton highlighted the connection between Williams’ work and the college's environmental goals in the announcement. “Her ideas resonate deeply with our students and inspire many of Middlebury’s long-term sustainability goals,” Patton said.
The college will also award honorary degrees to five other individuals at the commencement ceremony.
Jon Castiglione is in his 42nd season on Red Sox radio, and is the longest serving radio broadcaster in Boston sports history. He was also inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2014 and 2022.
Michael R. Katz served as the dean of the Language Schools and Schools Abroad at Middlebury, as well the C.V. Starr Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Katz retired from full-time teaching in 2010, but continues to teach occasional J-Term courses at Middlebury.
Linda Cliatt-Wayman is an education leader, who has been featured on ABC World News Tonight and Nightline. In 2016, she was named a Top 50 Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize out of 8,000 nominees internationally.
Emily Welty is the chair of Peace and Justice Studies at Pace University, where she teaches classes focused on nonviolence, humanitarianism and transitional justice. Welty is a part of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), where she works on faith-based engagement in nuclear disarmament.
Matthew Breay Bolton is a professor of political science at Pace University, and a part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, like Welty. Bolton was appointed by New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to the city’s Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Advisory Committee in 2023.
Commencement will take place on May 26 at 10 a.m. on the quad downhill from the chapel.
Maggie Reynolds '24 (she/her) is the Editor in Chief.
Maggie previously served as the Senior Local Editor, a Local Section Editor, and a Staff Writer. She spent this past J-term interning for VTDigger, covering topics from affordable housing in Addison County to town government scandals. She also interned for Seven Days VT as an arts & culture reporter summer 2022 and as a news reporter for the Daily Gazette in Schenectady, NY summer 2021.
Maggie is majoring in History and minoring in Political Science and Spanish. She was a three-year member of the Women's Swimming and Diving team. Maggie enjoys running, hiking, and iced maple lattes.
