Carleton Commencement 2026

Carleton College graduated 503 students from the Class of 2026 during its 152nd Commencement ceremony, held Saturday, June 13 on the Bald Spot.

Hundreds of friends and family members attended in order to applaud the latest Carleton graduates, with cheers from the crowd echoing across campus after each diploma was presented.

Michelle Mattson, professor of German and provost and vice president for academic affairs, read the names of the students as President Alison Byerly awarded the diplomas — and a handshake — to every member of the Class of 2026 in attendance.

An honorary doctoral degree was conferred during the ceremony to preeminent cancer researcher Jennifer Pietenpol ’86, who also gave the Commencement address.

Pietenpol’s address, “Stay Curious, Ask Questions, Lift Others,” named the instincts that Carleton nurtures in all its alumni: curiosity, disciplined thinking, collaboration, and a drive to ask consequential questions. She connected her time at Carleton with her distinguished career in cancer research, recognizing that “the value of a Carleton education extends far beyond this campus, not simply because of what you know, but because of how you learn to think.”

“[My research team’s] discovery [of multiple, distinct subtypes of triple-negative breast cancer] helped change how scientists and clinicians understand and treat the disease, ultimately saving thousands of lives,” Pietenpol said. “But the truth is, that discovery didn’t just begin in my laboratory. It began with a habit I learned here at Carleton College: Question assumptions. Carleton teaches you to ask, ‘How do we know this is true?’ Those are often the questions of greatest value — the ones that challenge what everyone else takes for granted.”

Pietenpol also shared that she was a student-athlete at Carleton, playing volleyball and running track, and that some of her most important learning at college happened outside of the classroom in gyms, on tracks, and during “long bus rides across the Midwest.” The discipline, resilience, balance, teamwork, and shared sense of purpose she experienced because of athletics led to her understanding that “breakthroughs rarely come from lone geniuses. They come from communities of thinkers.”

“The biggest problems in the world will never be solved alone,” Pietenpol said. “They will be solved by teams.”

She also talked about how significant her senior comps project and classes outside of the sciences turned out to be for her work.

“Many of the most important decisions and challenges in my career have required exactly the same skills that comps demanded,” Pietenpol said. “Taking complex problems, identifying the essential questions, and distilling what matters most. I also came to appreciate how much I learned from Carleton’s extraordinary English and history professors. They taught me the power of organized thought, clear writing, and precise expression. Those skills proved to be just as important in science and leadership as they are in the humanities, because no matter your profession, the ability to think clearly, communicate effectively, and persuade thoughtfully shapes discovery, leadership, and impact in every field.”

While wrapping up her address, Pietenpol shared that even in current moments of global uncertainty, she remains profoundly optimistic — in part because of people like the graduates of Carleton’s Class of 2026.

“Progress may at times slow, but it will never stop,” Pietenpol said, “because curiosity and the desire to improve human life remain remarkably powerful forces in all of you. Meeting the challenges ahead requires people who can think across boundaries. People who can build teams. People who can connect ideas. In other words, the world needs people educated exactly the way you were over the past four years at Carleton… Much of what I have accomplished began with the habits of mind I learned here. The discipline to ask questions; the humility to collaborate and form teams; and the responsibility to serve others.”

“Ask questions that challenge assumptions,” Pietenpol concluded. “Ask questions that connect ideas. Ask questions that serve humanity. Graduates of Carleton, the future is waiting for your questions. Congratulations!”

Pietenpol followed graduation reflections from Ruth Matondo ’26, political science and international relations major with a minor in French, and Jeremy Gautama ’26, computer science major.

Matondo, an international student from Mozambique and Angola, titled her speech, “Who We’ve Become.” She focused on the people of Carleton and the campus community alongside the College’s challenging academics, expressing thanks for the professors, staff, fellow students, and others who helped her grow and grew alongside her.

“As I look back, I know that who I am today has been molded by the kindness, brilliance, and support of this community,” Matondo said. “I know many people here today can point to someone who helped carry them through these past four years. A roommate. A teammate. A professor. A staff member who made the campus feel welcoming. Someone who believed in us during moments when we struggled to believe in ourselves. One of the things I will remember most about Carleton is how deeply interconnected our lives became here. None of us reached this moment entirely on our own. And that is why today feels not only like a celebration of achievement, but also a moment of gratitude.”

Gautama followed Matondo with an entertaining speech titled, “Who is Carleton?” that argued Carleton should be much more well-known than it is currently around the world, including in his home country of Indonesia. He instructed the Class of 2026 to “preach Carleton” and always be proud of where they went to school.

“Carleton’s motto in latin is Declaratio Sermonum Tuorum Illuminat, which means The Revelation/Announcement of Your Words Illuminates,” Gautama said. “Tell people about your experience here. Let people know about Carleton. Don’t gatekeep this place. When you’re conversing with a stranger, slide Carleton into the conversation… Because The Revelation of Your Words Illuminates. I wish you all to be successful in your own ways, and I hope you will wear Carleton as a badge of honor. Make Carleton proud whatever it is that you’re doing — so that when another kid from Indonesia opens up their [application] portal, and gets admitted, their mom won’t say, ‘Who is Carleton.’”

Matondo and Gautama’s focus on how they will carry Carleton with them into the future is a theme of Commencement every year, as graduation marks a beginning as well as an end for each member of the Class of 2026. The newly-recognized alumni will soon head off to graduate schools, fellowships, and professional positions across the country and the globe, representing Carleton excellence everywhere they go.

President Byerly celebrated the incredible accomplishments of the Class of 2026 in her address, beginning with words spoken directly to Carleton’s international students.

“This has not been an easy year,” she said. “Yet even as immigration enforcement activities in Minnesota and across the nation created additional stress and anxiety for international and noncitizen students, you remained steadfast in your focus, energy, and commitment to your education. Your courage in leaving your home countries to study here, your intellectual ambition in pursuing every different field and major at Carleton, and your willingness to share your many cultures and beliefs with others, are all among the reasons why we deeply value your presence in our community. We hope that you have felt the love and support of the Carleton community this year. We are so proud that you chose to make this journey with us.”

Byerly continued by acknowledging that this year’s class is graduating at a time of great change and uncertainty, and are most likely asking themselves if they are prepared for what the future might hold when they can’t predict it. She framed her response around the current culture of betting and prediction markets that have taken the world by storm, noting that a student’s choice of college, or their major, is sometimes described as a bet on the future.

“This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how a liberal arts education works,” Byerly countered. “It is not an investment whose value can be calculated in advance. You don’t know what the precise impact will be of your major, individual courses that you took, and the wide range of friendships and experiences that characterized your time at Carleton. You might instead think of your education like packing for a trip to an unknown destination. You may not be sure of exactly what you will need, so you acquire and carry with you many things that seem useful or valuable… The talents, skills, resources, and experiences you have acquired here are the equipment you will use to navigate whatever comes next, and shape a future for yourself.”

Byerly spoke about how many Carleton alumni across the country have told her that their lives have been impacted in often unexpected ways by what they experienced at Carleton, and that they sometimes only realized that decades after graduation.

“Whatever your major, and whatever your plans, you cannot predict all the uses you will make of your Carleton education over the course of your lifetime,” Byerly said. “The fact that its effects are unpredictable does not make them less valuable. On the contrary, the breadth and flexibility of that education prepares you for opportunities that you don’t yet envision… We can’t wait to see what kind of future you create — for yourselves, and for the world.”

After this year’s Commencement drew to a close with the valedictory from College Chaplain Schuyler Vogel ’07 and a rousing chorus of “Carleton, Our Alma Mater,” the members of the Class of 2026 filed out of their seats to congregate with their families, professors, friends, and others on the Bald Spot, happy to spend one last afternoon lounging with a picnic lunch before leaving campus for the first time as Carleton alumni.

The 2026 Commencement ceremony was live streamed and recorded. The full video will be posted on the Commencement website.