On Sunday May 31, 2026, at its 160th Commencement, Bates will graduate 480 members of the Class of 2026, confer three honorary degrees, and hear remarks from speakers including honorand Deborah Harkness, historian and best-selling author of the All Souls series of novels.  

Commencement starts at 10 a.m. and will be held outdoors on the Historic Quad, in front of Coram Library, rain or shine. (The last time Commencement was held indoors was in 2015, when it was in Merrill Gymnasium.) The weekend is expected to be rainy and chilly, so jackets and other rain gear are encouraged for Saturday events including Baccalaureate, although weather reports indicate the sun may be out Sunday for Commencement. 

Biochemistry major Sebenele Lukhele ’26 of Manzini, Eswatini, will deliver the senior speech. The tradition of having a member of the senior class give a speech to their classmates was longstanding at Bates up until the mid-20th century. The tradition resumed in 2013, which makes Lukhele the 15th senior speaker in the 21st century.  If you just did the math and are confused about why Lukhele isn’t the 14th, that’s because in 2021, due to the pandemic, Bates practiced social distancing and split the class in half alphabetically, holding two separate ceremonies as a precautionary measure, and two graduating seniors shared the speaking honor.

Bates will confer three honorary degrees on Sunday. H. Scott Bierman ’77, a leading economist in the study of game theory, president emeritus of Beloit College, and a former member of the Bates Board of Trustees, will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree. Seema Hingorani, an investment executive at Morgan Stanley and founder of the nonprofit Girls Who Invest, will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Harkness will receive a Doctor of Letters degree. For more than 30 years, Harkness taught the history of science, medicine, and magic, and recently retired as professor emerita of history at the University of Southern California. During that time, she published five novels in her All Souls series, including her debut novel, The New York Times best-selling A Discovery of Witches, which was also adapted into an enormously popular television series by the same name.

There’s an element of a full circle moment in Harkness’ visit to Bates to receive an honorary degree and give the Commencement address. The protagonist of A Discovery of Witches is a historian of alchemy named Diana Bishop. The fictional Bishop teaches at Yale University and did her graduate work at New College, Oxford. But before all that, Bishop graduated from Bates. The character even dons a sweatshirt featuring a garnet Bobcat in A Discovery of Witches.

WATCHING (THE SKY AND THE SCREEN):

• The event is being livestreamed, and you can watch it on this page on the college’s website. 
• How cold can it be? It’s the last day in May, after all.  Yes, but May in Maine. Last year’s Commencement was brisk and cloudy, with temperatures peaking at 56 degrees. The high in Lewiston for this Sunday is expected to be 63 degrees but sunny.
• Please keep your drones on the ground. Guests cannot fly drones over the Historic Quad during Commencement.

Among other noteworthy elements to the 160th Commencement: This will be the last time Professor Mary T. Rice-DeFosse carries the mace at a Bates Commencement. This honor goes to the senior most member of the faculty. Rice-DeFosse, a professor of French and Francophone studies who joined the faculty in 1984, is retiring from Bates. In 2022, she became the first woman to carry the mace. Phillips Professor of Mathematics Peter Wong, who has been at Bates since 1988, will assume the duties of mace bearer at the next processional.