2015 honorary degree recipients were:<\/p>\n
- \n
- \n
![\"web-ig-2015-graduating-class-01\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/05\/web-ig-2015-graduating-class-012.png\")
<\/a>Click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n
Manjul Bhargava<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>winner of the 2014 Fields Medal for mathematics and a professor at Princeton University, will give the commencement address<\/li>\n
- Dr. Mark Abelson<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0pioneering ophthalmologist whose research and work has led to dozens of new eye treatments and cures<\/li>\n
- Thomas Moser<\/strong><\/a>, master Maine craftsman whose handmade furniture beautifies public spaces around the world<\/li>\n
- Joan Benoit Samuelson<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Olympic gold medalist, Maine resident and environmentalist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
About Commencement 2015<\/p>\n
- \n
- Commencement announcement\u00a0with honorand biographies<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Commencement traditions at Bates<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Our story from<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Bates’ 149th Commencement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Images<\/h3>\n
Download high-resolution portraits<\/strong>\u00a0of the honorands\u00a0(open image and right-click or control-click to download):<\/em><\/p>\n
- \n
- Manjul Bhargava<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Mark Abelson, M.D.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Thomas Moser<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Joan Benoit Samuelson<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Video<\/h3>\n
Livestream of Commencement 2015<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
Video<\/strong>\u00a0of Bates Commencement 2015 <\/strong>(will be posted on or about June 1<\/em>)<\/p>\n
Speeches remarks and citations<\/h3>\n
- \n
- Introductory\u00a0remarks from President Clayton Spencer<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Honorary degree citations\u00a0and conferrals<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/li>\n- Commencement address by Manjul Bhargava<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>
\n<\/em><\/li>\n- Address by senior speaker Alexander Bolden<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Bates Communications<\/h3>\n
- Honorary degree citations\u00a0and conferrals<\/a>
- Mark Abelson, M.D.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Commencement traditions at Bates<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Dr. Mark Abelson<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0pioneering ophthalmologist whose research and work has led to dozens of new eye treatments and cures<\/li>\n
![Manjul Bhargava<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>winner of the 2014 Fields Medal for mathematics and a professor at Princeton University, will give the commencement address<\/li>\nDr. Mark Abelson<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0pioneering ophthalmologist whose research and work has led to dozens of new eye treatments and cures<\/li>\nThomas Moser<\/strong><\/a>, master Maine craftsman whose handmade furniture beautifies public spaces around the world<\/li>\nJoan Benoit Samuelson<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Olympic gold medalist, Maine resident and environmentalist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAbout Commencement 2015<\/p>\n\nCommencement announcement\u00a0with honorand biographies<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nCommencement traditions at Bates<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nOur story from<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Bates’ 149th Commencement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nImages<\/h3>\nDownload high-resolution portraits<\/strong>\u00a0of the honorands\u00a0(open image and right-click or control-click to download):<\/em><\/p>\n\nManjul Bhargava<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\nMark Abelson, M.D.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\nThomas Moser<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nJoan Benoit Samuelson<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nVideo<\/h3>\nLivestream of Commencement 2015<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nVideo<\/strong>\u00a0of Bates Commencement 2015 <\/strong>(will be posted on or about June 1<\/em>)<\/p>\nSpeeches remarks and citations<\/h3>\n\nIntroductory\u00a0remarks from President Clayton Spencer<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nHonorary degree citations\u00a0and conferrals<\/a>\n<\/strong><\/li>\nCommencement address by Manjul Bhargava<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/em><\/li>\nAddress by senior speaker Alexander Bolden<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBates Communications<\/h3>\nContact<\/strong>: Kent Fischer, Director of Media Relations\nOffice<\/em>\u00a0207-786-6330 |\u00a0Cell<\/em>\u00a0207-376-6282 |\u00a0kfischer@bates.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bates Communications Office is making available the following resources to journalists…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":79043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[9946],"tags":[127,10831,10739,4237],"class_list":["post-94452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclude-from-loops","tag-class-of-2015","tag-commencement","tag-commencement-2015","tag-honorands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94452"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95033,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452\/revisions\/95033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/03\/Manjul_Bhargava-Bates-2015-Commencement.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Dr. Mark Abelson<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0pioneering ophthalmologist whose research and work has led to dozens of new eye treatments and cures<\/li>\nThomas Moser<\/strong><\/a>, master Maine craftsman whose handmade furniture beautifies public spaces around the world<\/li>\nJoan Benoit Samuelson<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Olympic gold medalist, Maine resident and environmentalist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAbout Commencement 2015<\/p>\n\nCommencement announcement\u00a0with honorand biographies<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nCommencement traditions at Bates<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nOur story from<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Bates’ 149th Commencement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nImages<\/h3>\nDownload high-resolution portraits<\/strong>\u00a0of the honorands\u00a0(open image and right-click or control-click to download):<\/em><\/p>\n\nManjul Bhargava<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\nMark Abelson, M.D.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\nThomas Moser<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nJoan Benoit Samuelson<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nVideo<\/h3>\nLivestream of Commencement 2015<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nVideo<\/strong>\u00a0of Bates Commencement 2015 <\/strong>(will be posted on or about June 1<\/em>)<\/p>\nSpeeches remarks and citations<\/h3>\n\nIntroductory\u00a0remarks from President Clayton Spencer<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nHonorary degree citations\u00a0and conferrals<\/a>\n<\/strong><\/li>\nCommencement address by Manjul Bhargava<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/em><\/li>\nAddress by senior speaker Alexander Bolden<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBates Communications<\/h3>\nContact<\/strong>: Kent Fischer, Director of Media Relations\nOffice<\/em>\u00a0207-786-6330 |\u00a0Cell<\/em>\u00a0207-376-6282 |\u00a0kfischer@bates.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bates Communications Office is making available the following resources to journalists…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":79043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[9946],"tags":[127,10831,10739,4237],"class_list":["post-94452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclude-from-loops","tag-class-of-2015","tag-commencement","tag-commencement-2015","tag-honorands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94452"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95033,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452\/revisions\/95033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/03\/Abelson-photo-1.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Thomas Moser<\/strong><\/a>, master Maine craftsman whose handmade furniture beautifies public spaces around the world<\/li>\nJoan Benoit Samuelson<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Olympic gold medalist, Maine resident and environmentalist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAbout Commencement 2015<\/p>\n\nCommencement announcement\u00a0with honorand biographies<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nCommencement traditions at Bates<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nOur story from<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Bates’ 149th Commencement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nImages<\/h3>\nDownload high-resolution portraits<\/strong>\u00a0of the honorands\u00a0(open image and right-click or control-click to download):<\/em><\/p>\n\nManjul Bhargava<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\nMark Abelson, M.D.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\nThomas Moser<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nJoan Benoit Samuelson<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nVideo<\/h3>\nLivestream of Commencement 2015<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nVideo<\/strong>\u00a0of Bates Commencement 2015 <\/strong>(will be posted on or about June 1<\/em>)<\/p>\nSpeeches remarks and citations<\/h3>\n\nIntroductory\u00a0remarks from President Clayton Spencer<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nHonorary degree citations\u00a0and conferrals<\/a>\n<\/strong><\/li>\nCommencement address by Manjul Bhargava<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/em><\/li>\nAddress by senior speaker Alexander Bolden<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBates Communications<\/h3>\nContact<\/strong>: Kent Fischer, Director of Media Relations\nOffice<\/em>\u00a0207-786-6330 |\u00a0Cell<\/em>\u00a0207-376-6282 |\u00a0kfischer@bates.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bates Communications Office is making available the following resources to journalists…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":79043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[9946],"tags":[127,10831,10739,4237],"class_list":["post-94452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclude-from-loops","tag-class-of-2015","tag-commencement","tag-commencement-2015","tag-honorands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94452"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95033,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452\/revisions\/95033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/03\/DW_TomPortrait_softer_hr-1.jpg\"){kind=link}
![Joan Benoit Samuelson<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Olympic gold medalist, Maine resident and environmentalist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAbout Commencement 2015<\/p>\n\nCommencement announcement\u00a0with honorand biographies<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nCommencement traditions at Bates<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nOur story from<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Bates’ 149th Commencement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nImages<\/h3>\nDownload high-resolution portraits<\/strong>\u00a0of the honorands\u00a0(open image and right-click or control-click to download):<\/em><\/p>\n\nManjul Bhargava<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\nMark Abelson, M.D.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\nThomas Moser<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nJoan Benoit Samuelson<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nVideo<\/h3>\nLivestream of Commencement 2015<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nVideo<\/strong>\u00a0of Bates Commencement 2015 <\/strong>(will be posted on or about June 1<\/em>)<\/p>\nSpeeches remarks and citations<\/h3>\n\nIntroductory\u00a0remarks from President Clayton Spencer<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\nHonorary degree citations\u00a0and conferrals<\/a>\n<\/strong><\/li>\nCommencement address by Manjul Bhargava<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/em><\/li>\nAddress by senior speaker Alexander Bolden<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBates Communications<\/h3>\nContact<\/strong>: Kent Fischer, Director of Media Relations\nOffice<\/em>\u00a0207-786-6330 |\u00a0Cell<\/em>\u00a0207-376-6282 |\u00a0kfischer@bates.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bates Communications Office is making available the following resources to journalists…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":79043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[9946],"tags":[127,10831,10739,4237],"class_list":["post-94452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclude-from-loops","tag-class-of-2015","tag-commencement","tag-commencement-2015","tag-honorands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94452"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95033,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94452\/revisions\/95033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2015\/03\/Print_150226_Joan_Benoit_copy-1.jpg\"){kind=link}