This afternoon, over 800 students crossed the stage at Manhattan’s historic Radio City Music Hall, joining the fellowship of Barnard College alumnae. It is an exceptional group of close to 40,000 living members — remarkable women, living across the globe, who are connected for life.
“You are the next generation of Barnard,” said President Laura Ann Rosenbury. “Ready to face what comes next, to think and speak with conviction, to hold complexity and more than one truth at a time, and to defend your seat at the table. You go out into the world today as ambassadors for the value of women's education, for the power of meaningfully engaging across differences, and for the belief that curiosity, knowledge, and empathy can change the world for the better.”
There is endless potential for the future of the Class of 2026. Through the steadfast support of professional resources like Beyond Barnard and lasting connections made in the classroom, new graduates are prepared for whatever comes next — graduate school, professional life, or just embracing the unknown.
Rebecca L. Walkowitz, Barnard Provost and Dean of the Faculty, addressed students with the question: How do we sustain thinking, the imperative of higher education, in anxious times? “Above all, thinking needs curiosity,” said Walkowitz. “That means being open to wonder and strangeness, welcoming surprises that take us somewhere we didn’t expect to go.”
From the auditorium, proud, beaming families and friends watched as their loved ones crossed the stage, flipping the tassels on their decorated caps from right to left, marking the transition from student to graduate.
Some traveled across oceans to support graduates at Commencement. Cunfang Yu P’26 flew 18 hours from China to see her daughter, Baoyi Wang ’26, at Radio City Music Hall. “I’m connecting New York City and my hometown together,” said Wang.
When Nicole Sandrik-Arzadi ’26 reflects on her Barnard years, she thinks about the professors who “pushed [her] to become the best version of [herself].” Through the classes she had access to as a political science major, she is now inspired to pursue a career in international law.
“Nicole is ready to take on the world,” said her mother, Michele Sandrik P’26. “She came here as a sophomore and is leaving as a woman.”
Karen RingswaldEgan P’26 called the Barnard experience of her daughter, Isabelle, the “best of all worlds.” After graduation, Isabelle, an anthropology and French double major, is embarking on a new adventure in the Peace Corps. Her advice to future Barnard students? “Go out and do as much as you can.”
“It’s bittersweet,” said Sophia Roberts ’26, an environmental science major. “It’s sad to be saying goodbye to everyone.”
Jennifer Finney Boylan Delivers Keynote Address
Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence and Professor of English Jennifer Finney Boylan delivered remarks to the Class of 2026, delighting the crowd with a call for clear moral vision in challenging times, returning to the triad of virtues: faith, hope, and love. In her speech, Boylan spoke to the promise of change ahead for new graduates, and implored the class to see value in embracing difference and practicing compassion.
“This world, our world, has no shortage of strange and wonderful things to turn and face: the blue lobster and the Venus fly trap, the night-blooming cereus, and the duck-billed platypus,” Boylan told students. “Surely if there is room under the sun for all of these things, there is room in it for me, and there is room in it for you.”
In addition to being a beloved teacher and mentor to Barnard students, Boylan is a force in contemporary fiction — authoring 19 books — and has long served as a grounding voice on American politics, culture, and LGBTQ+ issues.
She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, released in 2003, was the first memoir from a transgender American to become a bestseller. As an author, educator, and activist, Boylan has remained a force of lightness and love — in the words of Anna Quindlen, living “proof that you can be a public intellectual and still make people laugh.”
President Welcomes New Class of Alumnae
President Rosenbury celebrated her third Commencement at Barnard College, reminding the newest of graduates that the best is yet to come. Even as the Class of 2026 embarks on their next steps, she reminded the crowd, the Barnard connection never truly fades.
“Embrace the joy in this room,” Rosenbury told students. “This Barnard joy will be with you every step of the way. Our community only gets stronger with time. You are leaving Barnard, but Barnard will never leave you.”
2026 Commencement
Five Honored with Barnard Medal of Distinction
Five remarkable women earned the college’s highest honor, the Medal of Distinction: Diana T. Vagelos ’55, Erinn Smart ’01, Ottessa Moshfegh ’02, Shuly Rubin Schwartz ’74 P’07, and Jennifer Finney Boylan. Each comes with their own Barnard connection, and it marks the first time that four alumnae earned the Medal of Distinction in a single year.
Vagelos, a transformative philanthropist, has supported campus facilities and initiatives for over three decades, including the state-of-the-art Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Center, set to open in fall 2026. Adrienne Chacón ’26, president of Barnard’s Student Government Association, presented the award to Vagelos: “Far beyond buildings, you have shown us something more lasting — a young woman who arrived on scholarship became the woman who made sure others could too.”
Smart, a five-time fencing national champion, competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, becoming the first Black Olympic medalist in the history of the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium. “You have shown young women near and far what it truly means to be an Olympian, not just through athletic excellence, but through the character you bring to your life every day,” said Tamar Gordon ’26, a graduating member of the Lions fencing team, who presented the honor to Smart.
Moshfegh, an award-winning and bestselling fiction writer, is often considered one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary American literature. “You write about solitude not as something to overcome, but as a space where truth lives,” said presenter Nia Tomalin ’26. “Your work stays with readers. It makes them uncomfortable. It makes them think. And it has shown a generation of young writers what literature can hold when you refuse to be polite.”
Schwartz, the Irving Lehrman Research Professor of American Jewish History and Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, is the first woman to lead JTS since the institution was founded in 1886. Schwartz was instrumental in the groundbreaking agreement, announced last summer, to make all JTS courses accessible to Barnard students. “You have made it your mission to reach a greater number of students and secure a robust future for the institution,” said Julia Wineberg ’26, a graduate of the Barnard-JTS dual degree program.
When author Anna Quindlen ’74 presented Boylan with her citation, it was an emotional full circle moment. After serving as the inaugural Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence, Boylan plans to retire in summer 2026, bringing her extraordinary teaching career at Barnard to a close. “You have taught students that the process of revising their writing mirrors the process of evolving in life itself,” Quindlen said to Boylan. “In your teachings, you have championed the idea that we all contain multitudes, and that every human being deserves to keep working on a better draft of themself.”
Reflections from Senior Class President
Senior Class President Tiferet “Tifi” Grossman ’26 offered sage words to fellow graduates: “My blessing to us all, Class of 2026, is that we move through the world with the confidence in ourselves that Barnard gave us — resisting the instinct to look down, look away, and retreat into ourselves — with full recognition of the humanity all around us, and with excitement to encounter it in all its chaos and color.”
Grossman also earned the Frank Gilbert Bryson Prize, which recognizes a senior who, in the opinion of the class, contributed exceptional time and service to Barnard across their college career.
Bria Dominici '26 received the Board of Trustees’ Alicia L. Lawrence Memorial Award, which honors one student who has made significant contributions to Barnard, and who “exemplifies Alicia’s values… [honoring] her memory by leading with strength and light.”
Congratulations to the Class of 2026!