Speakers
Lewis & Clark Graduate School Commencement
Sunday, June 2, 2024
2023 Guest Commencement Speaker
Dr. Mercedes Lynn de Uriarte
She is a 2010 recipient of a Kellogg Foundation three-year grant to collect the voices of long-time residents of East Austin displaced by ongoing intense gentrification of the area. Her teaching, research and publications have tracked this interest in social justice issues such as the exclusion of voice, minority invisibility and housing insecurity for more than 30 years. Her first investigative piece on this topic “40% of Foreclosures Involve Latino Owners” appeared in the L.A. Times on 12/26/1984. It detailed mortgage scams targeting Latinos and other ways to force out minority homeowners.
Her three-year Ford Foundation research grant also explored the curtailing of voice and patterns of newsroom exclusion. This study produced the comprehensive 2003 report released at the National Press Club in Washington D.C.— “Diversity Disconnects: From Classroom to Newsroom.”
Read Dr. de Uriarte’s Full Bio
2023 Student Commencement Speaker
Eden Baron-Williams
Marriage, Couple, and Family Therapy ’23
Eden’s journey at Lewis & Clark College included working as the Graduate Assistant for The Office of Health Promotion & Wellness in which she trained advocates in trauma-informed sexual assault response and taught a Sexual Health & Wellness course to undergraduate students. Eden hopes to continue teaching in the topics of psychology and social justice alongside her private practice. Eden also plans to continue writing throughout her career, which will include writing for her therapy practice in the form of blogs and articles, and has plans to write a novel in the years to come! Outside of the therapy room, Eden can be found frolicking in her garden with her husband and their two dogs, hiking the forests of the Pacific Northwest, planning a road trip excursion, getting involved in creative projects, and cooking for loved ones.
Past Commencement Speakers
- 2023 Mercedes Lynn de Uriarte
- 2022 Renée Watson
- 2021 Esther Boykin
- 2020 Zaretta Hammond
- 2019 Anneliese Singh
- 2018 Manivong Ratts
- 2017 Robin DiAngelo
- 2016 Kevin Kumashiro
- 2015 Christine Sleeter
- 2014 Kim Stafford
- 2013 Pedro Noguera
- 2012 Michelle Fine
- 2011 Stephen Krashen
- 2010 Anderson Franklin
- 2009 Francisco Guajardo
- 2008 Chris Crutcher
- 2007 Nel Noddings
- 2006 William F. Schulz
- 2005 Brinton Lykes
- 2004 James Banks
- 2003 Parker Palmer
- 2002 Crystal Kuykendall
- 2001 Lisbeth Schorr
- 2000 Stan Bunn