Video highlights from Sunday

From a spirited procession and senior orations to the College Ceremony and the official conferral of degrees, the final day of Brown’s Commencement and Reunion Weekend 2026 was as exciting as the first two. Highlights are here courtesy of Brown video producers Oliver Scampoli and Anthony Saccoccia.

Families celebrate milestone moments at Brown’s department ceremonies

While the University Ceremony brings thousands together on the College Green, it is often Brown’s more intimate academic department ceremonies that provide families with the most memorable graduation moment — hearing their student’s name called and watching them cross the stage.

Across campus and at other neighborhood venues, those scenes unfolded at more than 50 departmental ceremonies on Sunday afternoon. Seated inside the Rhode Island School of Design auditorium, phones raised and cameras ready for Lexi Pellegrino’s long-awaited walk, her family — especially her mother, Allison — reflected on her daughter’s journey at Brown.

“She chose Brown entirely on her own,” Allison Pellegrino said. “It was one of the first major life decisions she made independently, and she never wavered… She knew Brown was where she wanted to be, and she loved every minute of it.”

The student-athlete (Lexi is a field hockey player) said she chose Brown for its strong athletics, Open Curriculum and welcoming campus community — an environment she credits with helping her explore interests in sociology and business. Pellegrino became both a standout on the field and an active member of the Providence community, finishing her career with the third-most goals in program history while volunteering in local schools, food banks and other organizations.

“I’m most proud of the person she’s become,” her mother said. “She’s grown tremendously as a student, athlete and leader, and Brown gave her an incredible foundation — not just academically and athletically, but in learning how to balance hard work, friendships and the things that matter most.”

This summer, Pellegrino will begin working at Polaris Growth Fund in Boston as a private equity analyst.

When Pellegrino’s name was finally called, her family rose in cheers and applause. As she took her final steps across the stage, her brother, Stephen, shouted, “Let’s go, Bear!” — a childhood nickname that drew laughter and smiles from the family.

Senior orators urge Brown’s Class of 2026 to build and sustain connections, community

In separate Commencement addresses, in front of thousands of teachers, mentors, friends, family members and guests on Brown’s rainy College Green and watching via livestream, senior orators Zein Faheem and Caelle Joseph celebrated the Class of 2026’s ability to build community and connections.

Their addresses marked a time-honored Brown tradition of lifting student voices at Commencement, and both speakers encouraged graduates to approach life after Brown with purpose, courage and impact. Faheem, an applied mathematics-economics concentrator, reflected on the ethos of community and curiosity at Brown.

“Something about this place teaches us that the person in front of us is more important than wherever we’re headed,” Faheem told his classmates on Sunday, May 24. “Brown has made slow walkers out of many of us, because people here choose to be curious — about what we study, about what we do, about each other.”

Joseph, a concentrator in international and public affairs and business economics, reflected on the power of community support “when stability is shaken.”

“Brown taught me that bravery isn’t about looking brave — it’s a practice, the everyday decision to show up as yourself,” Joseph said. “Belonging isn’t found in objects or things — it’s built through small acts of kindness, layered over time.”

Read the full story on the News from Brown website...

And the Rosenberger Medal goes to … Lina M. Fruzzetti, anthropologist and ethnographic filmmaker 

The Brown University faculty presented their peer Lina M. Fruzzetti with the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal of Honor during the University’s 258th Commencement on Sunday, May 24.

The Rosenberger Medal is the highest honor the Brown faculty can bestow and has been awarded just 37 times since its establishment in 1919. Among the previous honorees are Nobel laureates, University presidents and chancellors, pioneering Brown faculty and esteemed public servants.

Faculty Executive Committee Chair Anna Lysyanskaya, a professor of computer science, presented the medal to Fruzzetti, a social anthropologist and professor emerita of social science, during the University Ceremony. On behalf of the full Brown faculty, Lysyanskaya read the award citation.

Fruzzetti, who retired in 2024 after 49 years of service to Brown, was recognized for her pioneering ethnographic writings and filmmaking, her service to Brown, and her “generous teaching” and “admirable personal character.”

“Your work as a scholar and creator has helped Brown build community and develop a wider understanding of the world,” Lysyanskaya read from the citation. “In addition to being Brown’s first tenured woman of color, you have been described as the moral center of your department — a voice and presence of authority that serves as a continuing example of how to be an outstanding teacher, a remarkable scholar and the finest of colleagues.” 

Brown confers honorary doctorates on six accomplished leaders

At its 258th Commencement on Sunday, May 24, Brown University conferred honorary doctorates on six candidates who have achieved great distinction in a variety of fields. The recipients were:

• Joseph F. Dunford Jr. — Military and national security leader
• Richard A. Friedman and Susan Pilch Friedman (joint degree) — Business leader and champion of Brown, community leader and champion of Brown, respectively
• Peter Howitt — Nobel Prize-winning economist
• Sherrilyn Ifill — Civil rights lawyer
• Fei-Fei Li — Artificial intelligence pioneer

Read the full story on the News from Brown website…

President Paxson: In moments of both tragedy and togetherness, Class of 2026 offers reasons for optimism

Brown University President Christina H. Paxson called Brown's 258th Commencement proceedings to order on Sunday, May 24, just after noon outside the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America.

She offered 1,825 new bachelor’s degree recipients a simple plea: Carry forward the resilience, compassion and sense of community forged during four years on Brown’s campus marked by both celebration and tragedy.

“The world you are walking into is loud, and it is complicated,” Paxson said in her annual Commencement address. “It is in desperate need of all that you’ve learned here — the skills of critical thinking, open inquiry and dialogue. And it is in desperate need of the specific kind of grace you have practiced at Brown.”

Read the full story on the News from Brown website…

The gateway to thousands of new beginnings

Brown University’s iconic Van Wickle Gates swing wide for just two occasions — opening inward to welcome students when they arrive on campus and outward as graduates and alumni pass through in celebration of Commencement and Reunion. On Sunday, many of the 3,225 students who earned Brown degrees this year passed through those hallowed gates (in a steady downpour, no less) and into the next chapter of their lives. There were joined by hundreds of Brown alumni, who returned to College Hill to relive fond memories and give well wishes to the Class of 2026. 

Doctoral Ceremony speaker: ‘Reach back and pull the next generation forward’

As the University celebrated 182 graduates earning Ph.D.s at Brown’s Doctoral Ceremony on Sunday, student speaker Melanie Ortiz Alvarez de la Campa reflected on community, resilience and the people behind the scenes whose support shapes the futures of Brown graduates.

As a first-generation Puerto Rican and Cuban scholar, Ortiz Alvarez de la Campa said they arrived at Brown believing they needed to earn their place through relentless work and personal sacrifice. But over time, they came to understand that success is never achieved alone. Ortiz Alvarez de la Campa highlighted the “untold stories” of the Brown community — from custodians and shuttle drivers to facilities workers and security guards — whose everyday acts of care sustained students through the trials and triumphs of graduate school.

“The stories of this campus aren’t just found in the archives — they are in the people who sustain us while we are here,” they said.

Ortiz Alvarez de la Campa urged their peers to honor every version of themselves: the fearful past selves who doubted they belonged, the present selves celebrating years of achievement and the future selves tasked with making an impact.

Video of the full ceremony and Ortiz Alvarez de la Campa’s address is available on Brown’s Commencement website.

Newly minted M.D.s urged to repair more than just patients

To be successful and fulfilled, today’s doctors should consider how to heal with grace and humility.

That was the message shared with the 145 medical students receiving their degrees from Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School on Sunday. Meylakh Barshay, who was selected to speak at the ceremony, asked the M.D. Class of 2026 to join him in embracing the Jewish principle of “tikkun olam,” which means “repairing the world.”

Barshay talked about ways newly minted doctors can tend to patients as well as to their relationships with colleagues, support systems and themselves.

“The work of repair doesn’t happen in a pristine vacuum; it happens in the middle of the mess,” Barshay said during the ceremony at the First Unitarian Church of Providence. “As we begin our journeys, we must each decide for ourselves what repairing the world looks like and give ourselves the grace to let that answer change over time.”

Barshay cautioned peers about treating stress “like a hand-me-down” and urged them to remain empathetic and aware of their own humanity. Faculty speaker and Brown University Professor of Medicine Dr. Louis Rice reminded the graduates that they would soon transition into supervisory roles, and likewise, urged humility.

After being introduced by his daughter Julia Stacey, an M.D. graduate who will now start an internal medicine residency at Rhode Island Hospital, Rice shared lessons he’s learned from 27 years as a chief of medicine.

“If we are honest, we must acknowledge that we frequently fail to live up to our ideal standards,” Rice said. “It is the humility that results from that that leads us to be so diligent in our work, and perhaps even more importantly, allows us to approach each of our patients without judgment, which is the very least they deserve.”

Video of the full ceremony and Barshay’s address is available on Brown’s Commencement website.

For one Class of 1971 Brown couple, a promise fulfilled beneath the Van Wickle Gates

For years, Class of 1971 graduates Dr. Irwin Goldstein and Sue W. Goldstein made the short trip from their home near Boston back to Providence for Commencement and Reunion Weekend. They visited favorite campus spots, reveled into the night at Campus Dance and reconnected with lifelong friends. But there was one tradition the couple had yet to revisit: walking together through the Van Wickle Gates. They hadn’t joined the traditional procession since their own graduation more than five decades ago, they said.

“My husband always promised me that for our 50th Reunion, we’d come back and walk through the gates together,” Sue Goldstein said. “But our 50th fell during COVID, so we celebrated remotely instead. He promised me we’d still do it someday — and now, for our 55th, we’re finally walking today.”

Now living in San Diego, the couple returned this year to fulfill that promise.

On Sunday morning, bundled in ponchos, hats and sneakers in the rainy spring weather, the Goldsteins gathered with classmates before the procession. As they passed through the Van Wickle Gates hand in hand, they smiled ear to ear, waving, cheering and capturing the moment on their phones as applause echoed. At times, they wiped away tears as they savored a moment more than 50 years in the making.

For Sue Goldstein, Brown is a place her family has cherished for generations. Her mother, Miriam Rose Wotiz, graduated with the Class of 1946. Later, her daughter, Lauren Goldstein Mack, continued the family legacy as a member of the Class of 2002.

“There’s such a strong feeling of love for this school,” Goldstein said. “I think people who come here carry that connection with them for life. As long as we’re able to come back and do this together, we will.”

How a grandmother’s advice launched a career in the stars, for one Brown graduate

WaTae Mickey, an Earth and planetary sciences graduate, wouldn’t be graduating from Brown poised for a career in space exploration without his grandmother, Gayle Mickey.

“As a kid, I hated talking in front of people,” WaTea Mickey said. “That was the worst thing ever. When my grandma found that out, she would have me talk in front of people every single chance she got. If she met a stranger, she'd be like, ‘introduce yourself.’”

As a first-year student, Mickey took that lesson to heart, mustering the courage to introduce himself to Jim Head, a pioneering planetary scientist at Brown who helped plan the Apollo missions to the Moon. Since then, Mickey has worked closely with Head on a new mission concept that would send astronauts to the Moon’s Hadley- Apennine region for 500 days of deep science exploration. That work has been one of the defining experiences of Mickey’s Brown career, he says, and has put him on a course to explore the planets and beyond.

Mickey presented his work last March at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas, garnering plenty of interest from the space exploration community. It also put him on the map as a rising star in space exploration. After graduation, Mickey plans to work for Amentum Engineering, a NASA contractor working on the Artemis missions to the Moon. Eventually, he hopes to go to graduate school in planetary science.

“To immediately be thrown into mission planning as a freshman was a crazy opportunity,” Mickey said. “Beyond academics, people want to see evidence that you can do this work, and I’ve had the opportunity to demonstrate that I can.”

And it all started with his grandmother, who made sure Mickey’s voice would be heard from here to the Moon. 

Engineering graduate credits ‘deeply driven, intellectually curious’ community for her success

As she stands ready to enter the next chapter of her life, Class of 2026 member Moe (Yameng) Zhang says she sees the world differently than she did four years ago when she arrived in Providence.

“It is the people at Brown who have most profoundly shaped me,” said the engineering concentrator. “I’m surrounded by students who are deeply driven, intellectually curious and incredibly passionate about what they do, yet equally grounded in kindness and generosity. Around every corner is someone who has created a unique path and is eager to share their ideas, passions and perspective on the world with me. This has broadened my perspective immensely.”

Through her research, Zhang has helped to give the whole world a new perspective by developing an imaging system that draws on the “spooky” behavior of quantum mechanics. Developed with a fellow undergraduate and Jimmy Xu, a professor of engineering and physics, Zhang’s new imaging technique creates highly detailed holographic images of tiny objects using quantum entanglement.

The work helped her earn a fellowship from Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. She’ll use it to pursue a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Stanford.

“Brown has given me so much more than an education,” Zhang said. “It has given me lifelong friendships, widened the horizons of what I imagined possible, and instilled in me curiosity and confidence. What makes Brown so special is that everyone embraces the idea of ‘and’ instead of ‘or’ — combining seemingly unrelated interests in ways that are both unexpected and inspiring.”

Video highlights from Friday and Saturday

From class reunions, Campus Dance and Commencement Forums to the Master’s Ceremony, block parties and the Baccalaureate, the first two days of Brown’s Commencement and Reunion Weekend 2026 have been action-packed. Highlights are here courtesy of Brown video producers Oliver Scampoli and Anthony Saccoccia.

At annual Unity Funk Nite, alumni hit the dance floor

Brown University alumni from across the generations convened on Ittleson Quad on Saturday for the annual Unity Funk Nite, dancing the night away to a playlist spanning dance floor staples from the 1970s to today.

The man behind the music was Class of 2000 graduate Garfield Davidson, known as “DJ GARF DIGGA,” the longtime Unity Funk Nite DJ. He first discovered Funk Nite as an undergraduate at Brown and relishes returning to campus each year to help sustain this Commencement and Reunion Weekend tradition.

“It’s something that alumni look forward to experiencing with friends — coming back and enjoying music they enjoyed while they were at Brown,” Davidson said. “The camaraderie, friendships and relationships forged are all fused together by music.”

Brought together by the Brown Band

It has been more than 50 years since Bob Miorelli first played piccolo in the Brown University Band. Even so, he said, “I can still play those songs in my sleep.”

A desire to relive old memories and connect with current students drew Miorelli, a Class of 1976 Brown graduate who lives in Hartford, Connecticut, to a Brown Band barbecue in the backyard of the Rhode Island Historical Society’s Aldrich House on Saturday evening of Reunion Weekend.

“It’s good to mingle with the students and see what’s going on with them today,” Miorelli said.

Current band members — who are getting ready to play alongside some alumni on Sunday, May 24, for the Commencement and Reunion procession — put down their instruments for a few hours to enjoy a meal with dozens of Brown alumni who had played in the band as students.

Martin Lichtman, a 2001 graduate, traveled from Madison, Wisconsin, to attend reunion events including the barbecue. Playing the flute in the Brown Band was an important part of his college experience, he said: “You’re spending every weekend going to football games or hockey games, and a lot of that is bus trips and some overnights.”

Events that bring together band alumni and students are important for building community, said Coral Roost Rothenberg, a junior at Brown and current president of the 102-year-old band. When present and past members mingle, they bond over shared interests, even with people they may have just met.

“The band’s camaraderie, music, traditions and school spirit transcends generations,” Rothenberg said. “Spending time with the whole band, current and past, spreads so much joy. It is a reminder that we always have a home with each other.” 

Master’s Ceremony speaker: Educational achievement ‘expands our obligation’

In a Saturday afternoon Master’s Ceremony address, student speaker Kenia T. Collins recalled the assumptions she carried with her when she came to Brown after spending most of her life in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“I imagined an institution filled with brilliant minds yet distant from the realities that shape so many lives,” said Collins, who earned a master of science in healthcare leadership from Brown’s School of Professional Studies. “Instead, I encountered something far more powerful. I met people who were the living embodiment of sacrifice — students whose stories crossed continents and generations. Brown's diversity was not accidental. It was instructional. Because when people with different lived experiences learn together, we ask sharper questions, challenge deeper assumptions and refuse easy answers to complex problems.”

Before the ceremony, more than 1,000 graduates from 68 different countries followed bagpipers to the College Green, where their families and friends were patiently waiting. On Sunday, the master’s graduates will have the opportunity to participate in Brown’s formal Commencement and Reunion procession.

After a warm introduction by Sandra Smith, dean of the School of Professional Studies, Collins called upon fellow graduates to use what they learned in their respective programs to make positive change in the world.

“We were not trained simply to manage organizations; we were challenged to interrogate systems,” Collins said. “Therefore, this educational achievement does not merely expand our opportunity — it expands our obligation. If we can identify inequity, we share responsibility for addressing it. If we can envision better systems, we share responsibility for building them. That is the weight of this education.”

Judging from Collins’ smile and the graduates’ enthusiastic cheers, it’s a weight they are proud to bear.

Video of the full ceremony and Collins’ address is available on Brown’s Commencement website.

Student-led tours for Class of 1976 alumni highlight a half century of campus changes

How has Brown’s campus evolved over the past half century? Current Brown students pointed out changes to the University’s landscape — including new residence halls, the Lindemann Performing Arts Center and the Slavery Memorial by Martin Puryear — on Saturday afternoon during hour-long walking tours for members of the Class of 1976.

“Some things look familiar, but when I turn a corner, it’s all new,” said Debra Rice, a Class of 1976 graduate from Chicago.

While campus development was the focus of the informal tours, discussion among participants also ventured into what has stayed much the same since the alumni were students at Brown: “There’s the Ratty, where I gained 20 pounds my first year,” Rice said with a laugh, pointing to the Sharpe Refectory dining hall.

Alumni reminisced about memories like studying in the Sciences Library, or “SciLi,” and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, also known as “the Rock,” and living in residence halls along Wriston Quad.

“It was incredible to hear about their experiences and how things have changed and grown over time,” said Charlotte Peterson, a sophomore at Brown, who co-led one of the tours. “It made me appreciate and see the current campus in a different light.”

Noman Ibrahimi, a first-year student who led the tour with Peterson, said he enjoyed learning from alumni about Brown’s history in the 1970s, including when Brown’s men’s college merged with all-female Pembroke College.

“‘I live in New Pembroke [residence halls] and didn’t even know it used to be only girls,” Ibrahimi said. “It was fun to meet people who were here half a century ago.” 

Bestselling author and Brown alumna Xochitl Gonzalez: ‘Never forget to keep asking why’

Growing up in a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn, Xochitl Gonzalez wasn’t exactly praised for being a nosey, or “compulsively curious,” child.

When she pressed her grandparents on why she had to eat lentils every week, why her uncle was laid off from his job, or why her cousin broke up with her boyfriend, Gonzalez was routinely met with a refrain designed to stanch the flow of constant questions: “Because ‘Y’ is a crooked letter.”

But her grandparents’ approach had the opposite effect on her relentlessly inquisitive young mind.

“All that answer did was make me determined to know what, in fact, had led ‘Y’ astray,” the award-winning author said in the First Baptist Church in America, where she delivered the Baccalaureate address to Brown University’s undergraduate Class of 2026 on Saturday, May 23.

The colorful, multi-faith service celebrates bachelor’s degree recipients and honors the many spiritual and cultural traditions of the University community one day before their degrees are conferred during Brown’s Commencement and Reunion Weekend.

This year’s ceremony included prayers of worship and thanks from Hindu, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Contemplative traditions, as well as gospel music, Taiko drumming, a cappella singing, a Chinese lion dance and a performance by Fusion Dance Company. The texts were recited, chanted and sung by students in the Class of 2026 who were active in religious life during their four years on campus, as well as faculty and staff members.

Gonzalez is no stranger to the tradition. A graduate of Brown’s Class of 1999, she sat in the pews of the same church 27 years ago — more than two decades before literary stardom as a Pulitzer Prize finalist and the bestselling author of novels “Olga Dies Dreaming,” “Anita de Monte Laughs Last” and “Last Night in Brooklyn.”

Read the full story on the News from Brown website and see the full video of Gonzalez's speech on Brown's website…

In Commencement forums, experts and attendees grapple with change

How do municipal leaders modernize cities? How will technological change disrupt the economy? How can scientists advance discovery amid political attacks? How can humanity adapt to climate change?

Successfully responding to change was a throughline of the weekend’s 16 Commencement forums. Led by faculty, alumni and guests, the discussions have been an essential part of Commencement and Reunion Weekend for more than a half century.

Among the speakers were three of this year’s honorary degree candidates: Nobel-winning economist Peter Howitt, military and national security leader Joseph F. Dunford Jr., and business leader and champion of Brown Richard A. Friedman. In one packed session, Howitt and Brown economist David Weil discussed the role of new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, in reshaping the economy.

“I remember going to the Faculty Club when I was first starting to use the computer, and instead of talking about the latest article in Econometrica, we'd be discussing how to space paragraphs,” Howitt said. “This is happening around the economy. Mistakes will be made… but eventually we get this figured out.”

He added: “It's always going to be true that technological progress is going to create problems, but in the past I think the solution to those problems has come through technology, as well.”

Earlier, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, and Watson School Dean John N. Friedman fielded questions from attendees hailing from Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. The mayors had advice for them as well as national leaders.

“Most of the mayors I know just want to get things done,” Smiley said, while Cava nodded. “I think that there is some lesson around dialing down the pitched partisan battles, delivering results, balancing budgets and focusing on quality of life.”

‘The Boss,’ activism and a historic turnout: Brown celebrates the Class of 1976’s 50th reunion

As members of Brown’s Class of 1976 returned to Providence for their milestone 50th reunion, they also made history as the largest ever half-century reunion class to convene on campus.

Special 50th reunion events and celebrations throughout the weekend included a Friday dinner at Brown’s Lindemann Performing Arts Center, where President Christina H. Paxson noted the significance of the class’s four years on campus — a transformational time for women at Brown and an era of sustained activism on campus and well beyond, she noted.

“I am really thrilled to be here with you as we celebrate your 50th reunion,” Paxson said. “Brown continues to be a very kind and generous community that brings people together across a wide range of backgrounds. And while they’re here, they form friendships that last decades, as evidenced by all of you here today.”

Paxson elicited laughter when she pointed out something the Class of 1976 experienced at Brown that even current students would likely have loved: Bruce Springsteen’s 1974 performance for Spring Weekend. 

The Watson School marks a milestone, celebrates the next generation of public affairs leaders

More than one hundred master of public affairs alumni and soon-to-be Brown MPA graduates gathered at Stephen Robert ’62 Hall on Friday, May 22, for a celebratory reception hosted by the Thomas Watson Jr. School of International and Public Affairs.

Dean John N. Friedman noted an important moment in Brown’s history: the first class of graduates to earn MPAs and bachelor’s degrees in international and public affairs since the school was established in July 2025, building on the strong foundation of the Watson Institute.

“The school launch has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Friedman said. “The chance to build a policy school that is forward-looking in our approach and areas of focus… across departments and schools here at Brown, and across issues in the policy world, as we build on the extraordinary work that defined Watson as an institute for so many years,” Friedman said.

The dean shared ambitious plans for the school’s future, established in a strategic growth plan that “will help us define what the Watson School can become.” Plans are underway to double the size of the Watson faculty; expand course offerings and research in international economics, and international security, and technology and policy; and launch a new online master in public policy degree program, he said.

“While our strategic plan is centered on growth, innovation and new initiatives, there is also something enduring at the heart of Watson that has and always will define the school: its community,” Friedman said. “One of the great privileges of this role is seeing the many ways alumni remain connected to the school and to one another, through public service, mentorship, intellectual engagement and support for our students and faculty.”

This year’s graduating MPA class includes 59 students representing 13 countries.

Reunited by Reunion: A Brunonian love story

Class of 1986 graduates Mary-Jo Haronian and Scott Joy had extra reason to be excited for Brown University’s Reunion 2026 — it was also their wedding.

More than 40 years ago, Haronian and Joy met on their very first day on Brown’s campus as next-door neighbors in the Champlin residence hall. They were friends through their first year but then lost touch — until Brown brought them back together decades later.

They reconnected leading up to their 25th class reunion, and they were both involved in planning their 30th reunion. In 2021, they co-chaired their 35th reunion, which was held remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so they convened in Providence — “both of us grabbing our COVID [vaccines] in the nick of time,” Haronian said — and worked together to host the weekend’s events through a livestream. It was then that they took their first bike ride together — their first unofficial date — and the rest is history.

The couple knew they wanted their wedding to have a connection to Brown and figured, what better time than during their 40th reunion? They ended up tying the knot on Friday afternoon, just as alumni were beginning to return to campus by the thousands for the three-day Commencement and Reunion Weekend.

“Our alumni class leaders have been so excited for us since our engagement a year ago,” Haronian said. “Classmates are a key part of our ceremony as we share our happiness with Brown and family — exactly what we pictured when we chose our reunion union.”

Their grown children, siblings and mothers all gathered on College Hill, where they were joined by Class of 1986 classmates at a “flash mob” wedding in a garden at the edge of campus, officiated by Haronian’s dormmate Jane Smalley, also a member of the Class of 1986. After a family dinner, Campus Dance was the perfect venue for their wedding celebration alongside thousands of fellow Brunonians.

At Campus Dance, a chance to reconnect over music and memories

As a crescent moon rose to join a canopy of glowing paper lanterns above Brown University’s College Green, thousands of alumni, soon-to-be graduates, families and friends gathered on Friday night for one of Brown’s most beloved Commencement and Reunion Weekend traditions: Campus Dance.

For Kelley Tackett, a member of the Class of 2020 who was active in the Brown Swing Club as an undergraduate, the dance offered a chance to reconnect with the first community that made Brown feel like her new home.

“It’s always so fun to find my fellow swing dancers in the crowd and dance together again,” said Tackett, who traveled from London for the celebration. “It’s like getting to come back to my happy place.”

Nearby, Class of 2025 graduate and Providence resident Léo Corzo-Clark was thrilled to reunite with Brown classmates traveling to campus from New York, Paris and Pittsburgh.

“There are so many events during Reunion, but Campus Dance is the one that every alum goes to,” Corzo-Clark said. “It’s so intergenerational. I think it’s cool having such a variety of music — different vibes, different crowds, but still together.”

This year’s Campus Dance lineup included MAMBO, Brown’s premier salsa and merengue orchestra; the Stowaways, a student-led ensemble that performs energetic and faithful renditions of harmony-drenched, high-energy oldies; and Class of 2016 alumnus DAP The Contract, a hip-hop and Afro-fusion producer and rapper from Lagos, Nigeria. 

Alumni return to reminisce, reflect and revel in Reunion celebrations

Thousands of Brown University graduates from across the generations kicked off Commencement and Reunion Weekend on Friday, May 22, brimming with enthusiasm as they checked in at Wriston Quad and prepared for a weekend full of reminiscing, reflecting and reveling in favorite traditions.

Class of 2006 graduate Freya Zaheer met up with a group of friends who were in the same first-year residence hall and still keep in touch 20 years later.

“To me, Brown is the most special place on the planet, and to come back and see both how little has changed and how much has changed is such a beautiful thing,” Zaheer said. “About a third of our class is expected to turn up for reunion, so I’m super proud of us.”

Her friend Krista Knight recalled how her academic and extracurricular experiences at Brown “totally shaped” her career path as a playwright. Alice Shay, another member of the Class of 2006, said she was thinking about the “magic of a liberal arts education” and enjoying being back on campus and in Providence.

“I almost forget how lovely the city is,” Shay said. “I feel so joyful right now.”

Class of 2021 graduate Catherine McLenahan said she was especially looking forward to attending Campus Dance, which brings the Brown community together to sway under the stars and was canceled the year she graduated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Being back at Brown — where she studied political science and was a member of the national championship-winning sailing team in 2019 — has already surfaced memories, she said.

“I’m thinking about sitting in the Rock with my friends and going to the Ivy Room late at night to grab food — that’s what we found special, just those regular moments,” said McLenahan, who traveled to campus from Washington, D.C. 

A formal ‘first salute,’ as Brown celebrates both its student veterans and new military officers

For Paul Kim, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a soon-to-graduate member of Brown’s Class of 2026, this year’s Graduating Veterans and ROTC Recognition Ceremony was an ending, a beginning — and a first. He had been asked by fellow graduate Kaylee Gallagher to perform a “first salute,” a military tradition in which a newly commissioned officer receives their very first salute from another member, who is often a trusted mentor.

“This was my first ‘first salute,’” Kim said after the ceremony. “But for Kaylee, it’s the first of many. This feels like a changing of the guard. I told her, ‘Welcome to the party!’”

The ceremony took place near Brown’s Engineering Research Center, where family, friends, guests and elected officials celebrated the University’s military community. The event offered the opportunity to celebrate eight graduates completing their Brown degrees and their ROTC experiences: Gallagher and Eve Engdahl were formally commissioned into the U.S. Air Force; and officers at the ceremony confirmed the oath of office for six U.S. Army ROTC cadets who were formally commissioned last week.

The ceremony also recognized 12 graduating student-veterans, each of whom received a special cord symbolizing their military service to be worn with their Brown commencement regalia.

Gallagher, who concentrated in chemistry, will become a logistics readiness officer. Kim, who enrolled at Brown in 2021 to study psychology, is among the most senior of the undergraduate military veterans receiving their degrees this weekend. After Commencement, he will travel the world for a year and apply to graduate school with the goal of becoming a pediatric psychologist working with children of military veterans.

“It feels really nice to be graduating, and this ceremony was like tying the bow on a great experience,” Kim said.

Video: Countdown to Commencement and Reunion Weekend

Commencement is an important milestone for all Brown students — the culmination of their educational journey as undergraduates, graduate or medical students. This year, the weeekend also welcomes back alumni from Brown classes ending in 1 and 6, along with recent graduates, to College Hill for connection, community and celebration.

A week of activity, from preparations to celebrations

Activities, preparations and celebrations abounded as campus geared up for Brown’s 258th Commencement and Reunion Weekend.

One of the first signs of the celebration to come? The massive “2026” sign hung carefully above the entrance to Sayles Hall, followed by traditional banners unfurled near Faunce Arch.

From celebrations hosted by departments, centers and schools, to nearly 20 festive events that comprised Senior Week 2026 organized by the student-run Class Coordinating Board, graduating students enjoyed time with each other in advance of the big weekend. This slideshow captures some of those moments. 

Brown-RISD dual degree graduate prepares for science-inspired art exhibition

During senior year, soon-to-graduate Brown-RISD dual degree student Ian Haut has been preparing an exhibition for the Lincoln Field Building, home to Brown’s planetary and environmental scientists.

“FOLIATION” features three tufted rug tapestries, all inspired by research he conducted in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS). To coincide with Commencement Weekend, the exhibit opens Friday, May 22, at 3 p.m.

Haut, who is graduating with a Brown degree in Earth, climate and biology, and a RISD degree in illustration, says the work is a perfect melding of his scholarly interests.

“I typically work in either fiber arts or digital 3D, and my work almost always revolves around nature, the Earth and environment…” he said. “I love to develop ways for people to engage more in environmental and Earth sciences through interactive experiences.”

The idea started with work Haut was doing with DEEPS faculty member Ingrid Daubar.

“I was mapping rockfalls in a Martian crater, and I spent hours looking at this one crater,” Haut said. “I started really appreciating it visually, and I kept being struck by the beautiful patterns I was seeing in the images.”

Supported by Brown Design Workshop and Brown Arts Institute grants, Haut went to work turning scientific images into tapestries. One draws on images from NASA’s HiRISE camera, which flies aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Another draws on images taken from the edges of the Antarctic ice sheet. The installation takes its name from a layering process that occurs in the formation of metamorphic rock layers.

“The art of ‘FOLIATION’ evokes that intertwining of Earth structures,” Haut said, “as layers of satellite images are woven together, first digitally and then through fiber art, to produce tapestries showcasing the vibrant and layered visuals of the natural world.” 

The geraniums, too, are ready for graduation

Red geraniums have become an easy-to-spot symbol of Brown’s annual Commencement and Reunion Weekend. The bold blooms appear in pots all over campus, including on many ceremony stages and nestled next to photo-op-ready landmarks.

“I’m always on the lookout for them as I walk around campus,” said Brown’s research greenhouse manager, Nicholas Vasques, sounding almost like one of the proud family members about to arrive on College Hill.

In mid-March, Vasques received 700 plant cuttings, each then the size of a pinky finger, and they were carefully placed in Brown’s Plant Environmental Center. Over the next nine and a half weeks, Vasques and his team hand-watered and tended to them and made sure the trademarked Calliope geraniums, a hybrid species he said was “known for their incredible vigor and persistent flower,” grew to their potential.

“It’s such a nice tradition to be able to grow them here,” Vasques said.

The custom of home-grown Commencement geraniums was started in 1993 by Vasques’ predecessor, who still often stops by the greenhouse to check on the flowers in their oasis atop 85 Waterman St. On Wednesday before the big weekend, Vasques transferred 150 pots of near-perfect flowers to Brown’s Facilities and Campus Operations team.

Like this year’s crop of graduating students, the geraniums had grown and matured in a place of learning, and they, too, were ready to go forth.

Providence’s Christopher Dodge House welcomes generations of Brown families

Monica Hopton, owner of the Christopher Dodge House bed and breakfast in Providence’s Smith Hill neighborhood, still laughs when she recalls the inn’s opening in 2003. It was Memorial Day weekend, and all 14 rooms were booked with Brown University alumni and families visiting the city for Commencement and Reunion Weekend.

“It rained cats and dogs the whole weekend,” Hopton said. “Then the fire alarm went off at 6 a.m., and I’m running around the house saying, ‘There’s no fire, there’s no fire,’ but we couldn’t figure out how to turn it off because the house was still new to us. The fire department had to come, and everyone had to go outside in the pouring rain.”

Twenty-three years later, the inn still hosts Brown families every spring, including many who return year after year throughout their student’s time at Brown, from admissions tours through Commencement weekend.

“Often our guests first come when their child is still a junior in high school, and they’re touring campuses,” Hopton said. “Then they come to move them in, they come back every Family Weekend, and then graduation. Over those four years, you really get to know the families.”

Brown’s three-day Commencement and Reunion Weekend brings tens of thousands of visitors to Providence each May, providing a major boost for the city’s hotels, restaurants and shops. Even with some potential for rain again this year, Hopton said the excitement of the weekend never dampens.

“The weather is irrelevant,” Hopton said. “Everyone is still coming, and they’re happy. It’s an exciting time for everyone.”

Sowing seeds of support: Student-led memorial garden offers space for remembrance

Ahead of Commencement and Reunion Weekend, a group of students, faculty and staff planted a garden near Brown’s Engineering Research Center to provide space for community members to reflect on the lives impacted by the Dec. 13, 2025, mass shooting on Brown’s campus.

Using compost made with flowers placed at temporary memorials across campus in the wake of the tragedy, a student-led team created the garden in mid-May. Senior Emilia Pantigoso, a student ambassador in the School of Engineering who co-led the project, said it was a powerful experience to collaborate with her peers, faculty, staff and members of Brown’s Facilities Management team to plant the garden.

“Working on it together, it was very healing,” Pantigoso said. “Such a wide variety of people were part of making this garden, and it was a beautiful thing that we could share.”

The garden was cultivated in coordination with the Brown Ever True whole-campus healing and recovery initiative, which is focused on bringing together resources, programming and services focused on mental health, psychological wellness and ensuring a strong sense of community in the aftermath of the tragedy.

“I think the most important thing is to continue to remember and honor the [impacted students’] lives and share their stories, and I hope that the garden provides a sense of remembrance, inspiration and healing more than anything,” Pantigoso said.

During Commencement and Reunion Weekend, Brown Ever True ribbons will be made available to all graduating students, returning alumni and guests, and people are invited to leave flowers or other items of remembrance at the garden, located at 345 Brook St. More information about the garden, additional reflection spaces and Brown Ever True resources are available on the Commencement website.