The college graduation season in the Pioneer Valley begins next month at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Ted Koppel, Jane Lynch, Catherine Coleman and Christiane Amanpour, clockwise from top left, are among the commencement speakers scheduled to address Western Massachusetts colleges and universities this spring.Authors, actors, ambassadors and an astronaut will be among the celebrities arriving in the area, as colleges in Western Massachusetts hold commencement ceremonies in the next few weeks.
The University of Massachusetts in Amherst will kick off the season on May 11 with television journalist Ted Koppel passing on words of wisdom to the graduates.
Amherst College has invited its own president, Biddy Martin, to serve as keynote speaker at its May 20 ceremony. Television journalist Christiane Amanpour and writer John McPhee will be among the notables scheduled to get honorary degrees from Amherst.
Michael Polt, U.S. ambassador to Estonia, will be one of the keynote speakers at American International College in Springfield on May 20, along with businessman Frank Colaccino of Dairy Mart fame. Both are AIC grads.
Hampshire College in Amherst has also chosen an alum. Eugene Mirman, a writer, comedian and filmmaker, will deliver the commencement address on May 19.
For its 175th commencement, Mount Holyoke has invited Azar Nafisi, best-selling author of “Reading ‘Lolita’ in Tehran,” to address its graduates on May 20. In Iran, Nafasi was kicked out of the university where she was teaching for not wearing a veil, but went on to conduct workshops for women.
Retired Ambassador Mark Gregory Hambley will address graduates at Elms College in Chicopee on May 13, and will also receive an honorary degree. He served in Qatar and Lebanon, and is still active in international affairs.
Springfield College will welcome Harvard University football coach Tim Murphy to the microphone on May 13. On the same day, astronaut Catherine G. Coleman will address the graduating class of Bay Path College in Longmeadow.
Bay Path will give an honorary doctorate to Kevin Rhodes, music director of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra
At Western New England University in Springfield, celebrity astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson will give the commencement speech on May 19. Tyson will be a busy man, as he is one of the guests scheduled to get an honorary degree from Mount Holyoke the next day.
Jane Lynch, star of the TV show “Glee,” will be the keynote speaker at Smith College in Northampton, which on May 20 will also award honorary degrees to stars in finance, atmospheric science, architecture and literature.
At Westfield State University, the keynote address on May 19 will be given by Michael Uslan, a producer of the “Batman” movie franchise and a teacher of comic book folklore.
Among those receiving honorary degrees from Westfield State will be Elinor Clift, political analyst from Newsweek and “The McLaughlin Report.”
Mary Kay Wydra, president of the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, said college graduations have an economic impact all over the Pioneer Valley.
“Absolutely,” said Wydra. “Our research shows that May is one of our busiest months, and we attribute some of that uptick to the many colleges we have.”
It’s not just hotels that benefit, she said. “Eating and drinking establishments benefit, too,” she said
At the Hilton Garden Inn in Springfield, desk service agent Erica McNamara said the hotel gets visitors attending graduations at Springfield College, American International College, Western New England University and even Westfield State University and the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
“We get a good number from UMass,” said McNamara. “The hotels on Route 9 become full months in advance. The area becomes immensely populated.”