The more than 300 undergraduate members of the Class of 2016 and the graduating members of ½ñÈճԹϒs Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research will receive their degrees at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 14. Convocation is scheduled for Friday, May 13.
Ruth J. Simmons, former president of both Brown University and Smith College, will deliver the Commencement address. For complete details and information about the weekend’s events, go to the .
Among those graduating will be Fulbright recipient , who has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant to Turkey; , who will travel the world as a Watson Fellow; and , who will be working at the New York State Department of Health’s AIDS Institute as she prepares to enter medical school.
Here’s a glimpse of what some of the other members of the Class of 2016 will be doing after they graduate:
Many members of the class of 2016 have plans to stay in the Philadelphia area. Among these, comparative literature major Charlie Bruce will intern at WHYY in the summer months, and in the fall begin graduate school at Penn GSE. Also attending University of Pennsylvania is Mengnan Zhang, who majored in East Asian languages and culture, and who will be pursuing a master’s degree in East Asian languages and civilizations. Georgia Griggs, a physics and mathematics double major, plans to complete her master's of science in engineering, also at UPenn. Leah Kahler will be working at Voith and Mactavish Architects, a Philadelphia architecture firm started by ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï lecturer and alumna Daniela Holt Voith '76. Anthropology major Elizabeth Anne Newberry will begin working as an administrative assistant intern at Superfit Inc., a Philadelphia-based jewelry manufacturer. Biology major and environmental studies minor Caitlin Bauer will begin her master’s in biology at Villanova. Sociology major Kelsey Weymouth-Little will be serving as an AmeriCorp VISTA member at the Center for Family Services in Camden, N.J. Kelsey will work with their residential shelter programs as a Quality Improvement Associate. Zoe King, a math major and sociology minor, will be working as a staff accountant at Forty2 LLC, a startup property management company.
Graduates headed to the Big Apple include Lillian Grinnell, a political science and philosophy double major, who will attend NYU School of Law. Angela Blatz will also move to New York City to be a private bank analyst at JP Morgan. Biology major Ashni Patel will be working for Accenture Digital in NYC. Fellow biology major Sneha Soni will be pursuing a master’s degree in healthcare administration from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Angela Mastrianni, who majored in computer science, will be working as a technology analyst at Goldman Sachs. ​
New England-bound grads include Xuenan Ni, a growth and structure of cities and mathematics double major who will attend MIT for a master's of urban planning and a master's of science in transportation. Fellow cities major Chanel Williams will attend Harvard for a master’s degree in urban planning. Joining Chanel at Harvard will be Gemma Johnson, who will be pursuing a Ph.D. in systems biology. Stephanie Marrie, who majored in English with a creative writing concentration, will be attending the College of Communications at Boston University for a master’s degree in journalism.
Traveling south on I-95 will be geology major Katie Martin, who will begin a master's of science in marine-estuarine environmental science at University of Maryland, College Park, where she will researching in the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. Joining Katie at University of Maryland, College Park is Caroline Dreyfuss, who double majored in political science and French literature, with a concentration in Middle East and Islamic studies. Caroline will spend the summer at University of Maryland’s Center for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.
Math major Sarah Moustafa will be moving to Madison, Wisc. to work in technical services at Epic Systems, a healthcare software company. Yannan (Nancy) Li, who double majored in math and economics, will be attending University of Chicago to earn a master’s degree in mathematics. Rachel Elizabeth Weissler, who majored in linguistics and minored in political science, will be entering a Ph.D. program in linguistics at the University of Michigan with the Rackham Merit Fellowship. ​
Geology major Claire Johnson will attend the University of Southern California to pursue a Ph.D. in earth sciences.
Political science major Piper Martz will be launching a nonprofit startup called Human Seeds of Change over the next few months. Piper will concurrently devote a year to researching international food systems in six different countries. Economics major Risako Takatsuki will return home to Tokyo, Japan, to work at Citibank. ±õ°ùè²Ô±ð Lucia Delaney, who majored in French and Francophone studies, will begin attending Carleton University in Ottowa in the fall for a graduate program in French (linguistics) and African studies. K.C. McConnell, a religion major, has received a Critical Language Scholarship to spend the summer studying Hindi intensively at the American Institute of Indian Studies in Jaipur. Psychology major Nicole Colchete has received an Anatolia Fellowship to be a school counseling fellow in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Coco Farinet-Brenner will be attending Kings College in London for a Shakespearean Studies master’s program. Adriana Nocco, who majored in English and minored in theater, will spend her summer in London doing an internship at Theatre Technis, a premier fringe theater. She will also complete an intensive Shakespeare program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Eleanor Carey majored in sociology with a concentration in peace, conflict, and social justice studies. She will move to Belfast, Ireland, to earn a master’s degree from Trinity College Dublin in conflict resolution and reconciliation. ​
Several Mawrters have plans to pursue degrees in social work. Sociology major Shelby Kehoe will continue her Bryn Mawr career at the Bryn Mawr School of Social Work and Social Research. Feminism and sexuality major Julia Henrikson will begin a master's of social work at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Emmett Binkowski, who majored in psychology and minored in gender and sexuality studies, will be attending UPenn for an M.S.W. Also pursuing an M.S.W. is Devin Arey, a psychology major and English minor, who is headed to Columbia University in the fall.
Many graduates are entering health and medical fields after graduation. Megan Guntrum, who double majored in biology and philosophy, will attend Drexel University College of Medicine’s M.D. program. In August, anthropology major Nicole Barker will begin a master's of science in occupational therapy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she intends to continue her efforts in disability community organizing. Psychology major and health studies minor Caitlin Homstad will be working as a research analyst at a biotech and pharmaceutical healthcare consulting organization. Fellow psychology major Anne Claire Grammer will begin a post-baccalaureate research position at the Section on Growth and Obesity at the National Institute of Health. Kamyra Edokpolor, a psychology major and neuroscience minor, will be participating in a one-year post-baccalaureate biomedical research program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Jade Bath, will be studying malaria drug resistance in a lab at Columbia University Medical Center. Maho Okumara, who majored in biology and minored in Russian, will take on a research specialist position at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where she will work in a lab studying HIV and SIV transmission. Francine Leech will spend the summer studying the effects of asthma interventions with the Department of Biostatics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In the fall, Francine will begin the last year of her master’s in engineering in scientific computing at UPenn.
Among the 2016 graduates pursuing careers in education is English major Emily Gifford-Smith, who will be attending Teachers College, Columbia University in the Master of Arts Initial Certification Program in Teaching of English. Kirsten Adams, who majored in anthropology and minored in education, will be working towards her master's of art in teaching as a graduate teaching fellow with KIPP schools in Houston, Texas. Rachel Crittendon, a sociology major with a minor in education will be joing a KIPP school in New Orleans.Amanda Lehman, a math major and education minor, will spend the next two years in her hometown of Boston participating in the Match Teacher Residency program. Amanda will be a middle school math tutor while getting her teaching certification and earning a master’s in teaching. Joining Teach for America are biology major Mara Dominguez, history majors Jayah Feliciano, Yuju Park, Kathiana Abraham, and Lillian Chase.
Anassa Kata to all the members of the Class of 2016!
(If you're a member of the Class of 2016 and weren't included in this roundup, tell us about your plans on and we'll include you!)