Babson Class of 2020 Honored at Degree Conferral

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Kait Smith Lanthier

Kait Smith Lanthier is the Director, Content Strategy at Babson College and the Managing Editor of Babson Thought & Action. Her writing has appeared in print and online in a variety of outlets including USA Today, Yahoo Shine, YourTango, CosmoGirl, and First for Women magazine. Smith earned her undergraduate degree in journalism and graduate degree in integrated marketing, both from Marist College.

| May 18, 2020

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On Saturday, nearly 1,200 graduate and undergraduate students earned their Babson College degrees.

The occasion was marked by a virtual degree conferral. A crowd of 2,800 viewers from around the world watched live as President Stephen Spinelli Jr. MBA’92, PhD, Vice President Lawrence Ward, Dean Ian Lapp, and Dean Keith Rollag conferred the degrees of this year’s Class of 2020.

“The world is different now than it was just a few months ago. Higher risk, bigger opportunities, more value to be created. You are prepared for this moment. You are ready, and we can’t wait to see what you will do next,” said Spinelli.

While degree conferral officially marks the earning of a Babson College degree, it does not replace Commencement. The Class of 2020’s Commencement ceremonies have been postponed until it is safe to gather in person.

“It is a milestone worth celebrating, and we’ll celebrate it twice. As of today, you are Babson graduates. But, we cannot wait to honor you in person when we can safely gather as a community,” said Ward.

Degree conferral also marks the moment Babson College students become alumni, and are welcome into a global community of more than 43,000 fellow graduates.

The virtual degree conferral capped off a week dedicated to celebrating members of Babson College’s Class of 2020.

That celebration included dedicating the Babson.edu homepage to the Class of 2020. For an entire weekend, the homepage scrolled through a list of all Class of 2020 degree candidates. The class also was celebrated on social media, on Babson Thought & Action, and through various events throughout the week.

Posted in Community

Tagged Alumni, Class of 2020, Graduate, Undergraduate

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