Announcing our Commencement and Baccalaureate Speakers

April 5, 2023

Dear Members of the Trinity Community,

As we look forward to celebrating with graduating students and their friends and families at Trinity’s 197th Commencement, set for Sunday, May 21, I am pleased to share with you the name of this year’s Commencement speaker.

Nicole Hockley ’92 is the co-founder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and empowering youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes, and communities. Driven by Hockley’s extensive background in strategic marketing and communications for companies in the United States and the United Kingdom, Sandy Hook Promise has become a thought leader on school safety and is at the forefront of the gun violence prevention movement.

The award-winning public service announcement campaigns she helped co-create with BBDO New York have amassed hundreds of millions of views worldwide, including “Evan,” which generated two billion impressions and 10 coveted Cannes Lions Awards, and “Back-to-School Essentials” and “Teenage Dream,” each of which earned a prestigious Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial, in 2019 and 2022, respectively. She has presented several TEDx Talks; her opinion editorials have been published by Newsweek, CNN, USA Today, and InStyle; and her commentary has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, Newsy, ABC, CBS, and NBC, among countless other media outlets. In 2016, Hockley was recognized by People magazine as one of 25 Women Changing the World. For her work, she was honored by Trinity with its 2017 Alumni Achievement Award.

I also am pleased to share that this year’s Baccalaureate speaker will be Sidnie White Crawford ’81, an internationally recognized scholar, renowned author, and exemplary educator whose credentials in biblical theology and archeology have led to groundbreaking discoveries in human history.

The Baccalaureate ceremony will be held in the Chapel at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 20, and the Commencement ceremony begins at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 21. I hope you’ll join us for these momentous occasions in honor of the accomplished Class of 2023.

Sincerely,

Joanne Berger-Sweeney
President and Trinity College Professor of Neuroscience