Thursday morning, commencement committee chair Michelle Egan informed the Saint Mary’s community via email that College President Katie Conboy had announced the 2023 commencement speaker.
“Noted environmentalist, cartographer and social entrepreneur Molly Burhans will deliver the commencement address for the class of 2023,” Egan wrote.
Burhans is the founder and executive director of GoodLands, a nonprofit that mobilizes “large landholders to use their property for environmental and humanitarian good.” Her work as chief cartographer for the first global data-based maps of the Catholic Church premiered at the Vatican in 2016.
The announcement included a statement from Conboy.
“Molly Burhans is a revolutionary, bringing together the fields of cartography, sustainability and climate study to the Catholic Church,” Conboy said. “No one before her had cataloged the Church’s immense global landholdings and illustrated how, through this vast property ownership, the Church can help address the environmental crisis.”
Additionally, Conboy will present the President’s Medal to William Schmuhl and honorary degrees to Gretchen Ann Flicker and Ida J. Stockman.
Retired director and chairman of Heywood Williams USA Inc., Schmuhl still teaches as an adjunct instructor in the College’s business administration and economics department. Schmuhl was a member of the College's Board of Trustees for a decade and has remained active the last 16 years as a trustee emeritus. Around the greater South Bend community, he has served on the boards of local television station WNIT, the Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michigan, Stanley Clark School and Discovery Charter School.
Flicker, a 1993 College graduate, is a member of the Mother Pauline Society and has volunteered on for the Reunion Gift Campaign Committee three times since her graduation. In her 11-year tenure on the Board of Trustees, Flicker was elected treasurer, vice chair and finally chair in 2019. As chair, Flicker guided the College through the COVID-19 pandemic and a presidential transition.
A professor emerita in Michigan State University’s communicative sciences and disorders department, Stockman continues to research, consult and mentor in the areas of Autism Spectrum Disorders and speech and language development. Between journal articles, conference presentations and workshops, Stockman has made over 200 scholarly contributions, which have shaped clinical training and practice in her field.
The College’s 176th commencement ceremony will held Saturday, May 20 at noon on Le Mans Green. More information about the commencement speaker and degree recipients can be found here.
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