May 27, 2026 — Marist's Campus Green came alive with celebration as more than 1,300 undergraduates received their degrees during the 80th Commencement ceremony on Friday.

Despite a week of mixed weather, the Hudson River valley delivered a pristine, sunny spring day as 1,327 graduates marked the culmination of their academic journeys, joined by family, friends, faculty, and staff. The ceremony followed Thursday evening's celebration honoring graduate students.

President Kevin Weinman, addressing the graduates and their families, reflected with pride on the journey of the Class of 2026.

"You came here to develop your fullest selves," he said. "Because of this, you’re now ready for success not just in your first job, or in your graduate programs, but in every single thing you will do from here for decades to come."

Weinman praised the graduates for their critical thinking, curiosity, resilience, and leadership, noting that they had consistently shown the very best of Marist through a college experience bookended by uncertainty, from a pandemic-shaped final year of high school to the economic and political turbulence of today.

“It’s been a wild ride yet, throughout, you’ve displayed the very best of Marist,” Weinman said. “You’ve shown you can be engaged with the world while still showing care and concern for each other and for the Marist community as a whole.”

President Weinman addresses graduates at the 80th Commencement ceremony. Photo by Nelson Echeverria/Marist University.

He also reflected on how Marist itself has transformed alongside the students, with new facilities, expanded experiential learning opportunities, and a year of standout athletic achievements highlighted by MAAC titles across multiple sports and NCAA Tournament appearances for men's lacrosse and softball.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Jennifer Egan Delivers Keynote
Acclaimed novelist Jennifer Egan delivered the keynote address and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.

Egan won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for A Visit from the Goon Squad and is also the author of the bestseller Manhattan Beach. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and Harper's, among other publications.

Egan offered pieces of guidance she said have been essential to her own life. 

She described curiosity as a "stealth superpower," emphasized the often-underestimated power of small kindnesses, and urged graduates to engage deeply with art in all its forms.

“Art is what lasts,” Egan said. “Because art brings us into contact with the mystery, the stuff that’s always true, but we don’t think about it on a moment-to-moment basis.” 

“The fact that we are here together on a rotating sphere in a universe that may or may not be infinite, whatever that even means, and that amidst all of that, we’ve somehow gathered in this exquisite place on a beautiful day in the tiny flash of time when all of us are alive: it’s a freaking miracle,” she said.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Jennifer Egan addresses graduates. Photo by Carlo de Jesus/Marist University.

Student Speaker Reflects on the Meaning of Marist Sunsets
Class of 2026 student speaker Hugo Joseph Gizzi, who earned his degree in history with minors in graphic design and global studies, delivered a heartfelt address built around one of campus life's most enduring images: the famous Marist sunset.

Gizzi described the moment each evening when the sky over the Hudson explodes with color, and people across campus pause to take it in. But for him, the real meaning of those sunsets lies not in the colors themselves but in the community that watches them.

"These famous Marist sunsets have less to do with the color of the sky, and more with the spirit and culture of our school," he said. "Marist has created a community that fosters love."

That community, he reminded the graduates, isn't bound to Poughkeepsie. Classmates have experienced "Marist sunsets" wherever they've built supportive communities: in places as varied as Florence, Dublin, Hawaii, and beyond.

"Wherever you end up," he said, "make it a place where you can look at the sky and feel the same warmth as you feel here."

Student speaker Hugo Gizzi addresses his fellow graduates. Photo by Carlo de Jesus/Marist University.

With diplomas in hand, the Class of 2026 joined an alumni network of more than 54,000 Red Foxes around the world.

"I am eager to cheer you on from afar and see all that you will accomplish," Weinman said. "Once a Red Fox, always a Red Fox."