Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., August 27, 2015—Williams College Bicentennial Medals will be presented at Fall Convocation on Saturday, Sept. 19, to Convocation Speaker Michael F. Curtin, Jr. ’86 and four other accomplished alumni.
President Adam Falk and College Council Co-Presidents Jesús Espinoza ’16 and Marcus Christian ’16 will welcome the Class of 2016 at Convocation, which formally launches the academic year. The event is free and open to the public and will begin at 11 a.m. in Thompson Memorial Chapel after a formal procession.
Curtin, the ceremony’s principal speaker, is the CEO of D.C. Central Kitchen, whose groundbreaking programs train formerly homeless and incarcerated adults for culinary careers and provide millions of healthy meals to at-risk populations.
In addition to Curtin, those receiving medals will be Jonathan E. Fielding ’64, professor and founding co-director of the Center for Health Enhancement, Education, and Research at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, who was director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health for more than 16 years; Kristin J. Forbes ’92, MIT Sloan School of Management professor and external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, whose research and insights inform economic policy; Hernando Garzon ’84, director of emergency management and global health programs for Kaiser Permanente and leader of an Ebola response team in West Africa—his 20th humanitarian and crisis relief mission; and Claudia B. Rankine ’86, acclaimed poet and professor, whose book-length poem, Citizen: An American Lyric, explores the insidiousness of racism in America and won the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.
The Convocation ceremony will also include the introduction of the newest members of Phi Beta Kappa and the announcement of the winner of the Grosvenor Cup Award, given to the senior who has best demonstrated concern for the college community.
Bicentennial Medals honor members of the Williams community for distinguished achievement in any field of endeavor. They were established in 1993 on the occasion of the college’s 200th anniversary.
About the Convocation speaker
Michael F. Curtin, Jr. ’86 is the CEO of D.C. Central Kitchen, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing hunger, training unemployed adults for culinary careers, serving healthy school meals, and rebuilding urban food systems. D.C. Central Kitchen prepares more than 10,000 meals each day and graduates more than 700 people each year from its culinary job-training program.
In 2008, Curtin launched an initiative to purchase produce “seconds” from local farmers at a deep discount, bringing fresh and often organic produce to those who would not otherwise receive it and reducing the organization’s food expenditures while producing more meals. Recently, D.C. Central Kitchen expanded the program to distribute produce to area schools and restaurants.
In 2010, D.C. Central Kitchen was named the winner of the Green Business Award for Innovation from the Washington Business Journal and Curtin won the Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman EXCEL Award that “recognizes and spotlights outstanding leadership among Washington area nonprofit chief executives.” In 2012, D.C. Central Kitchen was honored with the D.C. Chamber of Commerce Community Impact Award.
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For building locations on the Williams campus, please consult the map outside the driveway entrance to the Security Office located in Hopkins Hall on Main Street (Rte. 2), next to the Thompson Memorial Chapel, or call the Office of Communications (413) 597-4277. The map can also be found on the web at www.williams.edu/map
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Published August 27, 2015
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