Beverly Guy-Sheftall named Mount Holyoke’s Commencement speaker

Mount Holyoke College has announced that trailblazing Black feminist scholar, writer and editor Beverly Guy-Sheftall will be the primary speaker and address the undergraduates, graduate students and certificate recipients of the class of 2026 at its one hundred eighty-ninth Commencement. Two extraordinary Mount Holyoke alums, Leslie Anne Miller ’73 and Maria Z. Mossaides ’73, will also be honored at the event.

Beverly Guy-Sheftall is the founding director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center and Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies at Spelman College. The Women’s Research and Resource Center, opened in 1981, is the first women’s research center at a historically Black college and the first one to offer a women’s studies major.

Guy-Sheftall has published a number of groundbreaking texts within African American and women’s studies, including the first anthology on Black women’s literature, “Sturdy Black Bridges: Visions of Black Women in Literature,” which she coedited with Roseann P. Bell and Bettye Parker Smith. ”Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought” was lauded as “a baptism of fire for many of the words and authors it presents, an introduction to the canon of challenging and penetrating voices long omitted, lost or ignored.”In 1983, she became the founding co-editor of “Sage: A Scholarly Journal of Black Women,” which was devoted exclusively to the experiences of women of African descent. In 2013, she was a featured feminist in the PBS documentary “Makers: Women Who Make America.” In 2017, Guy-Sheftall was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Leslie Anne Miller ’73 was the first woman to serve as General Counsel to the Governor of Pennsylvania, where she broke barriers and shaped policy at the highest levels of state government. She also broke new ground as the Philadelphia Bar Association’s first female president and was recently honored by the Pennsylvania Society with the Distinguished Citizen of the Commonwealth Award. As chair of the Board of Trustees at Mount Holyoke College (2005–2010) and co-chair of the Campaign for Mount Holyoke (2007–2013), she guided the College through pivotal milestones, including a record-breaking $305 million campaign. Together with her husband, Richard B. Worley, she established the Miller Worley Center for the Environment. Mount Holyoke College previously bestowed upon her the prestigious Medal of Honor and Loyalty Awards.

Maria Z. Mossaides ’73 is the director of the Office of the Child Advocate for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. There, she leads an independent state agency that provides critical oversight and ombuds services for children's well-being. Her four decades of service in both the public and independent sectors include senior positions in the Massachusetts government, such as general counsel and acting commissioner of the Office for Children as well as deputy general counsel to the Department of Social Services. A true innovator, she was the first woman appointed as the administrative assistant to the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. She is a former President of the Alum Association and a dedicated volunteer for Mount Holyoke College. The College has also recognized her unwavering commitment with its prestigious Medal of Honor and Loyalty Awards.

Mount Holyoke’s commencement ceremony will be held in person on May 24 at 10:30 am at the outdoor location of Pageant Green. Mount Holyoke President Danielle R. Holley will preside over the ceremony and award degrees to more than 500 bachelor’s and master’s degree graduates.