Graduation & Closing Ceremony

 

  

Graduating students, IAU/ACM faculty and staff, and community members gathered on Saturday, June 20th at the School of Art to celebrate the 2020 graduates from the American College of the Mediterranean. Though this ceremony had been rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting smaller, outdoor ceremony and reception proved to be a beautiful and personal way to celebrate a cohort of graduates who faced many challenges and unusual circumstances during this unprecedented last semester. We congratulate all of our graduates and wish them the best as they move on to other endeavors.

IAU alumnus and former Ambassador Frances D. Cook spoke at the May 10, 2019 commencement ceremony of the American College of the Mediterranean and the Institute of American Universities in Aix-en-Provence. Fourteen ACM graduates from Masters Programs in Fine Arts, International Relations, and Art History (names below), and almost 200 IAU study abroad students heard Ambassador Cook’s call for political, artistic and social engagement in the world, illustrated with vignettes from her inspiring career as a diplomat and foreign policy advisor. Her first big break, she said, came due to the French-language skills and self-confidence she learned from studying abroad. Arriving as a young officer at the U.S. Embassy, Paris in May, 1968, Ambassador Cook noted, “I arrived at the huge US Embassy in Paris, fluent, and very comfortable working in the unique work environment of France, thanks to the French I learned here.” Her ability to play a role at the center of the seminal events of 1968 – monitoring the student riots, working on the U.S.-Vietnam peace talks, witnessing the rocky Franco-American relations of that period – launched her on a diplomatic career that led to several Ambassadorships. This included being the youngest career diplomat to be named Ambassador, and later on the first woman from any country to serve as Ambassador in the Arab Gulf, in the Sultanate of Oman. She said it was now the graduates' turn to join her in “working for change,” telling them, “The wonderful nation of France is now a part of you, and you’ll draw on its richness and depth, its challenges and its lessons, for the rest of your lives.” 

Thank you, Ambassador Cook, and congratulations to the graduates! 

2019 ACM Graduates: 

• Tryphena Asamoah, MAIR
• Larkin Brown, MAIR
• Chloe Cummings, MAIR
• Nika Lomidze, MAIR
• Lisa Mandel, MAIR
• Kirsti Stangeland, MAIR
• Isabel Burnette, MAAH
• Jenny Cawood, MAAH
• Benjamin Garza, MAAH
• Patrick Beeby, MFA
• Sophie Browning, MFA
• Bill Hindle, MFA
• Mary Leone, MFA
• Hilary Stein, MFA

To read the full text of Ambassador Cook's commencement address, please follow this link.  Master's graduates Hilary Stein (MFA), Lisa Mandel (MAIR), and Jenny Cawood (MAAH) each gave speeches to conclude the ceremony. See the full text of their speeches below: 

• Hilary Stein, Master of Fine Arts
• Lisa Mandel, Master of Arts in International Relations
• Jenny Cawood, Master of Arts in Art History

2018 Graduation & Closing Ceremony
May 11, 2018
La Mairie d'Aix-en-Provence

On May 11, 2018, IAU's degree-granting branch, The American College of the Mediterranean, conferred degrees for seven of its students. The students who graduated were:

• Kathryn Riehle, BA
• Michele Gerardi, MAFS
• Kelly Killoran, MAFS
• Michael Portal, MAFS
• Luis Arreola, MAIR
• Joseph Earsom, MAIR
• Jennifer Neel, MFA

2017 Graduation & Closing Ceremony
May 12, 2017
La Centre de Congres d'Aix-en-Provence

On May 12, 2017, IAU's degree-granting branch, The American College of the Mediterranean, conferred degrees for twelve master's students. The graduating students are below:

• Miranda Blas, MFA
• Mary Hamilton, MFA
• Ariel Osif, MFA
• Charley Umbarger, MFA
• JaMin Yie, MFA
• Danielle Beiser, MAIR
• Jena Borel, MAIR
• Duane Godding, MAIR
• Makeda Eyasu, MAIR
• Meghan Devine, MAFS
• Ewan Hamilton-Short, MAFS
• Shannon Laws, MAFS