Harvey Mudd Celebrates Class of 2026 at 68th Commencement

Harvey Mudd College awarded 220 bachelor of science degrees to the Class of 2026 at its 68th Commencement ceremony Sunday, May 17, in Claremont, California.

Commencement speaker Laurie Leshin, space scientist and higher education leader, spoke about the power of passionately pursuing bold dreams and viewing setbacks as learning experiences.

“When you think big, pursue audacious ideas, and do so with passion, amazing doors into new worlds can open,” said Leshin.

“Find something that is challenging–worth the effort–that takes preparation and passion to pursue. That has struggles and setbacks–remember, these are learning experiences. Something so bold that you can’t achieve alone, something that it takes an amazing team to accomplish, a team with people who make you better and make you believe.”  

Leshin received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science and Humane Letters, honoris causa, becoming the 19th recipient of an honorary Harvey Mudd degree. Honorary degree recipients must have made a distinguished contribution to the advancement of engineering or science and demonstrated a record of contribution to society, consonant with the ideals embodied in a Harvey Mudd education.

Aditi Bonthu ’26, student body president, gave the student keynote address. Bonthu reflected on Mudd’s value not simply as a place of academic rigor, but as a collaborative community that helps students face uncertainty, difficulty and intellectual friction.

“We do not back down in the face of uncertainty. When tackling something challenging, we read papers, engage with every source and ask questions,” Bonthu said. “This critical inquiry is at the core of Mudd’s curriculum. Mudd has taught us to seek out what we do not know and to do that together. We’ve learned that the beauty of our community is that every person brings a different perspective to the problem, giving us even more to learn from.”

The ceremony also included remarks from Grace Credo ’96, president of the Harvey Mudd Alumni Association, who welcomed graduates into the alumni community.

“While your time as students ends today, your identity as Mudders does not,” Credo said. “Get ready to be that person on a team who operates well in ambiguity. Remember both the honors you have and will receive and the rebounds from spectacular failures …Tell us what you’re building, discovering, breaking or fixing. The alumni community is better because you are now part of it.”

This year, the College honored two recipients of the Henry T. Mudd Prize, which recognizes outstanding service contributions by a faculty or staff member. The prize was awarded to Karen Angemi, chief of staff and secretary to the Board of Trustees, and Bill Alves, composer, musician, music professor and the Louisa and Robert Miller Professor of the Humanities.

President Harriet B. Nembhard closed the ceremony with an address to the Class of 2026.

“As you leave this place today, I ask you to keep building new bridges of collaboration and community in the spaces and places you will inhabit throughout your lives,” Nembhard said. “Use what you’ve learned here at Mudd to lift up and strengthen each other and society. We need your ideas. We need your energy. And we need your courage.”

According to preliminary data from the senior survey, 59.5% of graduates expect to enter the workforce full time in fall 2026 and 22.5% expect to be enrolled in graduate school.

Of those students who expect to be employed, 69.7% have accepted a position. The top employers are Amazon, Epic, Lam Research, Meta and SpaceX.

Seniors who applied to graduate school for the fall plan to enroll in graduate programs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Columbia University, Brown University, Cornell University, Princeton University and other institutions.

View video of the 2026 commencement ceremony.