Robin Wall Kimmerer selected

Award-winning author Robin Wall Kimmerer has been selected to deliver the commencement speech to Northland College graduates on Saturday, May 23. She will also receive an honorary degree as a Doctor of Humane Letters.

It is an honor to welcome Robin Wall Kimmerer back to campus to celebrate commencement with us this May,” said President Michael A. Miller “I know that her experiences as a scientist, mother, teacher, writer and mentor, will resonate with our students.

The spring 2015 commencement exercises will take place at the Northland College campus Saturday, May 23 at 2:30 p.m. in the Kendrigan Center.

I am honored to be invited to speak at this unique College with a commitment to nature, science, indigenous students and to educating future leaders,” Kimmerer said.

Kimmerer visited campus last year to accept an award for her second book, “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Understandings, Scientific Teachings and the Wisdom of Plants.” The Northland College Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute awarded “Braiding Sweetgrass,” the 2014 Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award.

Kimmerer is professor of environmental and forest biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She recently addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations April 27 as part of the U.N’s commemoration of International Mother Earth Day.

More information about commencement weekend — including parking, school and College ceremonies, and answers to many frequently asked questions — is available online or by calling (715) 682-1202.