Skidmore announces Commencement speakers
Skidmore College will bestow honorary degrees upon renowned poetjournalist and social entrepreneur Aaron P. Dworkin and prolific advocate and curator of the arts Adam D. Weinberg during the College’s 2025 Commencement Exercises on Saturday, May 17, at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC).
Dworkin is the longest-serving member of the National Council on the Arts, having advised five presidential administrations, and is the founder of the globally recognized Sphinx Organization, a leading arts organization whose mission is transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. He is also founder of the Institute for Poetjournalism and originated the term “poetjournalism.”
Dworkin is currently a professor of arts leadership and entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan and hosts the nationally broadcast show “Arts Engines.” He is the author of poetry collections, “The Poetjournalist” and “They Said I Wasn’t Really Black,” as well as two memoirs, a children’s book, a science-fiction novel, and “The Entrepreneurial Artist: Lessons from Highly Successful Creatives.” He is the creator of the Emmy Award-winning film “An American Prophecy” and the digital art project “Fractured History.”
A member of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs), and the Academy of American Poets, he is the recipient of honors including the National Governors Association Distinguished Service to State Government Award, BET’s History Makers in the Making Award, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also been named Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News and the National Black MBA’s Entrepreneur of the Year. He has been featured by The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, CNN, and Jet Magazine, and named one of Newsweek’s “15 People Who Make America Great.”
He is a frequent keynote speaker and lecturer at numerous universities, including Skidmore College.
During his tenure, the Museum presented some 300 exhibitions on diverse emerging, mid-career, and senior artists — from Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keeffe to Frank Stella and Carmen Herrera, to Glenn Ligon and Julie Mehretu — as well as nine editions of the Whitney Biennial. It also created award-winning educational programs, experienced exponential growth of its permanent collection, dramatically expanded its performance and conservation programs, and increased its attendance threefold.
Major capital projects realized under his direction were a new 220,000-square-foot building in New York’s Meatpacking District designed by Renzo Piano (2015); “Day’s End,” a permanent, monumental, public sculpture by artist David Hammons on the Hudson River waterfront (2021); and the renovation of the former home and studio of artist Roy Lichtenstein for the site of the Whitney’s renowned Independent Study Program (2023).
Weinberg has also served as director of the Addison Gallery of American Art; senior curator and curator of the permanent collection at the Whitney; and director of education and assistant curator at Walker Art Center. Throughout his career, he has curated exhibitions on dozens of artists, authored numerous catalogues, lectured internationally, and conducted scores of artist interviews.
He serves on the boards and advisory boards of numerous arts organizations and has had an abiding involvement in teaching museums, including Skidmore’s Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery.
Weinberg has received the Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the Insignia of the Order of Arts and Letters from the government of France; and a Presidential Fellowship at the American Academy of Berlin, among other honors.
Seyb has published articles in Journalism History, American Journalism, Media History Monographs, Presidential Studies Quarterly, The Journal of Policy History, and California Politics and Policy, and he makes frequent local and regional media appearances to provide his expert perspective on current political events. He received the Ralph A. Ciancio Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005 and was Skidmore’s Jon Ramsey Honors Forum Lecturer in 2012 and faculty commencement speaker in 1991.
‌In addition to remarks from President Marc Conner to the Class of 2025, Skidmore College Board of Trustees Chair Jon P. Achenbaum ’77 and Class of 2025 President Qavalina Andrade will offer their congratulations to the graduating class.
‌Commencement exercises will begin at approximately 10:40 a.m., and a livestream of the event will be available via the Skidmore website. For additional information, visit the Commencement website.