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May in Pictures

Graduates toss their caps in the air at the conclusion of commencement exercises.
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  • May 2026 month in pictures

May in Pictures

Celebrations, milestones and memorable moments abound.

Graduates walk across the stage at Commencement.

Conn celebrated 512 members of the Class of 2026—the largest graduating class in College history—at the 108th Commencement on Sunday, May 17, on Tempel Green. Chief Mutáwi Mutáhash (Many Hearts) Marilynn Malerba, the 18th chief of the Mohegan tribe and the first Native American to serve as treasurer of the United States, gave the keynote address, while Zoe Patricia Watts ’26 served as the student speaker. Read more.

Scenes from Commencement 2026 

The Class Marshals cary the class banner
A mother helps her son with his stolls before the ceremony.
A graduate rings the gong on Commencement day.
The graduates await the start of Commencement.
Jenifer Alvarado Rivadeneira ’26 accepts the Claire Gaudiani ’66 Prize
A graduate hugs her supporters.

View the full gallery from Commencement 2026. 

Senior Art Exhibit Reception

A crowd lines a balcony level around an art gallery applauding the student artists gathered below.

Attendees applaud as senior art majors are recognized by the Art Department during the opening reception for the 2026 Senior Art Major Thesis Exhibition, “Denouement” on May 1 in Cummings Arts Center. 

Block Party

Three college students, one female with red hair, one black wearing a cap, and one white wearing an athletics sweatshirt, place small notes on a giant wall map.

Elliot Spatz ’26 points as Ebenezer Lamptey ’29 adds a note to the New London city map and Bridget McGann ’26 awaits her turn during the We Live Here block party May 3 at the Garde Gallery in downtown New London. Attendees were invited to add a drawing and a note to the map representing where they live within the city. The event was sponsored by the Center for Housing Opportunity Eastern CT and Connecticut College.

Pink Japanese Cherry blossoms bloom in front of a college library.

The last of the pink Japanese cherry blossoms bloom in early May in front of Shain Library.

A crowd of college students in white t-shirts reading

Runners launch colored chalk to kick off the Move for Love color run and walk on May 1. The event is co-sponsored by One Love, the Office of Sexual Violence Prevention and Advocacy, Outdoor Adventures and Student Accessibility Services. Runners completed two laps around campus, while walkers complete one lap. 

College students in white t-shirts reading
Racers are showered with brightly colored chalk dust during Move for Love.
A group of college students in white t-shirts reading
Racers gather for a photo.

 

A group of college theater students in a variety of costumes, including one in bright red and yellow clown outfit, gather around the work table in a costume shop to present final projects in a costuming course.

Students in Professor of Theater Sabrina Notarfrancisco’s costume design and production courses gather in the costume shop to present their semester final projects. The course focuses on design process, pattern-making and building techniques, and students deepen their understanding of how clothing and personal adornment influence the way characters perceive others and present themselves. 

A workshop participant presents a model classroom made out of LEGO bricks to a group of attendees seated at seminar room tables.

Director of Career Development Dot Wang, left, uses a smart phone linked wirelessly to a digital projector to show her Lego model of an ideal classroom during a Center for Teaching and Learning Camp Teach & Learn session. The three-day event offered a wide range of discussions and workshops for Conn faculty and staff.

 

A college student on a wheelchair leans back against a short concrete wall and focuses on the smartphone in her lap as another students walks by.

Elise Molloy ’27, right, uses the Shain Library patio wall as a brace to settle in for a video call on a warm and sunny day.

Inaugural First Dog Day

A group of college students kneel and squat on the grass to pet a yellow dog under a canopy of trees.

Utley, whose human is Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Andrew Strickler, basks in the attention on First Dog Day, a gathering of Conn canines hosted on the first Friday of May by First Dog Kodachrome “Koda” Chapdelaine Tetreault. Read more.

David Dorfman Dance Company 

Seven members of a modern dance company stand in a line and gesture wildly with their arms in a dance studio.
L-R: Lily Gelfand, Kevin Carroll, Dorchel Haqq, Jack Blackmon, Corinne Lohner and Kendall Ramirez, members of David Dorfman Dance, Conn’s company-in-residence, rehearse “The Front Line” on May 27 in the Martha Myers Dance Studio. The piece is a new dance, music and theater work set in a middle school gymnasium-turned-polling site for an imagined Election Day 2040.
A choreographer sits at a table and goes over notes with a group of modern dancers all seated on the floor in front of a dance studio mirrored wall.
Professor of Dance David Dorfman ’81 goes over notes with David Dorfman Dance company members following the rehearsal.
A crowd of college students bathed in red light fill a small outdoor music venue as a DJ performs on stage.

A large audience gathers in the Shain Library Amphitheater as DJ Amplitude takes the stage during Floralia, Conn’s annual spring music festival. 

Floralia 

A pop singer in turtle necked tank top and long black gloves kneels on stage in front of a crowd as a drummer plays in the background.
Emmy-winning singer-songwriter Daya, the Floralia headliner, performs.
Three female college students at the edge of a large nighttime concert crowd take a photo together illuminated by the orange glow from the camera.
Three students capture a Floralia memory.
A black male rapper in long sleeved shirt and sweatpants and illuminated by a spotlight stands elevated in front of the audience of college students smiling, and cheering, and taking photos.
Rapper Armani White leaves the stage to get close to the crowd.
A large crowd of college students hold their hands in the air as they cheer a performance on stage at an outdoor concert.
The audience cheers DJ Amplitude.
A DJ at his mixing board holds his hands in the air to the audience in the distance during a nighttime outdoor concert.
DJ Amplitude delights the crowd.
A cloud of small soap bubbles fills the air as college students dance on the grass to a student band at an outdoor concert.
Students dance in a bubble shower during the performance of the band Marmaldy.
Members of a student bluegrass band, one on violin, one on acoustic guitar, one singing vocals, perform on an outdoor stage.
The student band 400 Bluegrass Unit, featuring Helen Bonnevie-Rothrock ’29, Tamar Arons-Brann ’28, Tamar Arons-Brann ’29, Coe Weeder ’28 and Eben Gollan ’29, performs during Floralia.
A quartet of female-presenting students in boy band drag and painted-on facial hair lip syncs on stage at an outdoor concert.
The student drag lip sync group Big Time Gush, featuring Allie Flemington ’26, Nell Hamilton ’26, Paloma Doyle ’26 and Caelon Shugrue ’26, performs at Floralia.

Give ’N Go

College students sort through clothing donations sitting on the lawn or standing in the driveway of a campus building with a portable tent and a garage and storage unit in the background.

Student volunteers sort items donated by students moving out of their residences at the end of the academic year. The Office of Sustainability’s annual Give ’N Go collection event yields thousands of pounds items, including clothing, furniture and appliances, which are then donated to local social service and non-profit agencies.

Jazz in the Courtyard 

A black female college student in a brightly colored and patterned dress, with black jacket, sings expressively in front of a jazz band at an outdoor courtyard.
Kaitlyn Lubega ’29 solos on vocals during the Connecticut College Jazz Ensemble’s annual Jazz in the Courtyard concert on May 1 in Castle Court. 
A male student musician in black shirt and black fedora hat plays the trumpet using a sink plunger head as a mute at an outdoor concert.
Joseph Coombs ’29 solos on the trumpet during Jazz in the Courtyard.

 

A student artist on a short stepladder paints a detail on a large wall mural as other helpers work on other parts of the mural, depicting flowers and plants and insects.

Mary Rizzo ’26, Allie Flemington ’27, Arboretum Assistant Director Scott D’Agostino and Arboretum neighbor John Sargent paint a mural on the wall of the Gallows Lane building. Rizzo, an art major and botany minor, designed the mural with Arboretum Director Maggie Redfern as part of an independent study this semester. 

Faculty Recognition

A female college professor in a horizontally white striped tank dress wipes a tear as fellow faculty members and her two children look on and applaud during an awards ceremony.

Professor of Statistics Priya Kohli, who serves as chair of the Mathematics and Statistics Department and of the Faculty Steering and Conference Committee, wipes away a tear after being awarded the Helen B. Regan Faculty Leadership Award during a faculty recognition reception on May 14.

Six college seniors in white dresses facing away from the viewer pose with their arms around each other on the steps of a building for a photographer in the background.

Members of the Class of 2026 gather to take senior photos on the steps of Blaustein Humanities Center.

Inaugural Chap Treats 

A group of female college students in causal clothes sit on granite steps and eat ice cream treats.
A college president in blue coat and short blond bob haircut offers a group of college students in casual clothing to choose from a ice cream freezer parked on the patio of a college building.

Members of the Class of 2026 enjoy frozen treats courtesy of President Andrea E. Chapdelaine on May 11. The inaugural Chap Treats event coincided with a Senior Week orientation meeting for the graduating seniors.

Reunion 2026

A group of young-adult college alumni embrace at a reunion event.

Classmates reunite outside of the Tempel Green tent during Reunion 2026, which took place May 29-31. See all Reunion coverage. 

Highlights from Reunion 2026 

Three college alumni in sunglasses and wearing name tags smile for a classmate with a smart phone camera in late afternoon light.
Members of the Class of 2001 pose for a photo.
A college camel mascot costume with arms raised races to join a group of alumni carrying two 1991 banners, and many holding umbrellas.
The Camel mascot races to join the Class of 1991 for the parade.
A group of 1976 alumni gather behind a banner proclaiming their class year to march in a reunion parade of classes
President Andrea E. Chapdelaine, the Camel and Vice President for College Advancement Allison Gomes join members of the 50th Reunion Class of 1976 for the parade.
A group of college alumni gather in a line to sing karaoke on a pub stage.
Members of the Class of 1986 sing karaoke on the Humphrey’s Pub stage.
Four female college alumni gather to take a photo as one holds a smart phone camera at arm's length.
Reunion attendees pose for a selfie.
Four young adult college alumi, two facing the viewer, two facing away and framing the first two, play a game of Cornhole on a college green.
Cornhole on the green proved popular.
For female college alumni seated on a granite outdoor bench, one holding up a bright orange cooked lobster, smile for a photo.
Reunion attendees enjoy a lobster dinner with friends on the Ad Astra Garden benches.
A college alumna holding a smart phone strikes a pose as classmates across a round dinner table with bright orange cooked lobsters on their plates smile and pose for the photo.
Other alumni enjoyed their lobster dinner under a Tempel Green tent.
A group of college alumni gather in and around a heart-shaped frame for a photo.
The perfect Reunion frame of mind.
Three older college alumni pose for a photo with the college president in a light blue dress.
Members of the Class of 1956 take a photo with President Andrea E. Chapdelaine.
Four male college alumni from the class of 1976 stand and talk in a crowded ballroom.
Members of the 50th Reunion Class of 1976 catch up at the Sykes Society Luncheon.
College student musicians, two with acoustic guitars and one with a tambourine perform for a luncheon gathering in a ballroom space.
Student musicians sing during the luncheon.
A group of college alumni, carrying 70th Reunion pennants, wearing broad brimmed hats and raincoats, ride in a golf cart decorated with blue pom poms.
Members of the Class of 1956 ride in the Parade of Classes.
A bearded college professor wearing glasses removes a cover revealing a framed dedication plaque as a retired female professor looks on from the right.
Professor Emeritus Leslie K. Brown, right, watches as Michael Seifert, Chair of the Physics, Astronomy and Geophysics Department, unveils a plaque during the dedication of the Leslie K. Brown Telescope in Olin Science Center.
A person bathed in a red glow bends over to peer into a telescope pointed out the large open door of a rooftop observatory as bright planets glow in the dark sky beyond.
Alumni view Jupiter’s moons through the Conn’s 14-inch telescope, a CDK350 Observatory System built by PlaneWave Instruments, during a Reunion open house in Olin Hall Observatory.
A folk music duo, blurry in the foreground, perform in front of an audience seated on a grassy field.
Connecticut-based indie folk-pop duo Carlyle perform at Music in the Meadow in the Connecticut College Arboretum.

See the full gallery from Reunion 2026. 

Landscapers work around a dirt area preparing to plant trees and shrubs resting in their pots nearby with a bulldozer and truck in the background.

Workers prepare to plant trees and shrubs along the periphery of the Cro-Plex connector on May 27. 



June 2, 2026

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