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Lycoming College held its 177th Commencement Ceremony on May 10 to celebrate the Class of 2025. Following the footprints of tradition, the graduates processed through the Oliver Sterling Metzler Gate and onto the Fultz Quadrangle where family and friends awaited them on this gorgeous day.
“All of you can walk across this stage today knowing that your residential liberal arts education at Lycoming College has provided you with a strong foundation,” greeted Kent Trachte, Ph.D., president of Lycoming College. “As graduates of our top 100 national liberal arts colleges, you are prepared to lead lives of meaning, enjoy success in your careers, and contribute to the public good…. You are ready to make a difference in the world.”
Trachte received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during the ceremony. Trachte, who will retire on June 30, provided thoughtful and bold leadership during his tenure — a period of rapid change in higher education, including significant demographic shifts and the Covid 19 pandemic, while advancing initiatives that softened the boundaries of the residential campus and established bridges to the Williamsport community.
The keynote address was delivered by Shirley Collado, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of College Track, a college completion program dedicated to democratizing potential among first-generation college students from underserved communities. Throughout her career, she has leveraged her leadership to advocate for equity in all forms, pushing toward real change by activating an awareness of — and working toward the deconstruction of — existing structures that prevent full participation, whether on campuses or in communities at large.
Prior to her leadership at College Track, Collado served as the ninth president of Ithaca College. Not only a first-generation college graduate, she was also the first person of color to be named president at Ithaca College, and the first Dominican-American in the United States to serve as president of a four-year institution. During the ceremony, Lycoming awarded Collado with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
“You have had the privilege of being educated in this country, of earning a bachelor’s degree on a residential campus…. You have been challenged to broaden your scope. And I hope you hold this close to your heart as you move into your lives and your careers,” Collado shared with the graduates.
“It’s not just sentimental — it’s critical to the future of our nation,” she continued. “We exist in a world that seems so divided, where our shared humanity feels so vulnerable. This moment requires awareness, empathy, connection, and collaborative decision-making. It also requires a willingness to listen to, understand, and be inspired by people who do not think like you. This is exactly the mindset we need to have when solving the most complicated issues that impact all of us.”
Benjamin Fry ’25, a biology (ecology) major with dual minors in chemistry and environmental science and a Lycoming Scholar, delivered the senior greeting. An active member of the College’s campus community, he has proven himself to be an effective leader as a member of the Student Senate and numerous academic and extracurricular organizations and has dedicated himself to volunteerism both on campus and in the greater community.
“By choosing to be here together, we have chosen to be fundamentally altered by each other. Changed by our differences, our commonalities, and our shared experiences,” said Fry. “We are a petri plate of the world, a community that is constantly intermixing with each other — constantly changing each other. To me, that is the beauty of Lycoming.”