Lawrence University 2020 graduates

The Lawrence University community gathered virtually in June for a Commencement celebration unlike any other in the school's 171-year history. Held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic that moved Spring Term classes to distance learning, the ceremony celebrated the accomplishments of nearly 270 Lawrentians in the Class of 2020.

"We are at a time like no other, when both far too much-and not nearly enough-has changed," President Mark Burstein told the graduates and their families, all looking in from locations around the world. Congratulatory messages from faculty and staff, shared via video and an online chat, were mixed with the traditional speeches and the conferring of degrees. Commencement speaker Natasha Trethewey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose book, "Native Guard," has been on the Freshman Studies reading list at Lawrence for five years, implored the graduates to find inspiration in the arts as they make sense of a world that has changed mightily since they first stepped on campus four years ago.