Commencement 2023: Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipients

Commencement Speaker

Molly Burhans is an internationally recognized environmentalist, cartographer, and social entrepreneur. As the founder and executive director of GoodLands, she leads its work to mobilize large landholders to use their property for environmental and humanitarian good. Burhans was the chief cartographer for the first global data-based maps of the Catholic Church. These maps premiered at the Vatican in 2016. Her work combines faith, environmental stewardship, and technology, and has received international acclaim from academic, governmental, and private sector organizations. She is a United Nations Young Champion of the Earth, representing North America in 2019. She is a Sierra Club EarthCare laureate, one of Encyclopedia Britannica’s 2022 20 under 40, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer (2021), an Ashoka Fellow (2019), and a Henry Arnhold Conversation Fellow (2020). She was a member of the Vatican Arts and Technology Council and has been a delegate at various United Nations events, Vatican symposia, including the Vatican Youth Symposium. Burhan is a visiting scholar at Canisius College and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. She earned a BA from Canisius College and an MS in Ecological Design from The Conway School.

President’s Medal

The President’s Medal is presented rarely and exclusively to those who have offered exceptional contributions to the life of the College and society.

William Schmuhl is a consummate business professional who enjoyed a long and successful professional career at Heywood Williams USA Inc., ultimately serving as Chairman and Director before retiring. He has been active in the life of Saint Mary’s for over 30 years. His connections to the College are multi-faceted: as an adjunct instructor, Mr. Schmuhl still teaches in the Business Administration and Economics Department, and he even chaired the department for two years. Schmuhl was a member of the Saint Mary’s College Board of Trustees for ten years, serving terms as Board Chair and Treasurer. After his retirement from the Board in 2006, he has remained active as Trustee Emeritus for the last 16 years. Schmuhl’s connections to Saint Mary’s are also personal: his wife, sister and two nieces are alumnae of the College. Schmuhl’s generous spirit and civic responsibility extend beyond Saint Mary’s campus to the greater South Bend community. He has served on several boards, including WNIT, the Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michigan, Stanley Clark School, and Discovery Charter School. He earned both a BBA and a JD from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Chicago. 

Honorary Degree Recipients

Gretchen Flicker graduated from Saint Mary’s College in 1993 and later earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She has two family connections to Saint Mary’s—both her niece and a cousin attended the College. Flicker has been a strong supporter of the College for several decades: she served on the Madeleva Society Steering Committee and volunteered for the Reunion Gift Campaign Committee three times since her graduation. She is also a member of the Mother Pauline Society. Her most significant engagement was her 11-year tenure on the Board of Trustees. Besides faithfully serving on several committees, she was elected Treasurer and then Vice Chair, ultimately becoming Chair in 2019. Under her collaborative and engaged leadership, Flicker guided the College during a presidential transition, the tumult of a pandemic, and a time of significant social unrest in the United States. After a long and successful career at Dimensional Fund Advisors that spanned over two decades, Flicker retired in 2019. In her retirement, she served on the board of Friends of Avila Pier, Inc, in Avila Beach, California.

Dr. Ida Stockman is professor emerita in the department of communicative sciences and disorders at Michigan State University. Stockman taught at Jackson State University, Howard University, and City University of New York. Her career spans four decades of research, teaching, and professional services, with contributions in the areas of Autism Spectrum Disorders, the interface of human and machine learning and development, and speech and language development. She also made a significant impact by studying typical and atypical development of children who speak African American English. She has more than 200 scholarly contributions, including journal articles, conference presentations, and workshops. Since “retiring” in 2007, Stockman continues to do research, consult, and mentor young professionals in the field. Her work has infused diversity within the curriculum and shaped clinical training and practice. In 2020, the Michigan Speech, Language and Hearing Association renamed one of their esteemed awards the “Dr. Ida J. Stockman Achievement in Diversity and Infusion Award” to honor her vast accomplishments and impact in the field of communication sciences and disorders, diversity and infusion, and the personal and professional lives of many.