Gary Dorrien ’74
ALMA — Gary Dorrien, a social ethicist, theologian and member of the Alma College class of 1974, will deliver the keynote address at Alma College’s 138th year commencement ceremony.
Over 300 students will participate in the ceremony at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 19, at the campus’s Hogan Center, in Art Smith Arena.
“We are thrilled to welcome the Rev. Dr. Gary Dorrien to speak with the class of 2025,” said Alma College Interim President Eric Blackhurst ’83. “Dr. Dorrien has been described as one of the greatest theological ethicists and historians of our time. His career is a wonderful testament to the value of a liberal arts education and the many paths our graduates can take in their lives. I believe our students will benefit greatly from what he has to say.”
Dorrien is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University, in New York. He was previously the Parfet Distinguished Professor at Kalamazoo College, where he taught for 18 years and also served as dean of Stetson Chapel and Director of the Liberal Arts Colloquium. Dorrien is the author of 24 books and more than 300 articles that range across the fields of social ethics, philosophy, theology, political economics, social and political theory, religious history, cultural criticism and intellectual history.
In 2024, Dorrien was awarded the Gandhi, King, Mandela Peace Prize at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, for what the prize citation described as “distinguished teaching and magisterial, rigorous, monumental, and definitive scholarship.”
Dorrien will also speak at the college’s baccalaureate ceremony, scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday, April 18. The commencent ceremony will be livestreamed on the Alma College YouTube channel; the baccalaureate event will be livestreamed on the Alma College Chapel YouTube channel.
In addition to delivering the keynote address at Alma’s commencement, Dorrien will receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
