On Saturday, May 16, 2026, the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources celebrated the nearly 300 undergraduate students at the Robert E. Miller Expo Centre in Essex Junction, Vermont. The class of 2026 was joined by an enthusiastic crowd of family, friends, faculty, and staff.
Associate Dean for Faculty Development Dr. Mindy Morales served as marshal of the ceremony, welcoming everyone to the 53rd graduation of the Rubenstein School. Dean Peter Newman offered opening remarks, emphasizing the significance of the graduates’ achievements and thanking the family, friends, faculty, and staff who supported each student throughout their time at UVM.
“You now have the honor and privilege to be counted among the relatively few who hold a college diploma on this planet, and as you know, with this great privilege comes great responsibility. Your achievement carries the responsibility to improve the world around you and to hold gratitude for those who got you here.” – Peter Newman
Rubenstein School commencement speaker Heather Furman delivered a poignant and inspiring address. Furman has served as Director of The Nature Conservancy's Appalachians Program since 2023, where she guides continental-scale conservation efforts for one of the conservancy’s four global priority landscapes. A UVM alumna, she earned her Master of Science in Natural Resource Planning from the Rubenstein School in 2001.
Furman grounded her remarks in the current moment, acknowledging that the world can feel destabilizing and full of contradiction. She encouraged students to start with what is right in front of them when addressing challenges impacting their local communities and ecosystems. She spoke about witnessing environmental healing and restoration in her lifetime, reminding graduates of what is possible when people care.
“You may think influence belongs to people who are older, richer, more connected, more established. It does not. Some of the most powerful changes in history began with people your age deciding they were tired of waiting. You have something precious: urgency without cynicism. Protect that. The world will try to convince you that idealism is naïve. Do not believe it. Idealism with skill becomes leadership.” – Heather Furman
Graduates lined up by their program of study and crossed the stage as their names were called. As they received their diplomas, they were cheered on by their peers, families, faculty, and staff.
In his closing remarks, Dean Newman spoke about the role of optimism in navigating feelings of uncertainty and anxiety about the future.
“Here is what I think we often forget: that anxious feeling holds both pessimism and optimism. When we believe only bad things are possible, we feel hopeless. That anxious feeling is something different. In it, we hold our fears and our dreams at the same moment.” – Peter Newman
After Morales formally concluded the proceedings, graduates recessed through a line of applauding faculty and staff, sharing smiles and hugs with their mentors from the past four years.
