Though her speech is a bit more than a month away, UVM’s 2016 Commencement speaker is already imparting wisdom to the graduates. Alumna author Gail Sheehy ’58 demonstrates the importance of doing one’s homework as she visits Burlington this weekend to conduct one-on-one interviews with six members of the Class of 2016.
Sheehy is gathering material for her speech and simultaneously compiling research for a book she is working on about the Millenial Generation. Among the pioneers of “new journalism,” Sheehy has written profiles and biographies of figures such as Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Hillary Clinton. Her 1976 book, Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life, was named one of the ten most influential books of our time by the Library of Congress. Going strong in her late seventies, Sheehy published her seventeenth book a couple of years ago, Daring: My Passages, a memoir.
Sheehy’s last visit to Burlington was for her 25th class reunion in 1983. Between interviews with students this morning she remarks on the changes to campus and Burlington. And she reflects on what she’s hearing from students. “I wanted to speak with the students who are the most engaged in the community and the world, self-starters, to give me an idea of what their experience is like going to UVM today, where they’ve made changes and found growth spurts. I’m getting, wonderful stories about that. I’ll use them in my speech.”
Her keen journalistic skills — posing a good question, listening carefully, and probing a promising line of thought — are on display as Sheehy sits down with Finn Galloway-Kane in a small conference room at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel. Galloway-Kane, whose college years have included working as a White House intern, is describing his experience as a member of the Dewey House for Civic Engagement.
He says, “I’ve done some projects that failed and some projects that worked.”
Sheehy interjects, “Wait a minute, that’s very interesting. Learning how to deal with failure is one of the biggest learning experiences of your twenties.” She asks for details.
Earlier in the morning, Sheehy shared coffee in the hotel restaurant with Claire Wiggin, an Environmental Studies major. As they walked across Battery Street to take a photo together with a lake backdrop, it was clear that these fellow alumnae across generations had formed a quick connection. After they say their goodbyes and Sheehy heads back to the Marriott for her next student interview, the author says, “remarkable young woman.”