NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The former head of the Massachusetts Cultural Council is this year's commencement speaker at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. 

 

Michael J. Bobbitt took the lead of Opera America in January after five years as the state's chief cultural officer. 

 

In addition, MCLA will confer an honorary doctor of fine arts on Bobbitt, and doctors of public service to Mary K. Grant, president of Massachusetts College of Art and Design and former president of MCLA, and Mohan Boodram, MCLA Foundation Board member and former Board of Trustees chair.

 

The college's 127th commencement will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, in the Amsler Campus Center gymnasium.

 

Bobbitt is a nationally recognized arts executive, producer, playwright, choreographer, director and artist whose career bridges public policy, organizational transformation, and creative practice. 

 

He is president of Opera America, a national service organization founded in 1970 to support and advocate for opera companies and artists across the nation and in Canada. 

 

As executive director of the Mass Cultural Council, he led strategy and operations for a $29.7 billion creative economy, secured more than $60 million in COVID-19 relief funding for Massachusetts arts organizations, and successfully advocated for the arts to be embedded in statewide health, education, and economic policy.

 

His career also includes leading two producing theaters in Massachusetts and in Maryland, where he commissioned more than 50 new works and pioneered sensory-friendly and autism-inclusive performances that became a national model.

 

Bobbitt's work has been produced at the Kennedy Center, Ford's Theatre, Washington National Opera, La Jolla Playhouse, and the Shakespeare Theatre Company, among others. He is the recipient of the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion and has been invested in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. He holds an master of business administration in arts innovation and a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, in interdisciplinary studies, with executive education at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School. 

 

MCLA's conferral of a doctor of fine arts continues an honor previously bestowed upon him by Dean College.

 

Grant, a 1983 graduate of MCLA, is a nationally recognized leader in public higher education who was president of the college for 13 years. Her consistent advocacy for the college resulted in the investment $54.5 million for the Center for Science and Innovation, a new facilities building numerous updates to the physical campus during her tenure. 

 

As president of MassArt, the nation's only independent public college of art and design, she champions the essential role of creativity in education and civic life.

 

Grant was also chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville and president and CEO of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. A first-generation college graduate, she has spent her career expanding access and opportunity and is a passionate advocate for equity, inclusion, and the transformative power of public higher education. 

 

She holds a doctorate in social welfare policy from Brandeis University and has received honorary degrees from Williams College and Eastern Connecticut State University.

 

Boodram has dedicated more than three decades to expanding access and equity in higher education, and his ties to MCLA run deep. He served as a Trustee of the College for 13 years, including three years as chair, and continues his engagement with the institution as a member of the MCLA Foundation Board of Directors. Throughout his tenure, he was a steadfast advocate for affordability, inclusion, and the enduring value of a public liberal arts education.

 

Boodram's professional career spans senior leadership positions at some of the nation's most distinguished academic institutions. He was dean for admissions and financial aid at the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, associate dean for enrollment and student services at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and director of admissions and financial aid at Harvard Medical School.

 

He holds a bachelor of science in applied mathematics from Yale University and a master of arts in statistics from Harvard University.

 

"This year's Commencement is a particularly meaningful one," said MCLA President James F. Birge. "We are proud to honor Michael Bobbitt, whose life's work demonstrates the transformative power of the arts, alongside two individuals who have given so much to this institution: Dr. Mary Grant, a beloved alumna and MCLA's 11th president, and Mohan Boodram, whose years of service on our Board helped shape MCLA into the college it is today. 

 

"I know Mr. Bobbitt's address will resonate deeply with our graduates as they prepare to make their own mark on the world."