At MMC, our annual traditions and events help remind us who we are, what we value, where we’ve been, and where we’re going.
From the fall Apple Fest to biannual blood drives and our Women’s History Month Celebration, we take time each year to de-stress, do good, and enjoy some good old-fashioned community bonding.
Every year in October, MMC hosts Family and Friends Homecoming Weekend. Events include the the annual Fall Carnival on Roosevelt Island, a historical walking tour of MMC’s beautiful Upper East Side neighborhood, and a student musical. Parents and alumni alike can also visit and observe select classes. Homecoming Weekend concludes with the Dean’s List Convocation, an invitation-only awards reception for students with notable academic success.
Every Spring, MMC students, staff, and faculty join together to celebrate excellence at our institution. Selected students present faculty sponsored work in a day-long, college-wide colloquium, followed by induction ceremonies for our institution’s many honors societies. Honors Day represents the wide-reaching excellence that MMC’s liberal arts curriculum has in our academic environment as students present expansive work such as artistic performances, creative writing samples, research papers, and scientific studies.
Graduation is the culmination of the college experience. We send our seniors off with a ceremony celebrating this milestone achievement. Students are called up to the stage to receive their diplomas. Selected students may also be honored with one of five awards celebrating leadership, dedication, and academic excellence displayed over the course of their student journey at MMC.
Marymount Manhattan shows its dedication to both the environment and the sciences in a special, once-per-year lecture by a prominent figure in the field of environmental sciences. The Barry Commoner Lecture for the Environment was established through gifts from the husband and wife team of Richard S. Berry and Lucy A. Commoner in the name of Barry Commoner, widely known as a writer and lecturer on the relation between environmental and energy problems and public policy. Previous Commoner lectures have featured environmental journalist Andrew C. Revkin and University of California professor Dr. Tyrone Hayes.
Acclaimed theatre artist Robert Lepage presented the 2014 Jack and Lewis Rudin Distinguished Visiting Scholars Lecture, “Creating Outside of the Frame,” to a packed theater in 2014The Rudin Lecture was established at Marymount Manhattan in 2000 through a grant from The Rudin Foundation, Inc. Both Jack and the late Lewis Rudin have been well known throughout the New York community for the contributions they have made to living and working in New York and for their generous support of education, health, the arts and other civic, religious and cultural causes. This lecture builds upon the College’s commitment to academic excellence and its distinctive undergraduate programs in the liberal arts. Recent visiting lecturers include Too Big To Fail author Andrew Ross Sorkin and astrophysicist Janna Levin.
MMC Alumni Reunion Weekend is a great way for our alumni to re-connect with their fellow classmates. Whether it’s a 50th anniversary or a 5th, we welcome all alumni back to the 71st Street campus for a fun-filled weekend in the spring. Every Reunion Weekend is different, but previous celebrations have included “Then & Now” discussions, tours of the College, award presentations, and class meetings. We strive to include programming that will engage all ages, and of course, suggestions are always welcome!
The Annual Scholarship Benefit is MMC’s largest annual fundraiser. Always a memorable and inspiring evening, the benefit has a rich history of honoring individuals who have achieved excellence in their field, all while providing an opportunity to raise money for student scholarships.
