Sunday, May 24, 2026
by Monica Vachher ’77, AAVC President and AAVC Trustee

Thank you, President Bradley; Sharon Chang, Chair of the Board; and all of the distinguished faculty and my fellow trustees.

Hello, everyone. I am Monica Vachher. I lived in Lathrop, Noyes, Josselyn, and the TAs. I am a proud graduate of the Class of ’77, and despite the fact that my classmates and I will be celebrating our 50^th—oh my god—Reunion next year, I remember clearly serving on the Daisy Chain, and sitting where you are at Commencement—waiting for remarks to be over.

So, your undergraduate years have come to a close, and you are now embarking upon life after Vassar. So yes, you will be leaving your classmates, and your professors, and your favorite Deece servers, but, as of today, you are an essential part of a dazzling community of nearly 42,000 Vassar alums—the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College, the AAVC. I am honored to serve as its President, and we welcome you, the extraordinary class of 2026!

Now, among the many perks of being a Vassar alum, is that you will receive the Vassar magazine. This will connect you to your classmates and news of the College, and also to other alums across the decades. And what you will see is that, much like you and your classmates, alums are doing so very many different things—and we are making a difference in whatever we choose to pursue.

Shortly, you will be hearing from one of our illustrious alums … and also this year, Cassandra Kulukundis, Class of 1993, won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Casting for her work on One Battle After Another. But you may not have heard of our many alums who are teachers or researchers or those tackling social and environmental issues, like Pete Malinowski, Class of ’06, founder of the Billion Oyster Project, which is restoring oyster reefs in NY Harbor through public education initiatives, or Elise Shea, Class of 2019, who started Conversations Unbound while she was at Vassar, and it links language students who are tutored by displaced people around the world in Spanish, French, German, and Arabic. All of these alums, and countless others, continue to make us so very proud.

So, just know that Vassar alums are everywhere, and we are here to support you, across the U.S. and around the world. The UK Vassar Club just celebrated its 100th anniversary in London!

Now you will carry your own posse of Vassar friends wherever you go, but you may also encounter us randomly in graduate school, in your workplace, while traveling … Vassar swag is a beacon for the best random encounters! Or, you may seek out alums through your local Vassar clubs or programs on campus or LinkedIn. And, I hope you might join the many other alums who are career mentors, who are involved with their classes, or the multitude of other ways in which alums continue to be engaged and contribute to Vassar—with time, passion, and resources.

Vassar has been my special place since I first entered Main Gate, and I hope it has been, and will continue to be, yours. What I’ve come to realize over the intervening years is that Vassar is not just a place—rather, it’s almost a state of mind. There is something about Vassar that imbues our psyches; that becomes a part of our very beings; that helps define us and connect us.

None of us is alike, and yet, when you meet someone and learn that they went to Vassar, it’s an “of course you went to Vassar!” moment, because they have that ineffable Vassar quality.

So, as you depart to make your distinct and distinctive impressions upon your world, I hope you will always find time to connect with Vassar, and that you will cherish that special bond that ties us all together, forevermore.

Congratulations, and welcome to the AAVC!