Noah Baumbach ’91, a four-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, will address the Class of 2026 at Vassar College’s 162nd Commencement exercises, President Elizabeth H. Bradley announced.

Baumbach’s films include Jay Kelly, White Noise, Marriage Story, which received six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), While We’re Young, Mistress America, Frances Ha, Greenberg, Margot at the Wedding, The Squid and the Whale, for which Baumbach received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, Kicking and Screaming, and the documentary De Palma. He co-wrote Barbie with Greta Gerwig, which received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou with Wes Anderson.

A graduate of Vassar, Class of 1991, Baumbach said, “Vassar was and continues to be an important part of my life. It has informed my movies in both subject matter (Kicking and Screaming) and location (Frances Ha and White Noise). But, most significantly, it’s many of my life-long friends from Vassar who have acted in my films or worked behind the scenes with me throughout my career. I’m excited and honored to return for Commencement.”

President Bradley said she was looking forward to welcoming him back to campus. “Noah Baumbach’s work is marked by intellectual rigor, emotional honesty, and a deep curiosity about the human experience,” she said. “As an alum, he embodies the enduring value of a Vassar education, and I know our graduates will benefit from his perspective as they prepare to shape lives of purpose and creativity beyond Vassar.”

The Commencement ceremony will celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2026 and mark a significant milestone for graduating seniors and their families.

About Vassar College

Founded in 1861 and based in Poughkeepsie, Vassar is renowned for pioneering achievements in education, for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the beauty of its campus, just 85 miles north of New York City. Originally founded to provide women an education equal to that once available only to men, Vassar became coeducational in 1969.