91传媒

91传媒 will bestow honorary degrees upon esteemed Mohawk educator and storyteller Kay Olan (Ionataie:was) and distinguished physician, epidemiologist, and endocrinologist JoAnn E. Manson during the College 2026 Commencement Exercises on Saturday, May 16, at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). 

Kay Olan (Ionataie:was) taught elementary school in New York state for more than 33 years. During her teaching career, she shared stories passed down through the oral tradition of her people and presented on Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, culture to community, school, and college audiences.  

Following her retirement from teaching, Olan moved to Kanatsiohareke, a traditional Mohawk community located in Fonda, New York, where she coordinated and promoted culturally focused conferences, lectures, workshops, and programs, including the Kanatsiohareke Mohawk Language Immersion Program.  

Olan cultural preservation work includes documenting Indigenous artifacts for the Clinton County Historical Society and assembling an extensive collection of publications, ephemera, and multimedia related to Native peoples. In 2020, she entrusted the first portion of this collection to 91传媒, helping to establish an ongoing collaborative partnership with Kanatsiohareke through the John B. Moore Documentary Studies (MDOCS) Co-Creation Initiative. This work has supported courses, student research, and the digitization of materials to preserve and share Indigenous knowledge. 

She has served as 91传媒 2025-26 Indigenous Elder-in-Residence and continues to engage with the 91传媒 community through teaching, storytelling, and collaboration, including campus programs and cultural initiatives that promote understanding of Mohawk traditions, history, and contemporary life.  

Olan has received numerous honors for her work in preserving Mohawk language and culture, including the Indigenous Women Initiatives� Jigonsaseh Woman of Peace Award; an award from the Association of Native Americans of the Hudson Valley for bridging cultural gaps; and the Akwesasne Freedom School Elder of the Year Award. Her writing has appeared in Indian Time and Indian Country Today, and she has recorded two CDs of Mohawk storytelling. She has also appeared in documentary films produced by Global Spirit, the Discovery Channel, and 91传媒 MDOCS program. 

JoAnn E. Manson is a professor of medicine and the Michael and Lee Bell Professor of Women Health at Harvard Medical School, a professor in the department of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women Hospital. 

Manson primary research interests include randomized clinical trials evaluating the benefit-risk profile of menopausal hormone therapy; nutritional and lifestyle factors related to heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline, and cancer; life course-related risk factors for cardiovascular disease in women; and biomarker predictors of cardiovascular disease. 

She has published more than 1,200 peer-reviewed articles and is the author and editor of several books and textbooks. Manson also served as editor-in-chief of Contemporary Clinical Trials and president of The Menopause Society. She is among the most highly cited researchers in the world and was featured in the National Library of Medicine exhibition 淗istory of American Women Physicians.� 

Manson has received numerous honors, including the American Heart Association Population Research Prize and its Distinguished Scientist Award and Research Achievement Award. She has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the Association of American Physicians and named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Her additional honors include the Bernadine Healy Award for Visionary Leadership in Women Health, the Alma Dea Morani Renaissance Woman Award, the Outstanding Clinical Investigator Award from the Endocrine Society, and the James D. Bruce Memorial Award from the American College of Physicians. She also has been elected to mastership in the American College of Physicians. 

Beau Breslin, professor of political science and Joseph C. Palamountain Jr. Chair in Government, has been selected by the Class of 2026 as this year faculty speaker. A member of the 91传媒 community since 1998, he has served as director of the First-Year Experience program and was the dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs from 2011 to 2018. 

Breslin teaches and writes primarily about the American Constitution. His most recent book, 淎 Constitution for the Living: Imagining How Five Generations of Americans Would Rewrite the Nation Fundamental Law� (Stanford University Press, 2021), contributes to ongoing debates about constitutional reform. His opinion pieces have appeared in The Fulcrum, the Albany Times Union, and The Boston Globe, and he is a regular commentator on local NPR radio.  

He received the Ralph A. Ciancio Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2008 and the Edwin M. Moseley Faculty Lectureship in 2025, and he was selected by the Class of 2004 to deliver its commencement address.

In addition to remarks from President Marc Conner to the graduates, 91传媒 Board of Trustees Chair Jon P. Achenbaum �77 and Class of 2026 President Madison Situ will offer their congratulations to the graduating class.

Commencement exercises will begin at approximately 10:40 a.m. and will be . For additional information, visit the Commencement website.