• Loon Society – Members are nominated based on excellent academic performance, contributions to the College and community, and personal growth.
• Honor Cord – Recipients who have achieved a GPA of 3.33 or higher.
• Student Life Awards – Recipients who have best exemplified the attributes of Unity College and who have made significant contributions to life outside of the classroom. Among these awards are:

• • Student Life Community Award
  • Student Life Environment Award
  • Student Life Integrity Award
  • Student Life Respect Award
• Valedictorian Award – Recipients with the highest overall cumulative grade point average (4.0).
• Senior Athlete of the Year – Recipients are student-athletes whose contributions, skill, and attitude have made a positive impact on Unity College athletics.
• Outstanding Student in Academic Achievement- Recipient has exemplified academic excellence and confidence within the academic arena in the Center for Experiential and Environmental Education.
• Faculty Award – Recipient is chosen on the basis of contribution to the day-to-day affairs of the College, as demonstrated by concern and willingness to help where a need is perceived.
• Residents Advisor Service Award – Recipients are graduates who have served the College as resident advisors and have demonstrated service, a commitment to quality programming, and high level of professionalism.
• Lifelong Learning Award – Recipient is a graduating senior in the Center for Biodiversity who has demonstrated outstanding curiosity about the natural world by asking questions that go above and beyond the scope of classes.
• Engaged Professional Award – Recipient has exemplified professional excellence and confidence within his/her field in the Center for Experiential and Environmental Education.   Recipients have demonstrated effective leadership to bring positive change and dedication to the profession.
• Outstanding Student in Humanities – Recipient is a graduating senior in the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities and has shown outstanding aptitude in the liberal arts as demonstrated through a body of original creative work and a visionary spirit.
• Conservation Law Enforcement Bulldog Award – Recipients have overcome challenges and demonstrated tenacity and commitment to overall excellence in the field of conservation law enforcement.
• President’s Award – Recipients are candidates for a baccalaureate degree, chosen by the president on the basis of academic strength, extracurricular activities, and overall contribution to the growth of Unity College.
• Parks, Recreation and Ecotourism Leadership Award – Recipients are outstanding graduating seniors in the Parks, Recreation and Ecotourism program who have demonstrated leadership in academics, campus community involvement, and outside professional work.
• Sustainability Award – Recipients are outstanding graduating seniors from the Center of Sustainability and Global Change with a dedicated sustainability focus.
• Marshall Gerrie Award – Recipients are candidates for a baccalaureate degree on the basis of the candidate’s day to day contribution to the functioning of the college and morale of the student body, as demonstrated by the candidate’s concern and willingness to help where a need is perceived.
• Wildlife Leadership Award – Recipients are graduating seniors who have demonstrated consistent high academic achievement, overall leadership in the wildlife programs at Unity College, and demonstrated commitment to the wildlife profession.
• Student Government Association Award – Recipients have contributed to the enhancement of student life through participation with the Student Government Association. The student will demonstrate exceptional leadership skills, excel in co-curricular activities and provide outstanding community service.
• Trustees’ Award – Recipients are baccalaureate candidates who, in the judgment of the trustees, have demonstrated the most personal growth and academic accomplishment while contributing to the student body and the Unity College community.

Locust Grove, GA

Wildlife Biology and Captive Wildlife Care and Education

Faculty Award

Residents Advisor Service Award

Valedictorian Award

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Stoneham, MA

Ecology

Senior Athlete of the Year

Barre, MA

Environmental Biology

Biodiversity Lifelong Learning Award

Honor Cord

Montville, ME

Environmental Education

Outstanding Student in Humanities

Davie, FL

Captive Wildlife Care and Education

Engaged Professional Award

Honor Cord

Hardwick, MA

Captive Wildlife Care and Education

Outstanding Student in Academic Achievement

Honor Cord

Porter, ME

Conservation Law Enforcement

Conservation Law Enforcement Bulldog Award

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Farmington, ME

Conservation Law Enforcement

Conservation Law Enforcement Distinguished Academic Honors

Honor Cord

Issaquah, WA

Parks, Recreation and Ecotourism

Parks, Recreation and Ecotourism Leadership Award

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Clarksville, TN

Wildlife Biology

Wildlife Leadership Award

Residents Advisor Service Award

Student Life Respect Award

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Berlin, NJ

Agriculture Food & Sustainability

Sustainability Award

Student Life Environment Award

Loon Society

Chillicothe, OH

Marine Biology and Teaching& Learning

Marshall Gerrie Award

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Parkman, ME

Marine Biology and Ecology

President’s Award

Senior Athlete of the Year

Honor Cord

Loon Society

North Versailles, PA

Captive Wildlife Care and Education

Residents Advisor Service Award

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Fort Worth, TX

Aquaculture & Fisheries

Residents Advisor Service Award

Honor Cord

Plymouth, MA

Captive Wildlife Care and Education

Residents Advisor Service Award

Wheatland, CA

Environmental Policy

Student Government Association Award

Loon Society

Gorham, ME

Wildlife Biology

Student Life Community Award

Trustees’ Award

Valedictorian Award

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Lyndonville, VT

Teaching & Learning

Student Life Integrity Award

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Thorndike, ME

Environmental Education

Valedictorian Award

Honor Cord

Loon Society

West Bath, ME

Adventure Therapy

Valedictorian Award

Honor Cord

Spruce Pine, NC

Captive Wildlife Care and Education and Wildlife Biology

Honor Cord

York, ME

Conservation Law Enforcement

Honor Cord

Canonsburg, PA

Wildlife Biology

Student Life Community Award

Honor Cord

Lubec, ME

Conservation Law Enforcement

Honor Cord

South Kingston, RI

Environmental Education and Teaching & Learning

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Unity, ME

Adventure Therapy

Honor Cord

Elkton, MD

Wildlife Conservation

Honor Cord

Elkton, MD

Wildlife Conservation

Honor Cord

Hummelstown, PA

Aquaculture & Fisheries and Wildlife

Honor Cord

North Kingstown, RI

Captive Wildlife Care and Education

Honor Cord

Hampstead, NC

Marine Biology

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Southington, CT

Conservation Law Enforcement

Honor Cord

Yarmouth, ME

Conservation Law Enforcement

Honor Cord

Baileyville, ME

Captive Wildlife Care and Education

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Andover, ME

Conservation Law Enforcement

Honor Cord

Sagamore Beach, MA

Captive Wildlife Care and Education

Honor Cord

Epsom, NH

Conservation Law Enforcement

Honor Cord

Plainville, CT

Agriculture Food & Sustainability and Environmental Writing

Honor Cord

Howard, OH

Wildlife Biology

Honor Cord

Leeds, ME

Wildlife Biology

Honor Cord

Virgil, NY

Adventure Therapy

Honor Cord

Putnam, CT

Wildlife Conservation

Honor Cord

Loon Society

Readfield, ME

Conservation Law Enforcement

Loon Society

As the first college in the United States to divest from investments in fossil fuels, Unity College has a special responsibility to raise the specter of global climate change, and it will during the 44th commencement exercises.

Commencement speaker James Gustave “Gus” Speth has been characterized as one of the most important voices in the environmental movement.  The theme of his presentation is caring: for the planet, communities, and each other.  Climate change will also be prominently featured in his presentation.  A rallying call from his presentation is “the fight is not over, with your help, we will win (the struggle to mitigate climate change).”

Professor Speth joined the faculty at Vermont Law School in 2010. A Distinguished Senior Fellow with Demos, a United States-based research and policy center founded in 2000 that maintains a non-partisan role policy change and reform work to revitalize American democracy, he completed a decade-long tenure in 2009 as dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

From 1993 to 1999, he was administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and chair of the U.N. Development Group. Prior to his service at the U.N., he was founder and president of the World Resources Institute; professor of law at Georgetown University; chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality in the Carter administration; and senior attorney and co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Throughout his career, Professor Speth has provided leadership and entrepreneurial initiatives to many task forces and committees whose roles have been to combat environmental degradation, including the President’s Task Force on Global Resources and Environment; the Western Hemisphere Dialogue on Environment and Development; and the National Commission on the Environment. Among his awards are the National Wildlife Federation’s Resources Defense Award, the Natural Resources Council of America’s Barbara Swain Award of Honor, a 1997 Special Recognition Award from the Society for International Development, Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Environmental Law Institute and the League of Conservation Voters, and the Blue Planet Prize. He is the author, co-author, or editor of six books, including the award-winning The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability and Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment.

“In my view, all of his books should be accessible to first-year college students,” said Stephen Mulkey, President of Unity College.

Mulkey singled out Red Sky at Morning and America the Possible for particular praise.

“In essence Professor Speth is a political economist and his focus is on creating a ‘sustaining economy.’  He realizes that there are two fundamental aspects to our sustainability crisis; macroeconomics largely controlled by corporate and political interests, and personal desires driven by inappropriate sense of need.  Although not an evolutionary psychologist, he wades into the latter with mastery in two of his works.”

In her review of Professor Speth’s book entitled America the Possible Hazel Henderson, author and founder of Ethical Markets Media, LLC, wrote that he is “one of the most prominent, knowledgeable, global environmentalists of our time. A quintessential insider, Speth began as an anti-nuclear activist in the 1970s and later chaired President Jimmy Carter’s Council on Environmental Quality. In the 1980s, he founded and led the influential World Resources Institute in Washington, DC, and in the 1990s became the administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). He promoted the understanding that global environmental sustainability rested on alleviating poverty, promoting human rights, economic and social justice, better education and health, stabilizing populations, expanding the rule of law, protecting our global commons and addressing conflicts with more diplomacy and fewer weapons.”

Mulkey framed America the Possible as one of the most important books in decades to address transformation in America and, through my inference, U.S. Higher education.

“On the whole, I think his work is not only germane, but it should be required reading for all of our students,” Mulkey continued. “We will place a copy of his most recent work on the seat of every student at Commencement.”

“We are delighted and humbled that Professor Speth will serve as our Commencement speaker,” Mulkey said.  “For generations he has served as one of the most insightful environmental thinkers in America.  As our graduates venture out into a world in desperate need of wise environmental stewardship to preserve its very existence, it is entirely appropriate for them to evaluate and internalize the wisdom that their commencement speaker offers.  There is no better individual to step forward and offer that wisdom than Professor Speth.”

Each year Unity College offers one of the “greenest,” most environmentally leading-edge Commencement ceremonies in America.  This year the College, which goes by the tag-line America’s Environmental College, will feature: local and sustainable foods; recycling and waste management; caps and gowns made from recyclable plastic bottles; local vendors; carbon offset purchases for all participants; a sustainable pledge for graduates to live a life in service to the planet; recycled paper for diplomas and programs; 100% of electricity purchased from renewable sources; and sapling trees for all graduates.

In recent years Unity College has gained national attention for a variety of achievements including its focus on sustainability science, the leading-edge of 21st century ecological problem solving and the vanguard in the fight for the mitigation of global climate change; its ground-breaking “green” innovations such as the award-winning TerraHaus, the first student residence on a college or university campus built to the Passive House standard, the most energy efficient building standard in the world; and for being the first college in the United States to divest from investments in fossil fuels, igniting a growing national movement in higher education.

Unity College is a private college in rural Maine that provides dedicated, engaged students with a liberal arts education that emphasizes the environment and natural resources. Unity College graduates are prepared to be environmental stewards, effective leaders, and responsible citizens through active learning experiences within a supportive community.