Kalamazoo College will honor two distinguished alumni at its 2026 Commencement on Sunday, June 14, 2026, at 10 a.m. on the College Quad. Filmmaker and business leader Michael Soenen ’92 will deliver the keynote address to graduates and their families and receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, while Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert J. Shiller ’67 will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Science. Additionally, President Jorge G. Gonzalez, who will be retiring from the College on June 30, will be recognized with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. A livestream of the ceremony will be available on the College’s website.
About Michael Soenen ’92
Michael Soenen is the CEO of Nothing to See Here: Productions and the creator and lead producer of Nothing to See Here: Watts, a documentary offering a powerful and unfiltered look at life in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. His path to filmmaking was an unexpected turn in a business career that has spanned venture capital, health care and retail.
Soenen graduated from Kalamazoo College with a degree in Economics and Business. Early in his career, he served as vice president, president, CEO and chairman of FTD Group and an analyst at Salomon Brothers. He later became a partner at Valor Equity Partners and served as executive chairman of Manduka, the yoga products company. He has served as a director at several companies, including health care apparel brand FIGS, Benchmark Analytics, and Fooda. In 2011, he was selected as a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a program which mobilizes leaders to tackle society’s biggest challenges.
The genesis of Nothing to See Here came during a police ride-along while Soenen was volunteering with a nonprofit organization in Watts. His experience led to a project equipping residents—including students, former gang leaders, community leaders and police officers—with iPhone cameras that were used to document their daily lives. Working without a script or predetermined outcomes, these first-time filmmakers came together and fostered dialogue that transformed longtime rivals into collaborators, contributing to a historic peace pledge and significant reduction in homicides. The documentary rewrites the script on who gets to tell their stories and how, and has since earned more than 100 awards worldwide, with a wider release planned. A screening of the film and panel discussion with several of the filmmakers will take place on K’s campus on June 11, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership.
About Robert J. Shiller ’67
Robert J. Shiller is an American economist, academic and author who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2013, shared with Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen. At the time of the award, he was widely recognized for having forecast both the dot-com stock bubble and the U.S. housing bubble. He is also the co-creator of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index—a benchmark measure widely used in the housing market—and the author of several books, including Irrational Exuberance, his bestselling analysis of speculative market bubbles.
Shiller is the Sterling Professor Emeritus of Economics at Yale University, where he was a faculty member for more than four decades. His scholarship has ranged across financial markets, financial innovation, behavioral economics, macroeconomics, real estate and statistical methods, as well as public attitudes, opinions and moral judgments toward markets. He has also contributed regularly as a columnist for The New York Times and Project Syndicate. He has been research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1980 and served as vice president of the American Economic Association in 2005; as president of the Eastern Economic Association in 2006-07; and as president of the American Economic Association in 2016.
A Detroit native and graduate of Southfield High School, Shiller attended Kalamazoo College before completing his B.A. at the University of Michigan. He went on to earn his Ph.D. from MIT. He returned to K as a guest lecturer in 1989 as part of the Monroe Lecture Series.
Among his many honors, Shiller has received the 2017 Truman Medal for Economic Policy, the 2018 Global Economy Prize from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, and the 2021 Presidential Medal of Lithuania. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and American Philosophical Society, a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship.
Shiller has previously received honorary degrees from the University of Michigan, the University of Connecticut, Georgetown University and the University of Paris Dauphine.
About President Jorge G. Gonzalez
Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez has led the institution since 2016, guiding strategic efforts to strengthen the student experience, expand access to the K-Plan and modernize the College’s historic campus. During his tenure, Kalamazoo College completed major campus projects including a new LEED-certified natatorium, a new Admission Center, renovations to Stetson Chapel and upgrades to academic and campus infrastructure. In 2025, the College began construction on new residence halls that will increase access to on-campus residential life for K students.
A strong advocate for the liberal arts, Gonzalez has worked to broaden educational opportunity and support student success, helping shape classes that have been among the most diverse in the College’s history, including growth in first-generation and Pell-eligible students. He guided the institution through the COVID-19 pandemic with a collaborative leadership approach and led the successful Brighter Light Campaign, which raised more than $203 million in support of student access, faculty, facilities and student life—the largest fundraising campaign in the College’s history. Gonzalez has also served on the boards of numerous educational, civic and community organizations at the regional and national levels.
Before joining Kalamazoo College, Gonzalez served as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Occidental College and spent more than two decades as an economics faculty member at Trinity University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Monterrey Institute of Technology and master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from Michigan State University.
About Kalamazoo College
Founded in 1833, Kalamazoo College is a nationally recognized liberal arts and sciences college located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Through the K-Plan, its signature approach to education, students design a personalized path that combines rigorous academics with study abroad, undergraduate research, career and civic engagement, and a Senior Integrated Project. Known for its global, experiential approach to learning, Kalamazoo College is a member of Colleges That Change Lives and is included on The Princeton Review “Best Colleges” and “Best Value Colleges” lists. Learn more at kzoo.edu.
