{"id":34132,"date":"2026-03-30T14:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/?p=34132"},"modified":"2026-05-14T15:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T19:00:21","slug":"necc-announces-plans-for-2026-commencement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/03\/30\/necc-announces-plans-for-2026-commencement\/","title":{"rendered":"NECC Announces Plans for 2026 Commencement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Haverhill, MA (March 30, 2026)\u2013 Planning for the 64th annual <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/current-students\/student-resources\/commencement-information\/\">Commencement Ceremony<\/a> at Northern Essex Community College is underway. The event will be held on the Haverhill Campus on Saturday, May 16, at 11 a.m. More than 500 students and their families will gather for the occasion.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s featured speaker will be former governor Charlie Baker, a nationally respected leader in public service and higher education. Baker served as the 72nd Governor of Massachusetts from 2015 to 2023 and is currently President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29927\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/25984057325_6220c6e79a_c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29927\" class=\" wp-image-29927\" src=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/25984057325_6220c6e79a_c.jpg\" alt=\"charlie baker stands in front of uniformed police officers, speaking at podium\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-29927\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Governor Charlie Baker on a visit to Lawrence and NECC in 2016<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThroughout his career in public service, Governor Baker has demonstrated a deep commitment to expanding opportunity and strengthening education and workforce pathways,\u201d said NECC President Lane Glenn. &#8220;His leadership and pragmatic approach to solving complex challenges have made a lasting impact across Massachusetts and beyond. I look forward to Governor Baker sharing his insights and inspiration with the Class of 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of his many accomplishments during his tenure, Baker expanded <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/academics\/early-college\/\">Early College<\/a> partnerships and started the <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/academics\/transfer\/mass-transfer-pathways\/commonwealth-commitment\/\">Commonwealth Commitment<\/a>, which provides tuition and admission benefits to community college students under the MassTransfer Program. Known for his bipartisan leadership style, he consistently ranked among the nation\u2019s most popular governors.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to his time in office, Baker held leadership roles in both the public and private sectors, including serving as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and as Secretary of Administration and Finance under Governors William Weld and Paul Cellucci.<\/p>\n<p>Baker holds a bachelor\u2019s degree from Harvard University, where he was a basketball player, and an MBA from Northwestern University\u2019s Kellogg School of Management.<\/p>\n<p>The 64th annual Commencement Ceremony will also feature a student speaker selected by faculty and staff and the presentation of awards, including the Social Justice Award and Emeritus.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about commencement, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/current-students\/student-resources\/commencement-information\/\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Haverhill, MA (March 30, 2026)\u2013 Planning for the 64th annual Commencement Ceremony at Northern Essex Community College is underway. The event will be held on the Haverhill Campus on Saturday, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":21395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12,14,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-featured","category-headlines"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NECC Announces Plans for 2026 Commencement - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The event will be held on the Haverhill Campus on Saturday, May 16, at 11 a.m. More than 500 students and their families will gather for the occasion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/03\/30\/necc-announces-plans-for-2026-commencement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NECC Announces Plans for 2026 Commencement - 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